Justice for Children In Brief
Children in contact with the law in Mozambique – as victims, as witnesses or in conflict with the law – have a difficult time dealing with a justice system that is not designed for them.
WHAT CHILDREN ARE FACING IN MOZAMBIQUE
Children in contact with the law in Mozambique – as victims, as witnesses or in conflict with the law – have a difficult time dealing with a justice system that is not designed for them. While the minimum age of criminal responsibility is set at 16, children in contact with the law experience uneven and inconsistent access to a justice system designed for adults. Young people interacting with the justice system are not always treated in ways that are commensurate to their evolving capacities.
Child victims of crime, and children in conflict with the law number in the thousands. They need support navigating a complex justice system. And children in need of administrative justice – those in residential care, in need of child support, seeking clarification of their immigration status or requiring a legal identity – are just as vulnerable to a system that is not designed for their use.
Children in conflict with the law. As of November 2023, Penitentiary Establishments in Mozambique had 2,474 young inmates, of which 1,712 are convicted and 762 are preventive prisoners, including women aged between 16 and 21.
Children as victims. In 2017 there were there were 9,392 reported cases of children under 18 (6,134 girls and 3,258 boys) experiencing domestic violence. Furthermore, the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey showed that in the last decade, about 9.3 per cent of girls aged 15-19 years had been abused sexually.
CHALLENGES TO REFORM
The legal and normative framework on children’s rights and child protection in Mozambique is comprehensive and broadly in line with major international instruments. However, there are a number of flaws and gaps in the system (especially implementation) that mean that justice is not defined or delivered for children. The barriers to reforming justice for children include:
- Poor prevention, including a lack of crime prevention centres, an inadequate pretrial diversion legal and policy framework for children in conflict with the law, limited opportunities for reintegration, limited employment and recreational opportunities for young people, and only one Juvenile Recovery Penitentiary in the entire country.
- Insufficient child-friendly resources in police stations, juvenile courts and the Family and Minors Sections, including a lack of child-friendly spaces, procedures, and programmes for reaching out to communities and children.
- Low technical capacity of actors in the justice sector (including in the security sector and law enforcement agencies) to work with children, and formal and informal justice sectors.
- Limited sectoral policies or guidelines to provide specialized care services to children in the police, Attorney-General’s Department, the Institute for Free Legal Assistance to Indignant Persons (including children) and the Supreme Court.
- No multi-sectoral coordination mechanism for agencies working with children in contact with the law, including lack of coordination with health and education sectors to provide mental health and psychosocial support services or educational and occupational opportunities.
UNICEF ACTION
UNICEF is working closely with the Government of Mozambique, other UN agencies, civil society organizations, community-based organizations, children and their families to create systems change for a stronger, child-friendly justice system. This includes:
Advocating for justice reform as a violence prevention response, which includes raising awareness of the existing laws on the recruitment of children into non-state armed groups or child marriage to protect children from violence. UNICEF also supports the Government to establish response systems for children recruited and exploited by terrorist and violent extremist groups.
Empowering communities, families and children to gain awareness of their rights and the legal frameworks that protect them in Mozambique. This includes tapping into local knowledge, skills and practices that protect children.
Strengthening institutional capacity, knowledge and resources to provide child-friendly justice for children and their families, including developing capacity for community courts processes.
Improving access to formal and informal justice services for children and their families, including in rural and remote areas. This includes investing in inclusive, specialised child-friendly courts and mobile courts targeting hard to reach areas and reviving the pre-trial diversion pilot programme.
Enhancing coordination between justice and social services, between the informal and formal justice sectors.
Offering training for justice professionals in child rights and protection skills to address the knowledge gap in theory and practice and, by doing so, create and promote child friendly systems.
Investing in evidence generation and reforming administrative data systems so that a quality national system is available with disaggregated data on issues pertaining to children in contact with the law as victims, alleged perpetrators or third parties. This must include investment in capacity building for collection, analysis and use of data.
Strengthening the legal, regulatory and policy framework so that it is in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This requires amending the CRVS code, the children’s law, reintroducing pre-trial diversion programmes and instituting an access to justice policy coordination platform for children.
Fostering partnerships to increase technical support and improve quality support, including a coordinated approach among justice and governance stakeholders, in government, UN and civil society.
