Abbreviations

UNHCRUnited Nations High Commission for Refugees

CASGACommission for Social, Gender and Environmental Matters

CAIIntegrated Support Centre for Victims of Violence

CNAMNational Commission for the Advancement of Women

CNCSNational AIDS Council

CTCNAMTechnical Council of the National Council for the Advancement of Women

CFJJJuridical and Judiciary Training Centre

CPAMProvincial Council for the Advancement of Women

CPLPPortuguese Speaking Countries’ Community

DNMNational Directorate of Women

DPMASProvincial Directorate for Women and Social Action

EGFPPublic Sector’s Gender Strategy

EEFPEmployment and Professional Training Strategy

ETPVTechnical, Professional and Vocational Training

FAOUnited Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture

FDCCommunity Development Foundation

FOMMURForum of Rural Mozambican Women

FORCOMCommunity Radio Forum

GCGGender Coordination Group

INDENational Institute for Education Development

IPAJInstitute for Sponsorship and Juridical Assistance

ISAPPublic Administration College

WLSAWomen and Law in Southern Africa

IDHHuman Development Index

IDSDemographic and Health Inquiry

INASNational Institute for Social Action

INCAFContinuous Family Inquiry

IOFFamily Budget Inquiry

ILOInternational Labour Organization

INENational Institute for Statistics

LDHHuman Rights League

LOLELocal Institutions’ State Law

MAEMinistry of State Administration

MFPMinistry of Public Services

MICMinistry of Commerce and Industry

MICOAMinistry for Coordination of environmental Actions

MINECMinistry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation

MINEDMinistry of Education

MINJUSMinistry of Justice

MINTMinistry of Interior

MISAUMinistry of Health

MITRABMinistry of Labor

MMASMinistry of Women and Social Action

MPDMinistry of Planning and Development

MUMIPAMinister and Parliamentary Women Network

MDGMillennium Development Goals

OLEState’s Local Institutions

WHOWorld Health Organization

OEState Budget

UNOUnited Nations Organization

PARPPoverty Reduction Plan

PESEconomic and Social Plan

GDPGross Domestic Product

WFPWorld Food Programme

PNAMNational Plan for Women Advancement

GBPBGender Based Planning and Budgeting

PQGGovernment’s Five Year Plan

PPPDPolicy for Disabled Person

PSAFood Subsidy Program

SAAJAdolescent and Youth Friendly Services

SADCSouthern Africa Development Community

UNESCOUnited Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture

UTRELTechnical Unit for Legal Reform

Introduction

General background

1.The Republic of Mozambique’s combined third and fourth reports (henceforth “The Report”) is presented according to the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and it follows the guidelines for report writing, particularly the document HRI/GEN/2/Rev.6, dated 3rd June 2009.The report equally comprises the final observations of the Commute for Elimination of Discrimination Against Women to the First and Second combined reports of the Republic of Mozambique, adopted by the document CEDAW/C/MOZ/CO/2 from 11th July 2007.

2.The Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is a legal document of universal scope about women’s rights, which articulates multiple and previously approved measures and declarations of the United Nations on human rights in general, and of women, in particular, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Pact of Civil, Political and Economic, Cultural and Social Rights and the Declaration for Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, approved by the 2263 General Assembly, on 7th November 1967.

3.CEDAW was approved by the United Nations General Assembly on 18th November 1979 and entered into force as an International Treaty on 3rd September, 1981 after its approval by 20 countries.

4.The Convention provides the baseline for achievement of equality between women and men through dispositions, norms and procedures aiming at defending and promoting women’s rights in public and private life — including the right to vote and be elected, as well as of education, health and employment — in equal circumstances as men. By ratifying the Convention, the Member States compromised themselves to adopt a series of measures, including legislative and special temporary measures, in order to end all forms of discrimination against women, so that women can benefit from their human rights and fundamental liberties. The countries that ratified the Convention are legally bound to the implementation of the provisions contained in this juridical instrument.

5.The Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique ratified CEDAW on 2nd June, 1993 through the Resolution 4/93. The accession instrument was deposited by the Government of Mozambique to the United Nations on 21st April, 1997 and entered into force in May of the same year. Mozambique ratified the Optional Protocol on 4th November 2008.

6.The Republic of Mozambique’s constitution on International Law, establishes that:

•The international treaties, properly approved and ratified, are enforced in the Mozambican juridical order after its official publication and while binding the Mozambican State internationally;

•The norms of international law have in the internal juridical order the same value assumed by the normative infra-constitutional acts resulting from the Assembly of the Republic and the Government, according to its respective reception form.

7.The Government has been making efforts towards guaranteeing that the Mozambican legislation reflects the constitutional changes brought by the 2004 Constitution. Mozambique accelerated the revision of the legislation in various fields, and has been working in coordination with the Parliament in order to ensure that all discriminatory provisions are amended or replaced, thus guaranteeing a complete alignment with the provisions of the Convention and providing legal solutions against discrimination against women, according to article 1 of the Convention. Consequently, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action enhanced its collaboration with the Cabinet of Parliamentary Women and the Commission for Social, Gender and Environmental Matters.

8.In terms of legislation, the Government, through the Assembly of the Republic approved, among others, the following legal instruments that protect women rights:

•The Law n°12/2009 of 12th March, for Anti-Discrimination against People Living with HIV and AIDS;

•Law n°14/2009 of 17th de March, about the General Statute of Civil Servants, which protects women in public service.

9.The following was also carried out:

•Revision of the Commercial Code, which establishes women’s autonomy in business;

•Revision of the Penal Code (from 2014) — In order to suit its applicability to the current context, considering that the previous one was developed at the end of the XIX century. Although it was not yet promulgated (already approved by the Assembly of the Republic), the following great innovations of this code are:

(i)Decriminalization of voluntary interruption of a pregnancy, after recognizing unsafe abortion as a public health problem;

(ii)Penalization of sex with conscious transmission of diseases;

(iii)Not forcing an aggressor to marry the sexually abused woman or child, although the age limit for minors is still to be considered (for cases of sexual violations of minors, only children until the age of 16 years old are considered).

10.In the revision and approval of the above laws, it is to highlight the importance of diverse advocacy actions carried out by the National Directorate of Gender, the National Council for Advancement of Women and civil society organizations, such as Forum Mulher, Forum of Rural Mozambican Women (FOMMUR), FDC, Action Aid, Save the Children, among others, in order to accelerate the legal reform process.

Methodology and structure of the report

11.The present report describes the progresses made by Mozambique, in respect of CEDAW’s implementation, during the period of 2007–2010–2014. Policies, programs and actions that have been carried out since the submission of the last progress report in 2007, are presented in this report.

12.The preparation of this report obeyed the United Nations Guidelines, and was done under the coordination of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action (MGCAS), through the National Directorate of Gender (DNG). To this effect, a working group was created, which included the National Council for Advancement of Women, The Technical Council of the National Council for Advancement of Women (CTCNAM) — including gender focal points — Provincial Directorates for Gender, Children and Social Action (DPGCAS) and the Gender Coordination Group (GCG).

13.During the report preparation, information from the following documents were also considered: “Evaluation of the Implementation of the National Plan for Advancement of Women (2007–2008)”, “Government Five Year Program 2012‑2014”, “Report about the Millennium Development Goals “ National Plan for Advancement of Women 2010–2014”, the Report on the Implementation of Beijing plus 20 Action Platform, the 2013 Evaluation Report of the National Plan for Prevention and Fight against Violence against Women 2008–2012, the annual briefings on actions carried out in the field of women and gender and the semester and annual reports of the gender subgroup for 2007, 2008 and 2009, produced within a joint revision (between the Government and cooperation partners) on the Government performance. This report also considered reports from various institutions that collaborate with the Government on the elimination of discrimination against women and the contribution resulting from National Conferences on Women and Gender.

14.The report is divided in four parts. The introduction comprises the general background of the document and a socioeconomic and political description of the Mozambican context. The First, second, third and fourth parts, subdivided by articles of the Convention according to the Guidelines on presentation structure and content of the briefings, discuss the implementation of the Convention during the period in analysis, aggregating, simultaneously, the responses to the recommendations of the final comments made by CEDAW Commission to the combined 1st and 2nd Reports. Finally, it presents a conclusion, which discusses some challenges that the country faces in the implementation of CEDAW.

15.This report will present further below the actions carried out aiming at increasing women’s wellbeing in the context of gender equality.

Socioeconomic and political context

Population

16.In 2014, the Mozambican population was of 25 million inhabitants, of which, 68% rural and only 32% urban. The proportion of women in the country is 52%, and this is predominantly visible in the adult age (between 20 and 44 years old) and particularly in the rural areas, where women constitute 55% of the population (the peak of women concentration is situated between the ages of 25 and 29 years old, 57%). Considering its relative smaller proportion in urban areas and in the adult age, it can be inferred that the male youth migrate from rural areas to cities, thus creating a tendency of feminization of rural areas (INE, Population Projections, 2007).

17.The Mozambican population is essentially young. 45% of the population is younger than 15 years old, and 19% is between the ages of 15 and 25 years old. Whether in urban or rural areas, their presence has implied priority definitions on interventions that protect them or build the necessary human capital for their present or future wellbeing. In average, 31% of heads of families in the country are women. Nevertheless, this percentage varies by province, with the South ones representing 54% of the total of heads of families.

Socioeconomic context

18.Mozambique has been registering a significant economic growth. Its real growth rate has averaged 7% for more than a decade and a half, contributing to the increase of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, from $421 to $644 in only five years (estimate based on INE’s Data Base).

Table 1

GDP Growth per Capita, 2008–2013

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013 – 2014
Growth Rate	5.8	6.5	7.1	7.4	7.1	7.4 6.6
GDP/capita	421.1	451.3	513.3	556.8	596.7	643.6 531.7

Source: INE Data Base on national accounts www.ine.gov.mz.

19.Production growth has been positive in various sectors of the economy. However, in terms of contribution to the GDP, the country gets higher contribution from the service and extractive sectors, with a decline in the manufacture sector. The new investments have been concentrating in megaprojects, essentially of mineral and capital intensive nature.

20.According to the 2011 Family Inquiry (INCAF), the population employed in the relatively low income agricultural sector has reduced by about 5%. By gender, though, the reduction was lower among women (4%) than among men (8%). Most of the sectors that absorb this labor comprise small scale retailers and service people, which drive the growth of the economy to outsourcing, with a declining job offer in manufacture, the sector with the highest potential to absorb the labor force.

21.One of the most severe impacts of changes in the economy’s growth structure has to do with employment. In 2012, the unemployment rate in Mozambique was estimated at 22.5%, being higher in urban areas (35%) than in rural areas (17%).This data constitutes an increase in 6.0 percentage points, compared to previous years. The unemployment rates by province registered a significant variation, with peaks in Maputo City and Manica, Maputo, Tete and Nampula provinces, with a very high unemployment level among young people. From gender point of view, it is important to note that while for male young people the unemployment begin to decrease from the age of 24 (after rates reaching almost half of the population aged 15 to 19 years old), for women, the reduction can only be felt in the age group of 30–34 years old.

22.In the social field, the 2013 Human Development Index Report (HDI) indicates that the index was at 0.327 in 2012, placing the country in the 185th place among 187 analyzed countries, despite the 2010 index improvement, estimated at 0.318, and the 0.322 for 2011.

23.In addition, poverty analysis based on consumption, dated back in 2008/9 show a poverty stagnation between 2002/3 and 2008/9 in the range of 54.7%, with higher concentration in rural areas (57%) that in urban areas (50%), according to the MPD, in its Third Poverty Assessment, 2013.

24.As for gender inequality indexes it can be said that an improvement trend was registered at the international level while showing negative trends locally. The poverty index for 2012 showed an estimated gender inequality index at 0.582 points placing the country at the position 125 from 187 countries. This was however an improvement when compared to the estimation of 0.718 of 2008, i.e. 111 position among 169 countries (UNDP, Human Development Reports, 2010 and 2013). Poverty indexes in families headed by women are estimated at 58%, a drop of 4 percentage points when compared to the previous year.

Political context

25.Mozambique is working towards building a pluralistic society. Since 1994, 5 electoral processes were carried out, with the last one taking place in 2014. The elections comprised the presidential and legislative (Assembly of the Republic and provincial; There was also municipal elections and the last ones were held in 2013).

26.From the gender point of view, these constitute singular opportunities to increase the representation of women in leadership and in decision-making organs, for promotion and protection of their well-being. It can be highlighted, for example, the increase of women’s representation in minister’s positions from 15.3% in 2004 to about 29% in 2014; and between the Deputies of the Assembly of the Republic, from 28% in 2004, to 40% in 2014.

27.At district level, through the Law of Local State Institutions (LOLE), it was opened space for a higher representation of women, through the District Consultative Councils, organs responsible for definition of local development priorities and respective budget allocation.

28.The dissemination of the final comments on the combined reports 1 and 2 to the relevant Ministries, the Assembly of the Republic and to the members of the Technical Council of the National Council for Women Advancement played a key role, resulting in the conception of the Strategy for Implementation of United Nations Recommendations on the Government Report about the degree of Implementation of the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

29.The process was managed by the National Council for Advancement of Women, which after the findings’ analyses and recommendations by the Committee, proceeded with identifying the respective strategies, actions and responsibilities.

30.The strategy design was driven by the main objective “to ensure that all stakeholders include, in their respective programs and sector plans, concrete actions that facilitate, in a coordinated and articulated way, the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women”. The document was approved in the 13th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, from 22nd May, 2008.

31.It is in this context that efforts were made towards empowering the intervention of relevant institutions. Among these are the creation/formalization of the Gender Units in each sector, coordinated by the National Council for Advancement of Women, through the Gender Focal Points, which coordinate the Gender Units in the respective sectors.

32.Note that the articulation between CNAM and Gender Units is also done through periodic technical meetings.

33.Until now, 27 Gender Units were created; 23 in various Ministries, 4 in Higher Education institutions and 1 in the Constitutional Court. This is a progress compared to 2009, where only 14 Gender Units were available and all of them in Ministries. In addition, 7 Ministries already have gender strategies that guide their respective activities concerning gender equality and women empowerment. These are: The Ministry of Health, Education, Women and Social Action, Environment, Agriculture and the Ministry of Public Service. Until 2009, only 5 sectors had a strategy. Despite these progresses, there is still need for actions in order to strengthen the existing Gender Units.

34.The integration of gender and development related guidelines by the Ministry of Planning and Development in the economic and social plans and State budget, including decentralized planning, opens a space for every sector and public institutions at all levels to handle gender issues.

35.It is worth mentioning the role of the reinforcement of institutional mechanisms for equity promotion at provincial and district levels. In this context, the Government has been carrying out actions leading to the expansion and strengthening of these mechanisms, through the creation and operation of District Councils for Advancement of Women. Until 2009, the Councils for Advancement of Women’s coverage reached all provinces and 13 districts. Until 2010, 30 districts already had the Councils. During the period in analysis, 128 Councils for Advancement of Women were created (CNAM, Briefing on Activities carried out on the field of Women and Gender-2013, CNAM-2014). There are still challenges related to cases where, at district level, there are no women representing certain services and their action do not actively include gender equality objectives, despite existing guidelines produced at central level. This is most notorious in the economic sectors, such as Veterinary and Mining Services.

36.Coordination with other power institutions (such as the Assembly of the Republic) and other non-public institutions, including non-government and community-based institutions (national and international), and the bilateral and multilateral ones reinforced the intervention landmark for implementation of the recommendations of CEDAW committee and other internally defined priorities. It is worth mentioning the role of:

•Fórum Mulher, National and Foreign Institutions, Government Institutions, Trade Unions, Donor Agencies and other entities and/or groups implementing activities that benefit women;

•The Commission for Social, Gender and Environment Matters (CASGA) at the Assembly of the Republic level.

37.The Cabinet of Parliamentary Women, also at the Assembly of the Republic — which aims at opening a space for the parliamentary women to handle their matters and establish linking mechanisms with women’s organizations in order to ensure that gender matters and fight against poverty are considered during the deliberations of the Assembly of the Republic. A Network of Minister and Parliamentary Women (MUMIPA) is still under development, whose objective is to promote broader sensitization campaigns about gender equality in various domains and strengthen advocacy actions for revisions of laws, policies and practices that constitute bottlenecks to the promotion of women’s rights and development.

Part I

Articles 2–3

38.The Government has been adopting measures to ensure the appropriation of the Convention, through harmonization between the articles of the Convention and the legal framework, national policies and strategies. Currently there are 2 integrating articles — The National Plan for Advancement of Women and the Economic and Social Plan, its subsequent plans/programs and the global planning and budgeting.

39.Within the scope of global planning, the Government has been integrating the rights consecrated in various articles of the Convention into national instruments, such as the Five Year Government Plans for Poverty Reduction (PARP) and the Economic and Social Plan and elaborated specific Action Plans to fight discrimination against women in the areas identified as those of higher vulnerability, for example: The Education sector Gender Strategy, the Agricultural Sector Gender Strategy, The 2007-2016 Master Plan for Agriculture Extension, the Public Service Gender Strategy, the Strategy for Inclusion of Gender in the Health Sector, the National Plan for Prevention and Fight against Violence against Women, Environment and Climate Change Gender Strategy, the Fishing Sector Gender Strategy, among others.

40.The PQG 2010–2014, reaffirms the Government’s compromise in going forward with the promotion and implementation of actions that ensure equality of opportunities between men and women in the political, economic, social and cultural fields. This compromise is reaffirmed in various instruments and policies developed, and in actions carried out in order to eliminate discrimination against women resulting from persistence of stereotypes and cultural and traditional practices of patriarchal nature, which promotes women and girls’ subordination and submissiveness towards men and contribute to the violation of their rights, including education, health and employment.

Article 4

41.The Government is aware of the need to continue with training on dissemination of the national legislation, as well as of the international instruments, given the fact that women’s level of knowledge of their rights continues low.

42.Thus, the Government has been disseminating the main juridical instruments for promotion of gender equality and equity.

43.The PQG 2010–2014 identify as priority actions for this period:

•To approve and operate the 3rd National Action Plan for Advancement of Women;

•To promote trainings on gender planning and budgeting for key elements of the Government’s institutions and the civil society;

•Develop training actions on gender and leadership, participation in politics, gender planning and budgeting and good governance for women at all levels;

•To create and operationalize the District Councils for Advancement of Women;

•To promote and develop actions that raise awareness of women’s participation in all spheres of the national life;

•Develop and implement a progress monitoring and evaluation mechanism of the impact of gender related activities.

44.The majority of these actions have been implemented by Government institutions. In fact, the 2007–2009 National Plan for Advancement of Women established the objective of promoting the revision and adoption of the new legislation to fight against various forms of discrimination against women through dissemination of the Law about Domestic Violence against Women and sensitization for attitude change and the adoption of a non-violent behaviour. In addition, the 2010–2014 National Plan for Advancement of Women considered the implementation of the following actions:

•Train 170 district trainers on the dissemination of the Law on Domestic Violence against Women;

•Carry out 11 provincial dissemination seminars on the Law about Domestic Violence against Women;

•Print 2,000 brochures of the Law about Domestic Violence Against Women;

•Publish the summarized version of the Law about Domestic Violence Against Women and printing of 2,000 copies;

•Disseminate the National Action Plan for Prevention and Fight Violence against Women;

•Publish 2,000 brochures of the SADC’s Gender and Development Protocol.

45.Equally, the Gender Planning and Budgeting is crucial for financing gender equality promotion actions, including for the financing of institutional mechanisms for gender equality promotion. The increase of awareness and capacity development on Gender Planning and Budgeting are PQG’s priorities.

46.Current efforts have been made in order to expand the POOG’s central and provincial levels experiences to the district level; and for a better efficacy of these actions, a gender monitoring and evaluation matrix was designed, which serves as landmark for the implementation of gender equality and women empowerment related activities that are linked to the National Plan for Advancement of Women, which includes CEDAW’s Guidelines.

47.Still in this context, in 2010, the Government introduced the subject “Gender and Human Rights” in public universities, strengthened partnerships with institutions of juridical assistance and sponsorship and trained 94 magistrates (of which 42 are women), including Para-legal personnel, through the Institute for Sponsorship and Juridical Assistance (IPAJ). This covered curriculum revision and training of judges and attorneys, considering, among other aspects, the inclusion of modules on international and regional instruments for protection of women rights, ratified by Mozambique since 1993 in the context of the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. Also, journalists, policemen/policewomen and community leaders were trained on violence and human rights matters in 4 provinces of the country.

48.In 2011, the Legal Medicine Services trained at least one representative of each province of the country on domestic violence’s forensic related matters. Agents of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique and the trainees from related training institutions were also included.

49.In partnership with Civil Society Organizations, trainings were carried out for associations providing legal support to women, in order to ensure and exercise their rights in key areas such as access and control of land and natural resources, sexual and reproductive health, HIV and AIDS and gender based violence.

50.In 2010, the Government initiated the dissemination of the Law about Violence against Women at central level, after its approval in 2009. It produced and disseminated television and radio Spots against violence. The Government produced and distributed 2,000 brochures about women rights and about violence, as well as 15,000 brochures about the Family Law in simplified language, and translated into three local languages (Emakwa, Xichangana and Cisena), which are representative of the three regions of the country. There were also produced 24,000 brochures about Gender Policy and Implementation Strategy, equally disseminated in the whole country.

51.More than 80,000 people benefitted from lectures about the link between HIV and AIDS and violence and more that 63,000 people were involved in lectures about women and children sexual violence. 618 people benefitted from 15 in seminars for dissemination of national and international instruments of human rights’ protection and another 600 people (of whom 486 women) benefitted from provincial seminars on the Law about Domestic Violence against Women, in 2011. In the following years (2012 and 2013), more than 21,000 people (of whom 13,000 women) benefitted from the dissemination of the instruments for protection of women rights (Gender Policy and Implementation Strategy, Family Law, the Law about Domestic Violence against Women). There were 25 training seminars on protection and defence of women, which benefitted 587 people (of whom 383 women). 486 lectures of dissemination of the instruments of women’s rights defence) Gender Policy and Implementation Strategy, Family Law, the Law about Domestic Violence against Women) in the provinces; 25 seminars of dissemination of the instruments that protect women, which benefitted 587 people of whom 383 women; and 9 training sessions on gender, leadership, advocacy, political participation, gender planning and good governance, which benefitted 270 members of District Consultative Councils and the Civil Society, 142 women and 128 men; and from the 180 members of the District Councils for Advancement of Women, 105 were women and 75, men in Sofala province. Additionally, it was disseminated the Agricultural Sector Gender Strategy to the Producers’ Associations in all the country and the 2009/2013 Public Sector’s Strategy for Fight Against HIV and AIDS. Actions towards the dissemination of the Land Law and the sector legislation of Land, Forests and Wildlife were carried out in consultations with communities in 12 provincial sessions. 241 sensitization sessions were also carried out and mass education of the project “Secure Access to Land”, with a participation of approximately 400 people in each session.

52.The set up of 30 private community radios and 47 from the Institute for Social Communication, including radios managed by women, boosted the use of the media for dissemination and debate about human rights of women, as well as for denouncing its violations. A remarkable example is the work performed by Radio Muthiyana, a community radio made by and for women, with a coverage radius of 100km and an audience of 293.768 inhabitants (FORCOM, 2009).

Article 5

53.The Government has been reaffirming the role of culture in the social and economic development of the country as well as in the promotion of gender equality and equity. It is important to recognise the link between traditional practices and its impact on the wellbeing of women and girls. The Culture sector has been developing activities aiming at changing mentalities regarding the subjugation of women and certain discriminating practices.

54.The regional seminars organized to collect and disseminate positive role models of women and/or positive cultural practices that handle gender dynamics in cultural context, the promotion of interactive debates about the consequences and determining factors behind cultural practices about women and the involvement of Civil Society Organizations working in favour of women, as well as the media are part of the concrete actions that the Ministry of Culture performs in order to reduce the gap between women and men, based on cultural standards.

55.Within the context of high HIV and AIDS prevalence among women, for example, priority was given to the reduction of transmission of HIV and AIDS to women, which occur during the widow’s purification ceremonies, through sensitization of community leaders and traditional healers and the community about the risks posed by unprotected sexual activities. These sensitization activities also covered cases whereby women are forced to have sexual intercourse with the partner on her return from long or short term travelling. The work with traditional healers and midwives comprise questions related to transmission of HIV and AIDS during the treatment and/or patient care.

56.In the meantime, the Government is aware that only with changes in gender roles in the society, it will be possible to eliminate certain cultural practices that are damaging to women. Thus, the economic, social and political empowerment of women is one of the strategies designed to meet the objective. The promotion of women literacy among adult women and the efforts towards a higher girl’s literary are part of the attempts of women empowerment. In addition, currently there is a campaign against early marriage of girls across the country. Other actions are related to women’s economic empowerment, to the fight against domestic violence and the increase of participation in decision-making bodies and political domain.

57.Data from the 2011 Demographic and Health Inquiry indicates a decreasing tendency of the percentage of s (15 to 19 years old) living with a partner (married or living in non-formal unions), from 37% to 36%; and an increase of single ones from 57% to 59% during the same years. The percentage of single boys of the same age is much higher, reaching about 91% in 2011. Meanwhile, these face a decreasing tendency in 4 percentage points throughout the time.

58.Concerning polygamy, data from the same inquiry points to a reduction of women living in polygamist relationships. In the urban areas, the percentage of women in monogamist unions increased from 67% to 74%. In the rural areas, the increase is relatively lower (71.1% to 74.6%) and a contrasting increase is observed in women whose partners have another wife. The message given by the data regarding the co-existence of 2 or more wives is not clear.

59.The progresses hereby identified show the positive effect that education has on girls and women, in general, and the strengthening of their economic condition, particularly in the rural areas. The dissemination of the Family Law is a contribution, mainly because women become more aware of the implications of their matrimonial choices, and this action centered in the following:

•Preparation and dissemination of brochures about the Family Law, using a simple language, in Portuguese and national languages;

•Collaboration with Community Based Organizations for dissemination of the Family Law in the most remote areas of the country;

•Legal assistance and reporting of cases that violate the Family Law to the Cabinets for Support of Women and Child Victims of Violence and Civil Society Organizations, such as MULEIDE, Fórum Mulher and the Human Rights League. A research on activities and monitoring of the application of the law has also been carried out, as well as advocacy initiatives in order to regulate this law and other relevant ones.

Article 6

60.Within the scope of human trafficking, mainly women and children, the Law 6/2008 of 9th July was approved, and in its articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 clarifies under which circumstances a case is considered a crime of traffic, exploitation and prostitution. As a preventive measure, various Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials were developed and disseminated throughout the country and campaigns carried out in coordination with countries in the region.

61.Equally, technicians of various institutions (Social Welfare, Health, Education, Justice, Migration, Customs and Civil Society) were trained (in 2010) on matters related with human trafficking, investigation, support to victims and their reintegration, totalizing 246 beneficiaries.

62.Nevertheless, challenges in this field persist, namely: the difficulty to identify the victims in the border posts, lack of formalized procedures for identification of potential victims, low capacity of collection and processing of data on identified cases and the absence of institutional mechanisms for victims’ attendance.

Part II

Article 7

63.The progress on women’s participation in politics and decision making bodies is significant. In the Government, the proportion of female Ministers increased to 28% in 2014, the proportion of female Vice Ministers increased from 18% to 20% and the Provincial Governors’ went from a nil representation to 36% in the same period. Currently, 24% of the diplomats are women. Still among members of the Government, there are significant progresses regarding women’s participation among members of the Permanent Commission of the Assembly of the Republic (40%), Members of Parliament (40%). In 2014, the presidency of the Parliament was exercised by a woman. According to data from the 2014 Report on Gender Inequalities, the country was in the 13th position at global level and in the 3rd position in Africa, after Rwanda and South Africa.

64.Concerning the Judiciary, a female General Attorney was appointed for the first time, and the number of female Vice-General Attorneys (44%), female Provincial Chief-Attorneys (45%) (54% at a given time), and among the leadership in the Provincial Offices (45%) is growing in the country.

65.Note that the 28% of female Ministers is below the Gender Declaration and its respective SADC protocol, which stipulates the occupation of at least 30% of decision-making positions in the public sector by women. Thus, this is a target that challenges the management and converges with CEDAW enforcement. On the other hand, this target was surpassed among Provincial Permanent Secretaries: 36% — Ministerial Permanent Secretaries and 45, 4% — Provincial Permanent Secretaries, there are 27% female District Administrators. The proportion of women in the District Consultative Councils is near the limit (29%) of the minimum established share of 30%.

66.Nevertheless, there is need to support women and work in a broader way with men on the transformation of the institutions, in order to ensure that their contribution in the attainment of gender equality.

67.It is possible to notice that the country has registered substantial progress concerning women’s participation in decision-making bodies, which is due to a combination of factors: From the share system in order to access to legislative power, increased access to education and literacy by women and increase of awareness on the importance of women participation in all spheres of the society. It is hoped that such measures contribute to the attainment of the desired levels of women participation, in the medium and long terms.

Article 8

68.When Mozambique adhered to CEDAW and the ILO’s Conventions 100 on Salary Equality and 111 about Discrimination at Work and Occupation, embraced the responsibility of, within the scope of Human Rights, treat them as universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, without abandoning the equality and liberty values. Thus, in order for women to conquer their citizenship, they need to participate actively in the daily life and in the Government, to have the power to take decisions, to have and keep a job, to be self-reliant, to have a house, health, leisure, education, which means a secure access to basic services — to have access to justice, judicial guarantees and a quick and efficient resource and develop herself as a human being.

69.It is within the respect for this Citizen Right and Human Rights that the Government have been represented in the international bodies by women (African Union, UNESCO, FAO, United Nations, UNHCR, WHO, CPLP and the World Meteorology Organization) in a total of 14 women, performing various activities and assuming different responsibilities as men, thus respecting the rights stipulated in the ILO’s Conventions in defence of the Human Rights of women and internally appropriated through the Constitution and specific laws. To the country, the challenge remains towards a higher representation in these bodies, similar to what happens at various other levels, internally.

Article 9

70.The 2004 revision of the Constitution of the Republic revoked a considerable part of the Law of Nationality, which had been into force since 25th June 1975, meaning that the nationality can now be acquired via:

•Origin;

•Marriage;

•Naturalization;

•Affiliation;

•Adoption;

•Reacquisition.

71.Article 26 of the Constitution of the Republic stipulates that Mozambican nationality via marriage can be acquired:

(a)By a foreigner who has been married to a Mozambican citizen for at least five years, except in cases of statelessness, yet cumulative;

(b)By a foreigner who declares to wanting to acquire the Mozambican nationality;

(c)By a foreigner who meets the requisites and the norms prescribed by the law.

72.It should be noted that the declaration of nullity or dissolution of the marriage does not prejudice the acquired nationality of the spouse. And by affiliation article 28 of the 2004 Constitution of the Republic defends that through the act of naturalization the Mozambican nationality can be granted to the children of the citizen who had acquired the nationality, provided they are single and minors of 18 years old of age.

73.In its normed judicial regime of nationality (Chapter II, articles 23 and 24) the Constitution of the Republic does not envisage a form that leads to a loss of nationality by incompatibility of the Mozambican nationality with any other.

74.Thus, all citizens by birth or judicial acquisition dully proved and provided are Mozambican, independently of sex, race, ethnicity or religion — a tool that defends equality amongst Men and Women when it comes to the right to nationality.

75.Further still and within the defence of the said right, the possibility of a double nationality is not clearly stated in the constitution, but the possibility is clearly seen with a reading of the constitutional text. In fact, what happens is that the recourse to any other nationality (which can be acquired by marriage for instance) is forbidden to any Mozambican citizens when in Mozambican territory. This acquired nationality is not recognized and does not enter into effect within the internal judicial order and as such the Mozambican nationality prevails in all forms possible as determined by the article 33 of the Constitution of the Republic, meaning “Any other acquired nationality, even by Mozambican individuals, is not recognized and is not effective within the internal judicial order of the Republic of Mozambique when these citizens are Mozambicans.”

Part III

Article 10

76.The developments in the education sector are visible. INE population data shows that there has been an increase in literacy rate in 2013 to 70% for men (66% in 2007) and 40% for women (36% in 2007) and a significant schooling increment of girls.

77.The statistical data from the Ministry of Education indicates that the number of primary school students (EP1 and EP2) has increased between 2007 and 2014. There has also been an increase in the percentage of girls within the same period as per the table below:

Table 1

Number of Students in Primary Schools

Year	EP1	% Women	EP2	% Women
2007	3.866.906	46	616.091	45.6
2014	4.857.591	47.9	847.752	46.8

Source: Ministry of Education and Human Development, 2016.

78.The trend is similar within the following levels. Not only the increment of the number of students, but a greater representation of girls can be observed in the years that have been analysed with increases varying from 2.2 percentage points in the Professional and Vocational Education to 7.5 percentage points in the medium level of education; an indicator of a high entrant of women into traditionally man’s dominated fields. Increment factors are as follows:

•The expansion of school coverage to areas closer to the communities as per 204% in EP2, 148% in ESG1, 226% in ESG2, 422% in Medium Professional and Vocational Education and 89% and 163% in Private and Public Higher Education, respectively, to encourage enrolments at the right established age (6 years old) into the education system;

•The growth of the educational staff with the increment of teachers trained in the Teacher Training Institutes which serves as model for the girls;

•The campaigns promoting the schooling of girls in partnership with the communities to discourage early marriages and the overload of domestic activities onto the girls; the introduction of gender issues into the curricula and didactic materials on the issue in all education subsystems. Parallel campaigns to register children have served as an additional contribution for a non-late entry of girls into schools, thus reducing the effects of early marriages, as a result of the pressure exerted by the communities and the nation;

•The availability of resources aimed at stimulating the low-income households to send their girls to school using scholarships.

79.Worthy of underlining is the effort made by the sector of tutelage to increment the capacity of girls and boys to challenge unequal gender relationships, question stereotypes and attitudes that generate inequalities, to reinforce their technical, financial and organizational capacity, to secure the efficient treatment of gender as a crosscutting issue and securing human rights.

80.The decrease of pass rates in all education levels is, however, still worrisome. The initiatives to reduce low pass rates and drop outs included the distribution of free textbooks and school materials, the abolition of the hiring of non-psycho-pedagogically qualified and trained teachers, the increment of the time students should stay in schools and for integrated and decentralized pedagogic supervision and tutorship. At the same time, specific measures were implemented and these include distribution of free school meals and snacks and dried rations, the setting of School Councils and training of respective members, the sensitization of parents and guardians over the importance to educate the girls and diminish domestic activities through equal distribution of these between girls and boys. Furthermore, the MINED has been carrying out the opening of boreholes in schools or neighbouring communities to reduce the time students spend to gather water.

81.Despite the efforts that have been made thus far the Strategic Plan for Education indicates the early entry into the labour market and the prevalence of early marriages as the major factors influencing low pass and high dropout rates.

82.The following activities have been carried out within the scope to prevent early pregnancy:

•Integration of gender issues into different educational key programs;

•Implementation of Skills for Life Program with emphasis on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Program in schools. MINED started to review its 39/GM/2003 Dispatch which envisages the transference of pregnant students to the night shift and it is working with parents and guardians/tutors through the School Councils in order to allow pregnant girl to continue her studies in the day shift.

83.The National Policy on Sexual and Reproductive Rights stipulates that s, girls and boys, have the right to sexual education and access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, including family planning, HIV prevention and treatment.

84.MINED has been working to secure adequate sexual education to boys and girls through the implementation of the “Geração Biz” Sexual and Reproductive Health Program and the Skills for Life Program, as well as the integration of sexual and reproductive health and sexuality contents (including HIV and AIDS) into the primary school curriculum, through the National Institute for Education Development (INDE); the contents include the topic on the power of girls to negotiate safe sex so as to promote a greater control of her sexual life and prevent unwanted pregnancies.

85.The sector implemented a set of measures with the aim to protect the girl against sexual abuse and harassment in schools. The actions include i) realization of research and literature reviews about then topic; ii) public inquiries on prevention, fight, denouncing and reporting mechanisms of sexual abuse and harassment cases in the Education sector; iii) revision of protection tools of girls against all forms of violence including sexual in the educations sector (as well as the instrument that penalizes teachers who harass and sexually abuse students); iv) declaration of a zero tolerance against the abusers; v) a sensitization campaign against violence in schools and communities (including work sessions with school councils to dissuade and discourage households to oblige the victim to marry the aggressor and disseminate the legislation that has been recently passed, namely the Law against Domestic Violence and the Law to Promote and Protect Children’s Rights, among others); vi) harmonize the mechanisms to treat denounced cases; vii) construct separate toilets in all new schools with main objective to reduce sexual harassment against girls by teachers and students; and vii) reinforce Gender units to deal with these issues.

86.These activities have been developed in partnership with Civil Society Organizations that work in the field to promote and protect children’s rights. These partnerships have been particularly relevant in relation to the advocacy work done to pass the legislation and to regulate the laws, information initiatives, Education and Communication (IEC) linked to the existing legal instruments to denounce cases and the establishment of girls clubs (spaces for girls to meet and talk about their experiences and attain guidance on how to proceed and get legal assistance).

Article 11

87.Mozambique has rectified 8 fundamental Conventions of the International Labour Organization (OIT) on the fundamental rights in the work place, namely the Convention 87 on Union Freedom, the Convention 98 on the Right to Organization and Collective Negotiation, the Convention 100 on Wage Equality, the Convention 111 on Discrimination at the Employment and Occupation, the Convention 29 on Forced Labour, the Convention 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour, the Convention 138 on Minimum Age for Employment Admission, and the Convention 182 on the Eradication of Worst Forms of Child Labour.

88.In view to counter the weak participation of women in public and professional fields, the Government has prioritized the design of guiding instruments, the review of labour legislation and the regulation of the Public Sector.

89.Within this scope, the 2009–2013 Gender Strategy for the Public Sector (EGFP) (Resolution 26/2009, of 27 May, The Cabinet) has been approved through the Ministry of the Public Sector within the public sector reform context, which serves as a facilitating tool to eliminate discrimination based on sex and promote gender equality and equity in the sector, as well as an catapulting factor of change in the many sectors of the society.

90.The EGFP aims to secure and reinforce the conditions to exercise the rights to equal opportunities and treatment and non-discrimination based on sex or other factors related to the former, namely professional training guidance, admission, career promotion and progression, access to managerial and chairing positions, working conditions, conciliation of professional activities with family life, thus turning the Public Sector into an example of good practices that can be replicated in other sectors of the society.

91.The EGFP identifies six major action areas to which the Government action should be concentrated upon, specifically, politics, legislation, organization, procedures, training, information and communication. The implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the EGFP have been integrated within the Human Resources Management System, the National Planning System, especially into the Sectorial Plans and Strategies and into the Government Economic and Social Plan (PES), as well as within the respective monitoring and evolution systems, that presupposes its integration into the Budgeting System, particularly in the Medium Run Fiscal Scenario and State Budget.

92.Parallel to this, the Government has been working to reinforce inter-sectorial collaboration between the Ministry of Public Sector, the Gender, Children and Social Action Ministry and the National Council for Women Advancement to secure the effective integration of gender into the Public Sector.

93.Other developed activities within the Public Sector include the creation of gender based planning and budgetary capacity in the ISAP and advocacy to integrate gender in the courses taught at the Institute to leaders and public servants with the Public Administration Sector at all levels.

94.The Government has also passed the Labour Law, Law 23/2007 of 1 August, which consecrates the principle of equality and non-discrimination based on sex and supports the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities through the increment of the participation of women in the labour market.

95.The Law states that “measures that benefit certain vulnerable groups, based on sex (...) are not deemed discriminatory and are so to secure the exercise of equivalent conditions of the envisaged rights (....) and correct a factual situation of inequality that persists within the social life.” Thus, with regards to the private sector and non‑public sector State staff, the law preconizes the possibility of the adoption of special measures and or affirmative action (as they are so termed) with the aim to secure de facto equality amongst women and men. One of the gaps of the present law is that it does not include workers of the informal sector, whose majority are women.

96.The General By-Laws for Public Servants and State Agents define that “all public servants and State agents in an equal regime of servicing rendering have the right to earn the same for the same rendered work.” The document establishes further that a woman on maternity leave (sixty working days of holiday, with the possibility to start 20 days prior to the probable date of partum) keeps the same inherent rights to the post or activity being the leave applicable also to cases of premature partum and miscarriages, independently of a live or dead birth. Furthermore, women can interrupt work daily for a period of no more than an hour to breastfeed the baby, for the whole year, after the post-partum leave.

97.With the legislation the following laws and regulations were also passed: the Law on Social Protection, Law 4/2007 of 4 February, the Social Security Regulation in 2007, and the Domestic Labour Regulation in 2008. The reform of the Social Security opens up space for the workers of the informal sector to levie part of their income into the social providence, thus opening room for women who are the majority to have a dignifying life when retiring. The system also allows for the accumulation of contributions for retirement made to different working posts. The 2006–2014 Employment and Professional Training Strategy is a tool that reinforces the Labour Law and includes the informal sector workers. It envisages the following objectives for women:

•Promote legal protection of working women in the informal sector against discriminatory recruitment, transferences, exonerations and other forms;

•Collection of labour data on the participation of women in the informal sector to inform onto the training and employment programs;

•Development of training programs for workers in the informal sector, both in the rural and urban areas;

•Institutional training capacity building to integrate gender into the Ministry of Labour (MITRAB) programs.

98.The following actions are worthy of note within the implementation ambit of the Employment and Professional Training Strategy: the construction of new Professional Training Centres through the country (giving priority to the provinces with touristic and industrial potency); the creation of employment posts in all sectors of the economy and identity employment opportunities and placement of candidates, giving priority to farmers associations; capacitation of women in small business managerial skills and agriculture techniques; professional training in Training Centres to secure that women can compete for jobs which offer better remuneration.

99.The main results obtained from the employment and professional training scope are: the placement of 6,076 women and 17,094 men; the creation of 3,605 employment posts and self-employment for 203,669 people in 2008, from which 112,487 were occupied by women; training of 69,562 people during 2005‑2008, of which 47,543 were men and 22,019 women. The Road Sector approved during this period a quota of 25% as the minimum figure to include women in the road building, rehabilitation and maintenance activities.

100.In 2003, 270,267 working posts were added within the implementation scope of the Employment and Professional Training Strategy, of which 42,940 were women; 98,400 people were trained in the public and private Professional Training Centres, 35,871 of which were women; 575 technicians were trained in Hydrocarbon and mining Geology areas and from these 235 are women and this provides the local population with an opportunity to benefit from the growing Mining Sector.

101.Despite the guarantee of a 25% quota of women in the road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance, there are still challenges related to the increment of the perception over the advantages to levie part of their income into the social providence, the expansion and reinforcement of Employment and Professional Training Centres, a greater participation of women on the offered opportunities and elimination of discrimination of women to access jobs and remuneration.

102.The Government of Mozambique elected the access to micro-finance for women as one of the strategic actions to reduce poverty, especially female poverty, the access to general financial services that currently cover a bit more than 10% of the total population, mainly in urban areas. For that the following actions need to be carried out:

•Training and capacity building actions on planning of the Economic and Social Plan of the District (PESOD) were carried out within the context to decentralize planning and the establishment of the District Development Fund. To increase the benefits for women of the funds that were made available, training on project design methodologies and finance management, small business management, rural associativism, design of community projects, monitoring and evaluation, entrepreneurship, market research, conflict management and leadership were provided to women;

•195 associations were assisted within the implementation scope of the micro‑finance projects and rotational credit and this benefited 3,448 members, where 1,726 were men and 1,722 women in Niassa and Manica provinces;

•In 2003, 17,053 people, 13,195 men and 3,857 (22.6%) women benefited from the District Development Fund (FDD), whereas 16,964 people benefited from the same fund in 2014. From these, 11,324 were men and 5,640 women (33.2%), corresponding to a variation of approximately 10.6%;

•From the total of women covered by the District Development Fund, Inhambane province benefited most women with 63.2% while Zambezia province least figure was, 15.3%;

•655 projects that benefited 301 men and 354 women (54.0%) were implemented within the PERPU implementation ambit. Compared to 2013 (49.8%), the variation is approximately 4.2%. From the total benefited women, Beira Municipality is the entity that granted more funding under PERPU with 65.4% while Nampula presents the smallest number of beneficiaries with 17.6%, but the highest balance was in Matola. There was however, an evolution in the access of women benefitting from the program, from 49.8% in 2013 to 54% in 2014 as shown below.

Article 12

103.The data from the 2011 Demographic and Health Inquiry indicates an increase of pre-natal care to pregnant women from about 85% to 91%, and increased institutional births from 47% to 54%. Maternal mortality is still high with a downfall trend. Estimated at 408 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2011 — this figure decreased from about 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births in the 90s.

104.The percentage of girls that start their sexual life at 15 years old has decreased from 27.7% to 21.8% from 2011. Because of the still high rate of early marriages, the incidence of pregnancies has not suffered any changes at all and remained at 40%, making the risk of miscarriages considerably high.

105.Although the knowledge about family planning methods is high amongst women and men in Mozambique, the specific and adequate knowledge about the various methods and their use is still low and with very little alteration over past years. According to the 2011 IDS data, only 11.3% (7.4% in rural areas and 21.1% in urban areas) of women in Mozambique use some sort of a modern family planning method and 29% have non-satisfied demand of contraception’s. The use of family planning methods as well as sexual and reproductive education could contribute to avoid unwanted pregnancies as well as reduce the risk of infections of sexual diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

106.Being the health of women and s a national priority, the Government focused on prevention and treatment actions of diseases which women are highly prone to. The following measures stand out from those introduced by the Government:

•The creation of the Women and Child Department and the development and implementation of the 2009–2013 Gender Equity Strategy in the Health Sector, which articulates the institutional strategic actions and the chapter on services rendering to reinforce gender dimension in the Health Sector in all areas and levels;

•The design of the Integrated National Plan to Reach the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 (2009–2012/2015) and the National Health and Sexual and Reproductive Rights Policy (2012);

•The development of a national partnership to promote Maternal, Neonatal and Infants Health (2009);

•The launching of the Campaign to Reduce Accelerated Maternal Mortality in Africa, enlarging the advocacy strategy to promote maternal health involving all interested parties, such as women and youngsters, parliamentarians, community and religious leaders, media and private sector;

•The creation of the National Maternal and Neonatal Deaths Auditing Committee (2009), which allowed for the revitalization of all Provincial Committees and the establishment of monitoring and response systems to maternal and neonatal deaths and the obligation to notify them;

•The approval of the Waiting House Strategy for vulnerable pregnant women and Traditional Midwives Strategy (2009);

•The approval of the National Colon and Breast Cancer Diagnosis Program in 2010 which resulted in the expansion of respective services to 439 health units all over the country in 2013, benefiting about 41,766 women and the introduction of a vaccine against colon cancer for young women also in 2013;

•Introduction of the Maternal and Infants Health Care Humanization Initiative (2010);

•Approval of the Integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health Services;

•The reconfirmation of the universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services principle and prioritize the reduction of maternal mortality and access to family planning for s and youngsters within the 2014–2019 Health Sector Strategic Plan;

•The approval of the first National Prevention and Treatment of Obstetric Fistula Strategy in 2012, which will affect 2,000 women per annum, majoritarian s. Its worthy noting that 377 women were treated in 2013 compared to 187 in 2010, when the fistula program started to be implemented;

•The approval of the (2010–2015) Family Planning National Strategy is another milestone in the efforts that aim to secure the health of women. Thus, in 2012, the Government took on board a set of unprecedented political, financial and programmatic commitments at the Family Planning Global Summit in London, in July 2012, with the aim to increase the access to Family Planning services to women in the developing countries.

107.To face the factors that contribute to the deterioration of women’s health, especially young ones, as a result of high prevalence of pregnancies, the Government bet on the implementation of a multisectorial program (Geração Biz Program) which congregates three Ministries (Health, Education and Youth and Sports) to respond to the needs in sexual and reproductive health of s and youth, especially girls. Parallel to this, Mozambique started in 2009 a process to standardize the provision of services to s and youth via an extra entry door than the already in existence services for Testing and Counselling of s and Youth. It should be mentioned that s and youth sexual and reproductive health issues have been incorporated in the Youth National Policy, approved in 2013 and in the 2012–2016 Education Sector National Strategy.

108.The results regarding the prevalence of HIV attained through the 2009 INSIDA indicates that 11.5% of Mozambican adults of 15–49 years of age are infected with HIV. These indicates also that women prevalence is higher than men’s (13.1 and 9.2% respectively). The prevalence by sex and age specifically shows that the prevalence for women and men grow with age till it reaches the peak, which it is between 25–29 for women (16.8%) and 35–39 (14.2%).

109.The Government has been increasing its efforts to reduce the feminization of HIV and AIDS. The developed measures include the design of the 2010–2014 Strategic Plan to Fight HIV (PEN III), the National Multisectorial Plan on Gender and HIV and the approved Law on Defence of Rights and Fight against Stigmatization and Discrimination of People living with HIV and AIDS.

110.In the first semester of 2010, 35,146,848 condoms were made available where 1,551,000 and 33,450,808 were female and male condoms, respectively. Up to June 2010, about 26,125 (22.7%) of HIV+ pregnant women received ARV for PMTCT in the past 12 months, in 909 Health Units that offer PMTCT services. The percentage of HIV+ pregnant women that have received ARV treatment for PMTCT increased from 31.8% in 2007 to 45.8% in 2009 and to 92% in 2013.

Article 13

111.The Law of Social Protection, Law 4/2007 of 7 February provides the legal framework for the organization of social protection in Mozambique, and it is structured into three pillars, namely Basic Social Security, Compulsory Social Security and Complementary Social Security.

112.Social Assistance is part of Basic Social Security (also known as social transference) and it is a component of social protection that fights poverty and vulnerability directly through the transfer of money and food to poor households with priority to women. The strategy, the priorities and mechanisms for the field are defined in the Basic Social security Strategy (ENSSB), and in the Regulation for Basic Social Security Sub-system.

113.Government has been making efforts to protect the rights of the most vulnerable groups of the Mozambican society. Part of the efforts include the approval of instruments abovementioned and of the 2010–2014 Basic Social Protection Strategy, the Elder’s Policy, the Policy for Disabled Person (PPPD), the National Action Plan for the Disabled Person (PNAD), and the 2009–2013 Strategy for the Disabled Person in the Public Sector, and the latter establishes the general principles for entry quotas for the Public Sector.

114.Within the scope of the Social Protection Law (2007) it is of the responsibility of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action (MMAS) and its executing branch, the National Institute for Social Action (INAS) to implement the Basic Social Protection. According to the law, basic social security is materialized though the provision of risk and social support.

115.In this view, INAS provides risk and social support via the implementation of the Food Subsidy Program (PSA), Direct Social Support (PASD), Community Development (PDC), Revenue Generation (PGR) and Labour for Social Benefit (PBST).

116.The MGGAS appraisal of the Economic and Social Plan (PES) of 2014 indicates an increase in coverage, between 2013 and 2015, from 286,013 to 338,219 vulnerable households. This corresponds to a net increase of 52,206 households (AF). The number of new entrants in 2014 was of 53,021 AF, being 30,406 households chaired by women. Elder women were 27,581 of the 47,825 households chaired by elder women. As for the households chaired by disabled people, the coverage was of 3,715 people of which 49% are women.

117.It is important to note that the Social Services Programs from the Social Action that support the old people. 923 elders of whom 458 women have been sheltered in the Centros de Apoio a Velhice (Homes/Shelters) and other 4,001 (of which 2,578 women) have been assisted via the Open Centres. The Shelters increased their coverage in one year, from 1,005 to 1,229 and being the majority women.

118.The Government has been equally developing actions to promote access to health and education services to vulnerable persons. The Health Sector is an example of this and here the universal exemption supplied by the Ministry of Health (MISAU) was set for certain categories of beneficiaries (pregnant and breastfeeding women, children below 5 years old and elders) and for certain categories of diseases, including Tuberculosis, leprosies, HIV and AIDS. The provision of a basic basket for 6 months to people taking ARV and HIV+ pregnant women is another measure. Health care in the public sector is largely subsidized by the State with the aim to make them accessible, where the cost of a consultation and respective medicines are estimated at 6 MZM (the equivalent to 15 cents of the US dollar), and free surgery.

119.The Government implements programs to secure the rights of disabled women and promote access to education, information and health services, including sexual and reproductive health and HIV, and protection against exploration.

Article 14

120.The trends on the reduction of illiteracy rates amongst women have prevailed. The report on the Demographic and Health Inquiry indicates that access to water reaches 37% of households in the rural areas and 86% of these households do not have adequate sanitation services. 95% of the same households do not have access to electricity and 99% use solid fossil biomass to cook; 55% do not have access to any means of communication and information. This data illustrates the need of very deep interventions to alleviate poverty and the overload over women. As such, planning at district level is one of the mechanisms to reinforce directed interventions to improve living conditions of rural populations, including respective women.

121.The regulation of the Law on Local State Bodies (LOLE) calls attention to the involvement of women in Local State Bodies (OLE) by stating in its article 118 the importance to secure the representation of women in the Local Consultative Councils. It was within this scope that a minimum quota of 30% was stipulated for women to be in the District Consultative Councils, the planning and decision-making body at local level. As shown above, the average participation of women in such Councils has been close to the goal with a 29% rate, but because of the vastness of the districts it is hard to evaluate women’s representation in the local decision making bodies, an aspect to be taken into account still.

122.Rural extension is the bet to increase agriculture productivity with a view to build capacity in agriculture conservation, production of fertilizers, promotion of drought resistant cultures and seeds, expansion of non-traditional commercial cultures like soya beans and sesame seeds, and transference of technology, including the farming (in a limited manner) and processing/preservation of agricultural products.

123.The introduction of plant and animal traction to farm the land has been one of the major preoccupations of producing women. The development of agro-business is one of the other bets to stimulate production and productivity. To this end, public funds (like the Agriculture Development Fund) and private (micro financing institutions like GAPI and Banco Oportunidade) have been providing funds for trading and women who commercialize at long distances take advantage of these. The women producers use the fairs.

124.As for food security, the ministry of Trade and Industry (MIC) has developed through the Institute for the Promotion of Small and Medium Scale Business, the Cozinha Moçambique Program, training a program for the communities and micro‑business men and women locally produced food conservation and processing, aimed at the promotion of business and self-sustainment. The project had trained until July 2010 about 1,800 people of which 1,710 were women, including 30 businesswomen. A centre for experimentation in agro-processing was also established. The program had until 2014 a focus on the districts located in drought risk areas with aim to take advantage of the excess supply of food produces in the rainy season to reduce food insecurity and nutritional situations during the dry seasons.

125.One of the revenue generations’ alternatives women can use is the rearing of small sized animals, such as poultry. The Government has been supporting the sector via vaccination campaigns that reduce mortality rates. There are challenges related to the timed arrival of vaccines, the expansion of improved kraals and hen pen facilities and the promotion of the production of small sized animals, including indigenous species such guinea fouls and ducks. Current initiatives to promote milk production cows and its derivatives by public and private veterinary services are still limited, thus in need of expansion and reinforcement, not only due to contamination of tuberculosis but the deficient handling and consequent malnutrition of the animals.

126.The Government insisted in the implementation of social programs based on money transference and social productive action to secure that vulnerable groups, especially women unfit for work, could have access to a minimum monthly income and this through the implementation of income generation programs. The Direct Social Support Program (PASD) has benefited 12,333 people (2007) and 52,868 people in 2014, of which 21,523 are women.

127.The Food Subsidy Program has tended to 97,000 households living in vulnerable conditions, in 2007, of which women chaired 40%; in 2014 the same program, currently designated Basic Social Subsidy Program has tended to 343,484 beneficiaries, where women chaired 59%. This program has increased its services to women in about 20%.

128.Regarding the guarantee to land access it can be said that work has been concentrated upon the delimitation of community land, acquisition of Land Deeds (DUATs) and dissemination of the Law of Land, which includes articles that protect women, mainly in case of divorce or death of spouse. Within the period in question, more than 61,000 women did get their Land Deeds (DUATs).

129.The following actions bellow are related to environmental action:

•Elaboration of the Gender, Environment and Climate Change Action Plan and Strategy in 2010;

•Mobilization of women to participate in the natural resources management committees;

•Production and dissemination of educational materials on conservation and preservation of the environment for the benefit of the above management committees, with 77,105 copies of the Environmental Educator’s Manual, 67,602 flyers with several cross cutting issues, 11,750 pamphlets on non‑controlled bushfires and other topics, 683 billboards, 150 brochures and 7 periodicals, bringing the total to 157,297 copies of materials and 21 radio programs in Maputo, Gaza, Tete, Sofala, Manica and Nampula provinces;

•Implementation of pilot projects in areas of great pressure on firewood resources;

•Establishment of seedling facilities for reforestation of degraded eroded areas;

•Realization of tree planting campaigns;

•Realization of sensitization meetings on non-controlled bushfires with the participation of women.

Part IV

Article 15–16

130.The Constitution of the Republic consecrates in its article 35 the principle of universality and equality and this is reinforced by article 36, which defends the principle of gender equality. The approval of Law 10/2004 of 25 August (Family Law) establishes the equality of rights between women and men. The shared leadership in the family and the recognition of couples living together and equal rights among women and men are advances in the marriage status and family relations in the said Law. Articles 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, and 104 of the Family Law, without prejudice to the interpretation of the Law in general, adopt clearly the provisions that could be discriminatory amongst men and women, conceding them the same rights in equal circumstances.

Conclusion

131.The Government of Mozambique, the Civil Society and bilateral and multilateral partners have been working together to implement the actions concerning the provisions of the articles of the CEDAW towards the elimination of discrimination against women.

132.However, despite the outstanding advances recorded in several areas, the challenges towards the elimination of stereotypes, norms and socio-cultural practices that impact on the well-being and progress of women still continue to have their strong influence over the opportunities and spaces for the integral development of the Mozambican women.

133.The progresses by the Government in the elaboration of policies and approval of legislation are notable, but, the change of mentality and attitude and the progresses regarding the implementation of the needed actions have been slow given the weak human, financial and material capacity.

134.There is still the need to reinforce the intervention capacity of the MGCAS, mainly at local level, as well as that of all relevant sectors whose roles impact over women. This includes not only the dissemination of laws that protect women and their implementation, but also the access to goods and services that reinforce and promote women, directly or indirectly.

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