Child Protection Risks and Needs in Mozambique: Secondary Data Review - April 2019

As of 2019, Mozambique has a population of approximately 30 million ; 32% lives in urban areas and median age of the total population is between 17 and 18 . According to the 2017 census, Mozambique’s population is growing at an average rate of 3.5 percent per annum. Fertility rates, particularly adolescent fertility rates, are very high while life expectancy remains among the lowest in the world (55 years). This means a growing proportion of the population is made up of children (51 per cent under 18 and 64 percent under 25). Estimates exposed in a UNICEF report from 2018, show that 1.7 million people were affected by disabilities and that 26% “of households include at least one member with a functional limitation”

In 2019, the UN estimated that approximately 815,000 people were in need of protection services and 80,000 were targeted by the protection response, which aimed at reducing exposure to protection risks. Precyclone Idai, the response included strategies to prevent and respond to the loss of life, sexual violence, exploitation and abuse, physical violence, socio-economic deprivation, and harmful traditional practices including child marriage.

Known protection concerns relate to sexual violence, armed groups as well as the mining industry. Regarding sexual violence, figures are alarming and reported attacks against girls and women have enhanced the deployment of specific countermeasures. See page 9 for more information on sexual violence against girls and boys.

Serious protection concerns points to the attacks that occurred in the Northern region of the country between 2017 to 2019. Extremists armed groups Ansar al-Sunna overran the town of Mocimboa da Praia and beheaded four people as a retaliation against western culture and foreign exploitation of fossil fuel in the region . Ever since the outbreak, more than hundreds of homes have been destroyed and approximately one hundred people have been either killed or injured.

The mining industry in Mozambique can bring risks to civilians. Working conditions are oftentimes harsh and not in line with international regulations. For example, in July 2018, videos published on social media showed officers in uniform assaulting miners in the Cabo Delgado province. Other reports denounced beatings, extortion, rape and torture perpetrated by security forces against miners in the northern region over the past years. Human rights observers reported that “the footage showed uniformed officers beating the miners and ordering some of them to beat others who were tied to trees or had their heads buried in the sand.”

Mozambique ranks 42nd in the World Risk Index, with a very high level of vulnerability (71%) and susceptibility (65%), together with an alarming lack of coping mechanisms, rated at 86%. The index describes susceptibility as the likelihood that a society would have of suffering from harm in the case of an extreme natural event. Coping mechanisms indicates the lack of resources that the same society would have to minimize the impact of natural hazards.

Please see here for the full report.