The criminal cases were dropped because of the August general amnesty law enacted following peace negotiations between the government and Renamo. Messages "an investigation is underway" or "the officer has been arrested" appeared in the press with few subsequent updates. Muchanga was the only high-profile political prisoner during the year, and the government allowed human rights organizations access to him.
The constitution and law guarantee freedom of speech, including for members of the press, and the government has generally respected this right. Although it aired debates on important issues, RM mostly invited participants who were supportive of the government or less critical. The constitution and law largely guarantee freedom of association, and the government has generally respected this right.
The government generally cooperated with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations. Access to Asylum: The law provides for granting asylum or refugee status and the government has set up a system to protect refugees. The government generally cooperated with UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
According to the UNHCR, statelessness was a problem but only partially recognized by the government.
Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
Mozambican-born and descendants living in other countries experienced challenges in proving their Mozambican citizenship or claiming citizenship at home due to lack of birth registration documents. UNHCR attributed legal gaps, lack of implementation guidelines, low birth registration rates, lack of documentation and long-term migration patterns as the main causes of statelessness. Representatives of opposition parties and civil society complained of increased acts of bias and intimidation by the government and Frelimo.
For example, in June, electoral officials in the province of Cabo Delgado held local meetings excluding the newly appointed Renamo members, citing a lack of meeting space. In August, officials from the Maputo Municipal Council, accompanied by the national police, arrived unannounced at the local MDM electoral headquarters and destroyed a large sign outside its premises. Political parties and political participation: Frelimo continued to dominate the political process and its influence continued to grow.
Opposition political parties could operate, but were sometimes subject to restrictions, including illegal arrest and other interference by the ruling party and government. The Sofala provincial government, which is appointed by the central government, announced plans in June to administratively split the municipality of Beira, which would reduce the municipality to a third of its original size. Beira Mayor and MDM President Daviz Simango, who won re-election in November 2013 with more than 70 percent of the vote, claimed the splits were designed to weaken MDM in its strongest constituency.
The central government delayed after determining that the proposed administrative divisions needed National Assembly approval. Instances of violence and vandalism by Frelimo party members, including breaking into opposition party offices and tearing down banners, occurred without strong police or government response. Participation of women and minorities: Women and members of many ethnic groups held key positions in both the legislature and the executive.
There was no evidence of the exclusion of women or specific ethnic groups from participating in political processes. In the National Assembly, women held two of the three party leadership positions and 97 of the 250 seats in total. Three of the seven judges of the Supreme Court were women; a government media source reported that 54.5 percent of all judges were women.
Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
Although the GCCC threatened to pursue legal action if the practice was not stopped, no action had been taken by the end of the year. The PGR also recognized other forms of corruption, including government employees demanding bribes in exchange for providing services to the public, irregularities in the public tendering process, and the illegal sale of government jobs. In April, the Chinese media company StarTimes, which has a business association with the president's family, and the Pemba Port Logistics Base were awarded major government contracts without a public tender process.
Local NGOs and media groups continued to be the main civil forces fighting corruption by reporting and investigating numerous corruption cases. In 2013, the GCCC registered 876 corruption cases, including cases involving the theft of state funds, of which 296 resulted in fines and 138 in court proceedings. The GCCC stated that the group falsified documents to create state pension payments to non-existent workers.
In September 2013, the government raised $850 million in international capital markets to finance the state-owned Mozambican Tuna Company without conducting the required tender process or routine intergovernmental consultations. In contrast to 2013, the authorities have established public integrity coordination bodies in several, but not all, state-owned enterprises to implement the law. Public access to information: In December, the government adopted a new law allowing public access to official sources of information.
According to MISA, the new law more narrowly defines what types of information the government can designate as state secrets or security-sensitive information and exclude from public access.
Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
The commission members are elected by the political parties, civil society, the Prime Minister and the Mozambican Bar Association. The commission received no budget from the government and was only operational in December 2013 when it moved into government-provided offices.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
According to the World Bank's 2012 World Development Report, 54 percent of all women reported being victims of sexual or physical abuse. The 2012 Multiple Indicator Survey (MICS) by the United Nations Children's Fund. UNICEF), the Ministry of Health and the National Statistical Institute revealed that 22.9 percent of surveyed women and 19.9 percent of men were of the same opinion. In Nampula, the country's most populous province, the Interior Ministry's Centers for Women and Children Victims of Violence, Abuse and Exploitation recorded 912 cases of domestic violence against women in the first six months of 2013, compared to 620 cases. in 2012.
A woman who leaves an abusive partner risks losing her position in the household and the wider community. An estimated 95 percent of women were dependent on the community or family economy, usually agriculture. There were no restrictions on access to family planning; however, according to the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey, only 11 percent of married girls and women between the ages of 15 and 49 used the modern method.
The remainder worked as casual laborers or in the informal sector, mainly in subsistence agriculture. Birth registration: Citizenship is acquired by birth in the country or by birth abroad to a citizen parent. UNICEF reported that 47 percent of citizens had registered births, although in rural areas this was often not done immediately.
UNICEF reported that 8 percent of primary school students were victims of sexual abuse and another 35 percent were victims of sexual harassment. Local custom, primarily in the northern provinces and in Muslim and South Asian communities, allows underage marriages. The 2012 MICS found that 14.3 percent of girls were married before the age of 15 in the northern region of the country.
According to Education Movement for Everyone, a civil society organization for human rights, an estimated 12 percent of young people with disabilities did not have access to education. The electoral law provides for access and assistance to voters with disabilities in the polling booths, including the right for them to vote first. The National Disability Action Plan 2012-2019 provides for funding, monitoring and assessment of implementation by various organizations supporting persons with disabilities.
Because public transportation was limited, many citizens rode in private minibuses and in the back of vans, dangerous for persons with or without disabilities. The Workers' Act includes an article that prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on a number of factors, including sexual orientation.
Worker Rights
While the law provides for voluntary arbitration, including in sectors deemed essential by the government, such as the three special economic zones and one free industrial zone, it was not used regularly during the year. While the government has made efforts to enforce these laws, it has not done so effectively. There was limited evidence of forced labor and forced child labor in the domestic and agricultural sectors.
Labor inspectors can obtain court orders and use the police to enforce compliance with child labor regulations. There were no mechanisms in place to lodge complaints about hazardous and forced child labour. Violation of the provisions on child labor can be punished with fines of between 1 and 40 months of the minimum wage.
The Norwegian Working Environment Authority and the police lacked sufficient staff, funds and training to investigate cases of child labour, especially in areas outside the capital, where a. The government disseminated information and provided education about the dangers of child labor to the public, although lack of resources limited these efforts. The government made few new efforts to prevent and eliminate child labor during the year.
Efforts to prevent child labor include awareness campaigns and increased law enforcement training in recognizing and combating child labor and child trafficking. Mothers who did not complete high school were more likely to have children involved in child labor. In May, the government, in collaboration with the ILO and local civil affairs, held final consultations on the National Child Labor Action Plan for the period 2013-2019.
See also the Department of Labor's findings on the worst forms of child labor at www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/findings/. Labor laws and regulations prohibit discrimination based on race, sex, disability, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, HIV-positive status, or social status, but the government did not effectively implement the law. The Ministry of Labor did not effectively enforce health, safety and wage laws, and the government only occasionally fined or closed companies for.
