Mozambique considers it urgent to stop human rights violations

O Mozambican government today admitted that it is urgent to stop violence resulting from human rights violations in Cabo Delgado, including ending forced displacements that include minors in that northern province of the country.

“ We must all roll up our sleeves so that we can restore peace to the eternal displaced, affected children and displaced families. This, in fact, is our concern and for me it is an area that requires some urgency and for all of us together we can do something”, said the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional Affairs and Religious, Tuarique Abdala.

Asked by journalists at a press conference on the area of human rights that calls for urgency in the country, in the framework of the recommendations received in the fourth cycle of the UN Periodic Universal Review (URP), Tuarique Abdala pointed out the consequences of terrorism in Cabo Delgado.

“Cabo Delgado represents part of Mozambique and, today, the country, when living in this situation, is channeling all its attention to Cape delegate, this somehow affects all of us. And if we want to ensure a systematic harmony of everything that the government is doing, we must first be able to end the problem that affects the populations,” he said.

Since 2017, the province of Cabo Delgado has faced an armed insurgency that has already caused more than 6,600 deaths and more than 1,2 million displaced persons, according to international organizations.

At least 4,445 people fled between September and October from various locations in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado due to attacks by armed insurgent groups, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In the same statements, he said that the Government is determined to transform the recommendations received and accepted at the United Nations into concrete measures to safeguard all the human rights of Mozambicans.

Mozambique officially accepted 284 of the 292 recommendations received during the fourth cycle of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review in Geneva last month.

The country adopted the report of the fourth cycle of the RPU during the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, after receiving recommendations from 109 delegations.

The Government has previously highlighted as priorities the strengthening of national mechanisms for coordination and monitoring of human rights, the strengthening of the rule of law and access to justice, the digital modernisation and transformation of the Justice sector and the protection of the rights of children, women, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

The plan also includes measures to strengthen the protection of children affected by armed conflicts and displacements, including in the province of Cabo Delgado, improve the conditions of the prison system and promote alternative penalties for deprivation of liberty.

At institutional level, the government created the Interministerial Commission for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, whose first session took place in August this year under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Maria Benvinda Levi.