By Noémia Mendes
Maputo (MOZTIMES)- More than 200,000 cases of gender-based violence were registered in Mozambique between 2015 and 2024.
According to the Executive Director of the Child-Friendly Communicators’ Network (RECAC), Célia Claudina, one in every three women suffer some kind of violence.
“In Mozambique, violence against women and girls is on a large scale, and the most common forms are physical assault, sexual violence, and forced unions which attack the freedom and autonomy of women and girls”, she said, adding that this is a reality which leaves deep marks, affecting the physical and psychological integrity of the victims.
Between 2015 and 2023, the Office to Care for Families and Child Victims of Violence (a specialist unit of the Mozambican police) reported 202,430 cases of gender-based violence throughout the country.
In the first quarter of 2024, of the 116 cases documented and analysed, 29.8% concern the murders of women, 16.7% are disappearances (which often also result in death) and 14.9% are rapes.
Célia Claudina explained that in cases of gender-based violence the victims often drop their complaints before they reach a conclusion, which hinders the resolution of these matters.
“Because these are cases which involve feelings and a mixture of emotions, the victim stops saying what happened to her, because she feels pity for the supposed husband, or because she is under family pressure”, Claudina said. “This is a volatile situation which holds back the solution of these cases”.
“Often, the problems of the victims cannot be solved, because they do not have sufficient evidence for the justice system to act effectively. Oppressors are thus released because of insufficient proof”, said Claudina. (NM)
