Mozambique: NGO calls for end to sexual violence impunity

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Mozambique: NGO calls for end to sexual violence impunity

3:46 CAT | 20 Jun 2022

File photo: Lusa

The Women’s Political Academy (APM), a Mozambican organisation, has called for an end to impunity for cases of violence and sexual abuse against women and girls in armed conflicts such as the one in Cabo Delgado.

“The cases of violence and sexual abuse against women and girls in armed conflicts should be prosecuted, and the perpetrators should be punished, and the outcome of the cases should be made public, as a way of deterring further cases,” said a statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, celebrated on Sunday.

At issue are “kidnappings” of women and girls by insurgents and incidents “in reception centres and when involved in prostitution with military forces”.

These are situations reported in studies carried out by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UN Women on the “prevalence of widespread violence against displaced women and girls in Cabo Delgado”, a province in northern Mozambique under armed conflict triggered by rebels four and a half years ago.

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The APM warned that “data concerning these situations is rarely included in the reports on military conflicts, which in a way limits the proper assistance to victims” and “increases the level of vulnerability of women, exposing them to dangerous scenarios and multiple local discriminations”.

The solutions may be simple, through the “effective implementation of legal provisions, such as Mozambique’s constitution and international instruments”.

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Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

There are 784,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops with Rwandan support, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has allowed areas where there was a rebel presence to recover. Still, their flight has provoked new attacks in other districts used as a passage or temporary refuge.

Source: Lusa