MOZAMBIQUE Republic of Mozambique Head of state and government: Filipe Jacinto Nyusi Police used excessive force against people who left their homes to look for food during the COVID-19 lockdown. There was a spike in gender-based violence as victims were trapped at home with abusive partners. Violence in the province of Cabo Delgado intensified, becoming an armed conflict which resulted in more than 2,000 deaths. The authorities failed to hold to account perpetrators of crimes under international law and serious human rights violations and abuses. Repression of freedom of expression took a new turn when a newspaper office was firebombed.
BACKGROUND In January, the President began a second term following a controversial election which took place amid armed violence in the north of the province of Cabo Delgado, an area which remained closed to the media. The government’s secret loans scandal destabilized socioeconomic conditions. Meanwhile, flooding in 2019 and 2020 destroyed infrastructure, further isolating the population in northern Cabo Delgado. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities imposed a state of emergency between 30 March and 6 September. The measures contributed to poor living conditions nationwide, and in particular exacerbated the precarious conditions in Cabo Delgado when an armed opposition group, known locally as al-Shabaab (although there is no known relationship with alShabaab in Somalia), used the period to intensify its attacks.
RIGHT TO FOOD State of emergency provisions were punitive and led to increased food insecurity in marginalized neighbourhoods, particularly as most people depended on the informal economy to earn a living on the streets and in
Amnesty International Report 2020/21
markets. Those who left their homes to work or find food were subjected to excessive force by the police, and an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. The authorities did not put in place adequate social security measures to protect them from hunger and ill-health.1
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS Gender-based violence increased sharply during the COVID-19 restrictions, when women and girls were trapped in the home and exposed to heightened risk of domestic violence. Women’s prevalence in the essential services workforce put them at greater risk of violence outside the home; restricted public transport exposed them to the threat of violence because they had to travel late at night or in the early morning hours. School closures put more girls at risk of child marriage.
INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE The armed conflict between the so-called alShabaab and government forces created a humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado. By the end of the year, over 500,000 people were internally displaced, and more than 700,000 needed humanitarian assistance. The government failed to provide shelter, food, water, education or health services and many people relied on the goodwill of local families to give them shelter in Cabo Delgado and the neighbouring provinces of Nampula and Niassa. At the end of the year, it remained unclear whether the government’s Northern Integrated Development Agency had had an impact on the humanitarian crisis.
IMPUNITY Impunity for crimes under international law and serious human rights violations and abuses carried out in Cabo Delgado’s armed conflict remained widespread. By December, more than 2,000 people had been killed, including civilians caught in crossfire or deliberately targeted by armed opposition groups and government forces. Throughout the year, armed groups beheaded civilians, burned houses, looted villages and
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