Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

List of issues in relation to the initial report of Mozambique *

A.Purpose and general obligations (arts. 1–4)

1.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to adapt current legislation to the Convention and remove the exception established in article 37 of the Constitution, which states that citizens with disabilities fully enjoy the rights set forth in the Constitution and are subject to the same obligations, except the rights and obligations that they are unable to exercise or fulfil on account of their disability;

(b)Measures taken to revise the concept of disability in current legislation and harmonize it with the Convention and the human rights model established therein;

(c)Actions taken to end the medical approach to disability and remove remaining pejorative terminology with regard to persons with disabilities from the Government’s views, lawmaking and actions;

(d)Measures taken to issue the executive decree implementing Act No. 10/2024 of 7 June on protection and respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of persons with permanent physical, mental and sensory disabilities, and to ensure that the Act covers all areas addressed in the Convention. Please indicate the mechanisms for the participation of persons with disabilities in this process;

(e)Action taken to assess and mitigate the impact of austerity measures adopted by the State Party on the situation of persons with disabilities and their quality of life;

(f)Measures taken to adopt a comprehensive strategy for the implementation of the Convention and the rights of persons with disabilities, including information on the strategy’s main objectives and implementation period;

(g)Mechanisms for the participation of persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in public decision-making, including the development of laws and public policies and the implementation of institutional reforms of concern to them.

B.Specific rights (arts. 5–30)

Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)

2.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to prohibit discrimination on disability grounds in the Constitution and other legislation addressing equality and non-discrimination;

(b)Measures taken to recognize the forms of multiple and intersectional discrimination faced by women and girls with disabilities, persons with disabilities living in rural areas and persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, and actions undertaken to eliminate discrimination and ensure substantive equality;

(c)Procedures for requesting reasonable accommodation in all areas of life, as well as complaint mechanisms and other remedies, including compensation for harm resulting from the denial of reasonable accommodation;

(d)Complaint mechanisms in the event of violations of the rights of persons with disabilities and redress measures in such cases.

Women with disabilities (art. 6)

3.Please provide information on:

(a)Legislation, public policies and strategies in place to ensure that women and girls with disabilities enjoy their rights and to combat multiple and intersectional discrimination;

(b)Specific measures to identify and amend laws and policies that discriminate against or exclude women and girls with disabilities;

(c)The public budget and actions aimed at empowering women and girls with disabilities so that they know and claim their rights, file complaints of rights infringements and participate in the social, educational, economic and professional spheres in equal conditions as others.

Children with disabilities (art. 7)

4.Please provide information on:

(a)Short-, medium- and long-term strategies for the provision of support to children with disabilities and their inclusion in the community, including measures to ensure their access to age-appropriate development programmes. Please also indicate whether the National Plan for Children 2013–2019 has been extended and, if so, whether it includes specific measures to guarantee the rights of children with disabilities;

(b)Children’s parliaments established at the national, provincial and district levels in which children with disabilities can participate, the frequency and location of their meetings, the provision of financial support, the accessibility of information and communication and the number of children with disabilities who have participated;

(c)Mechanisms to ensure that children with disabilities can be heard in administrative and judicial proceedings, including those related to adoption.

Awareness-raising (art. 8)

5.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to prevent persons with disabilities, including persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities and persons with albinism, from being subjected to discriminatory and harmful cultural practices;

(b)Awareness-raising measures to eliminate the stigmatization of disability and prevent social isolation of children with disabilities, persons with autism and women with disabilities in both urban and rural settings. Please describe how these measures target families and social and religious leaders and how the media are used to raise awareness;

(c)The role played by organizations of persons with disabilities in designing, implementing and monitoring State awareness-raising campaigns and programmes;

(d)Measures to assess the impact of awareness-raising workshops on reducing disability-based stigma and discrimination.

Accessibility (art. 9)

6.Please provide information on:

(a)Progress thus far in the application and enforcement of the provisions of Decree No. 53/2008 of 30 November regulating the construction and maintenance of technical devices to ensure that public places and services are accessible to and can be moved about in and used by persons with physical disabilities or limited mobility;

(b)Measures in place to ensure the active involvement of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in the integration of accessibility measures in all areas, including the implementation and monitoring of laws and public policies on accessibility;

(c)Measures to ensure that parking spaces reserved for persons with disabilities are not occupied by other vehicles or vendors, and the nature of any penalties imposed in such cases;

(d)Measures taken to ensure compliance with Decree No. 12/2017, which requires plans for new public buildings to be submitted in advance to the public works authorities for authorization;

(e)Measures taken to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to public transportation, as well as to information and communication thereon, on an equal basis with others;

(f)Measures in place to ensure that new and old buildings, including housing, in urban and rural areas, as well as banking and financial services, are accessible to persons with disabilities.

Right to life (art. 10)

7.Please provide information on:

(a)The results of the Multisectoral Action Plan to Respond to Issues faced by Persons with Albinism and Ensure their Protection, especially with regard to protection of the right to life;

(b)Action taken by the National Human Rights Commission to effectively raise awareness of measures aimed at preventing deaths of children with disabilities, as well as abductions and murders of persons with albinism.

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies (art. 11)

8.Please provide information on:

(a)Mechanisms for the participation of persons with disabilities in the review of Act No. 15/2014 establishing the legal framework on disaster management;

(b)Measures taken to establish disability-inclusive early warning systems in all disaster situations;

(c)Measures taken to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in the context of the armed conflict ongoing since 2017 in the northern Cabo Delgado region;

(d)Assistance measures being provided to landmine survivors through their representative organizations, and actions to eliminate the explosive remnants still in the territory;

(e)Measures in place to ensure that strategies for the management of preparedness and disaster risk reduction, climate change and political violence are inclusive and accessible to all persons with disabilities, in particular persons who are deaf or hard of hearing or deafblind and persons with visual impairments, in close consultation with persons with disabilities through their representative organizations;

Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)

9.Please provide the Committee with information on:

(a)Measures taken to immediately implement the provisions of Act No. 10/2024 of June 7 recognizing the equality of persons with disabilities before the law and to repeal previous legislation restricting legal capacity on the basis of impairment;

(b)Measures taken to ensure that all persons with disabilities, including persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, are supported in their decision-making on an equal basis with others;

(c)The number of persons with disabilities under guardianship and/or conservatorship.

Access to justice (art. 13)

10.Please provide information on:

(a)The specific manner in which the Institute for Legal Representation and Assistance provides legal assistance and advice to persons with disabilities;

(b)The manner in which the Families and Children’s Office protects and safeguards the rights of victims of violence, including persons with disabilities, the training provided to its members in dealing with persons with disabilities and the manner in which the Office ensures that its premises, information and communication are accessible;

(c)The availability of legal advisers and steps taken to ensure that they are chosen by persons with disabilities so that they take a gender and age approach in their work;

(d)Measures taken to ensure that persons with disabilities can serve as judges, legal advisers and lawyers and in other positions related to access to justice.

Liberty and security of person (art. 14)

11.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Amend article 59 of the Constitution to clearly specify that persons with disabilities have the right to liberty and security of person and cannot be deprived of their liberty or prosecuted on the basis of an impairment;

(b)Abolish any legislation, policies and practices allowing for the deprivation of liberty of persons with disabilities, in particular persons with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities, on the basis of real or perceived impairments;

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 15)

12.Please provide information on:

(a)Complaint mechanisms in cases of violence in closed institutions, including psychiatric hospitals, prisons and police stations, the response to such complaints, investigation and punishment of perpetrators and protection and reparation measures for victims;

(b)Measures taken to prevent cruel or inhuman and degrading treatment against persons with disabilities, in particular persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities in psychiatric and charitable establishments;

(c)Mechanisms for the monitoring and evaluation of psychiatric centres and any other segregational institutions, including prisons, to detect cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that involve organizations of persons with disabilities;

(d)The number and situation of persons with disabilities deprived of their liberty in the context of the post-electoral political violence in November 2024;

(e)Measures to protect persons with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities and persons with disabilities who are deprived of their liberty from arbitrary treatment.

Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse (art. 16)

13.Please provide information on:

(a)Support provided to persons with disabilities who were injured as a result of the post-election tensions in 2024;

(b)Current legislation on the prevention of violence against women and human trafficking that includes measures to prevent situations of violence against women and children with disabilities in private and public settings, including the home, school, workplace and social networks;

(c)Steps taken by the State to prevent and respond to cases of gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities, the specific protection accorded to them and the investigations into and conviction of perpetrators;

(d)Measures taken to prevent persons with albinism from being harmed by the removal of body parts or by attacks on their integrity and dignity, and any mechanism to file and respond to complaints, establish the criminal liability of perpetrators and provide reparation;

(e)Measures taken to reinstate the counselling and advocacy services previously offered to victims of exploitation, trafficking, violence and abuse and to ensure that such services are fully accessible to persons with disabilities;

(f)The number and nature of cases of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities, including persons with albinism, and of cases of corporal punishment of children, disaggregated by sex, age, gender, status as an internally displaced person, refugee or asylum-seeker, and type of impairment, as well as measures taken to identify and punish perpetrators and provide reparation to victims.

Protecting the integrity of the person (art. 17)

14.Please provide information on the measures in place to:

(a)Ensure that persons with disabilities can express their informed consent, will and preferences with respect to all medical interventions by providing them with information in accessible formats suited to their disability, including in plain language;

(b)Protect persons with disabilities, especially women and girls with disabilities, whether living in institutions or at home, from sterilization and non-consensual abortions which continue to be performed by decision of their family or medical professional.

Liberty of movement and nationality (art. 18)

15.Please explain:

(a)What actions are being taken in response to the increase in the number of children with disabilities who are not registered as such at birth due to lack of awareness among families and the Government’s failure to require registration, especially in remote and rural areas;

(b)How the rights of internally displaced persons, refugees and migrants with disabilities, especially those whose situation results from the armed conflict in the northern region of the country, are being protected.

Living independently and being included in the community (art. 19)

16.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to amend Act No. 10/2024 on disability, which currently does not contain any actions to ensure that persons with disabilities can live independently in the community, to provide the community-based support they need and to eliminate barriers to access to community services and facilities, such as hospitals, places of worship, parks, sports and cultural activities, and other social gatherings;

(b)Strategies adopted to enable persons with albinism to live in the community, enjoy access to all public services and receive the support they require to this end;

(c)The construction and provision of accessible and affordable housing for persons with disabilities;

(d)Steps being taken to prevent practices that promote the social isolation of persons with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities and lead to their segregation in the home.

Personal mobility (art. 20)

17.Please describe the measures taken to:

(a)Enforce the regulation on the use and maintenance of a public technological system;

(b)Increase investment and decrease or abolish taxes on the purchase of mobility aids for persons with disabilities;

(c)Ensure that persons with disabilities can obtain assistive technologies, such as walkers, crutches, wheelchairs and prosthetics, free of charge or at low cost;

(d)Provide training to local communities, including organizations of persons with disabilities, on the production and use of assistive devices and technology.

Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information (art. 21)

18.Please provide information on:

(a)Steps taken to amend Act No. 34/2014, on the right to information, to clearly specify that the modes and methods used should be accessible for persons who are deaf, blind or deafblind or who have an intellectual disability, that the training of sign language interpreters should be considered as mandatory and that sign language should be recognized as an official language of the State Party;

(b)Actions taken to ensure that deaf children in urban, rural and remote areas receive instruction in sign language;

(c)Programmes to guarantee training in new information technologies for persons with disabilities and ensure that they are provided with computer equipment for their education, training and employment;

(d)Accessibility of government websites, information, communication and technology to all persons with disabilities, in particular to persons who are deaf or blind or have an intellectual disability;

(e)Measures taken to ensure that mass media, private media and all information are available to persons with disabilities in accessible and alternative formats, such as Braille, sign language and Easy Read.

Respect for privacy (art. 22)

19.Please provide information on the measures in place to safeguard the right to privacy of persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities, persons with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities and persons with albinism, in all settings, including educational and health establishments.

Respect for home and the family (art. 23)

20.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Repeal legislative provisions that discriminate against persons with disabilities, particularly persons with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities, in terms of their right to marry, have a family and/or adopt children;

(b)Ensure that persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities, have the right to inherit;

(c)Provide financial support and counselling to families with members with disabilities and to parents with disabilities to ensure that no children are separated from their parents because they or their parents have a disability;

(d)Ensure that training on sexual and reproductive rights is provided by professionals to all persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities, using accessible ways and methods.

Education (art. 24)

21.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Allocate the necessary budget for the implementation of the strategy on inclusive education and child development, the extension of the Strategic Plan for Education beyond 2026 and the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular schools at all levels up to tertiary education, in urban, rural and remote areas, including, in the latter areas, through the provision of accessible transportation;

(b)Eliminate discrimination against children with visual impairments, including discrimination against deafblind children deriving from the decision of the Ministry of Education (Decree No. 54/2000 of August 8) limiting deafblind children in the first cycle to the arts programme;

(c)Allow special education teachers to serve as instructors in regular schools and raise awareness among teachers, education professionals and families about the rights of persons with disabilities in the educational sphere and the use of accessible formats, including sign language, Braille and Easy Read;

(d)Ensure accessibility, as well as the provision of reasonable accommodation and individualized support for students with disabilities, without discrimination based on type of impairment, and of remedial mechanisms in case where such accommodation and support are denied.

Health (art. 25)

22.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to make all clinics and healthcare services, including diagnostic and treatment equipment and sexual and reproductive health services, as well as information and communication thereon, accessible;

(b)Training for healthcare practitioners in the dignified treatment of persons with disabilities in urban, rural and remote areas;

(c)Provision of sunscreens, sunglasses and protective clothing to persons with albinism to prevent skin and corneal complications caused by the sun’s rays;

(d)Mechanisms for persons with disabilities to report discriminatory treatment in healthcare services, including sexual and reproductive health services, without fear of reprisals that also address case follow-up, penalties for perpetrators and reparations for victims.

Habilitation and rehabilitation (art. 26)

23.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to provide community-based habilitation and rehabilitation services, ensuring that persons with disabilities, including landmine survivors, are duly informed of the location of these services, are encouraged to seek them out and are provided with the necessary resources to this end, including transportation, and that technical aids are provided to all persons with disabilities who require them;

(b)The habilitation and rehabilitation programmes for landmine victims, including to provide them with free prosthetics and financial support to cover the expenses arising from their disability, even if they are employed.

Work and employment (art. 27)

24.Please provide information on:

(a)The extension of the 2009–2013 Strategy for Persons with Disabilities in the Public Sector, which aimed to ensure the employability of persons with disabilities, and the measures taken to build on the results obtained with regard to the recruitment of persons with disabilities and the monitoring of their continued employment;

(b)Any initiatives to promote the employment of persons with disabilities, particularly women, in both the public and private sectors, and any actions to prevent harassment;

(c)Training provided to persons with disabilities for jobs in the formal economy, in all areas of economic activity, including as entrepreneurs;

(d)Actions to eliminate discrimination in the employment of persons with disabilities, any complaints mechanisms in such cases that include follow-up procedures and remedies.

Adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28)

25.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to combat poverty among persons with disabilities, including situations resulting from austerity policies and foreign debt repayment, and to ensure that the population census reflects the living conditions of persons with disabilities, including those living in extreme poverty;

(b)Measures taken to provide assistance to persons with disabilities, including support to cover disability-related expenses;

(c)Plans to establish a national social protection programme for persons with disabilities, especially women with disabilities who are single mothers or heads of household and victims of landmines, with the aim of providing them with an adequate standard of living;

(d)Procedures to identify persons with disabilities as possible beneficiaries of social assistance programmes, and training for so-called “permanentes” (volunteer community liaison officers) to prevent discrimination in the recognition of persons with disabilities;

(e)The number of persons with disabilities who have benefited from the Direct Social Support Programme and the Basic Social Subsidy Programme thus far and the amount of the benefits granted to them;

(f)The number of persons with disabilities who have participated in the Productive Social Action Programme, the nature of the socioeconomic inclusion activities provided to them and the results in practice.

Participation in political and public life (art. 29)

26.Please provide information on:

(a)The review of all laws, including the Constitution and the Electoral Act (No. 4/2013), to eliminate discriminatory provisions that limit the rights of persons with disabilities, in particular those with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, to stand as candidates and be elected as members of political parties and to participate in elections;

(b)Reasonable accommodation provided to persons with disabilities, including blind, deaf and deafblind persons and persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, so that they may freely, independently and confidentially exercise their right to vote;

(c)Measures taken to ensure that the electoral messages of candidates disseminated through leaflets, radio and television programmes and social networks are in accessible formats such as Braille, sign language and plain language;

(d)Measures taken to include persons with disabilities, especially women, in public leadership positions, government councils and decision-making processes;

(e)The methods for determining the number of persons with disabilities who hold parliamentary functions, positions in the National Assembly or local assemblies and managerial positions, both in ministries and private companies.

Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport (art. 30)

27.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Ensure that persons with disabilities are able to participate in cultural activities, develop their artistic potential and participate on an equal basis with others in recreational and leisure activities and in sports, including by ensuring that facilities, information and communication are accessible;

(b)Ensure that intellectual property laws do not constitute barriers for persons with disabilities in accessing cultural materials by using as a guide the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.

C.Specific obligations (arts. 31–33)

Statistics and data collection (art. 31)

28.Please provide the Committee with information on:

(a)The results of the analysis of disability data from the 2017 census, which applied the Washington Group short set of questions on functioning, although it appears to have been done improperly;

(b)Measures taken to resolve the difficulties that the State Party has reported facing in collecting data disaggregated by sex, gender and type of disability;

(c)The manner in which the State Party currently ensures that data on persons with disabilities is collected for use in decision-making regarding the implementation of the Convention.

International cooperation (art. 32)

29.Please report on how persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, have been involved in the State Party’s activities in the area of international cooperation, including discussions on national development, and in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals. Please also describe the specific areas of interaction or exchange on international cooperation in which they have been involved and the disability plans being implemented through international cooperation.

National implementation and monitoring (art. 33)

30.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to reinstate the Council for Persons with Disabilities, whose functions were transferred to the Council for Social Protection, Labour and Gender, thus diluting and diminishing the importance of the rights of persons with disabilities and reducing the potential for related actions;

(b)The participation of persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action, the government body designated to coordinate actions to implement the Convention;

(c)The establishment of an independent monitoring mechanism in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles), and existing mechanisms and support for the participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in monitoring the implementation of the Convention.