Mozambique

53% of girls in Mozambique marry or enter a union before age 18 and 17% marry before age 15.

10% of boys in Mozambique marry before the age of 18.

According to the 2011 DHS, child marriage is more prevalent in rural areas and in the Northern (Namuno, Cabo Delgado, Murrupula, Muecate, Moma, Lalaua, Larde, Mogovolas, Nipepe, Metarica and Niassa) and Central regions (Zambezia, Sofala and Manica). In the province of Niassa, almost 1 in 4 women (24%) were married by age 15.

A 2017 World Bank/ICRW study estimated that ending child marriage in Mozambique could increase earnings for women who married early by 15.6%, and would generate an additional USD 375 million in earnings and productivity for the country.

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys.

In Mozambique, child marriage is also driven by:

● Poverty: Half of the population in Mozambique lives in poverty. This puts girls at increased risk of marriage, as many families see child marriage as a means for economic survival, in addition to the incentive of obtaining the bride price (lobolo).

● Harmful practices: Polygamy prevails in many communities and links with child marriage because many girls marry as second or third spouses to wealthy men. Gender norms contribute to perpetuate child marriage in rural Mozambique by attributing a high value to the virginity of girls. Sexual initiation rites also encourage the subordination of a girl to her husband.

● Adolescent pregnancy: Adolescent pregnancy is closely linked to child marriage. In rural areas, the majority of adolescent mothers are married. On average, girls have their first child 15 months after they get married. Access to contraception could significantly reduce adolescent pregnancies and child marriage. Between 2015 and 2020, for girls aged 15 to 19, there were 180 live births per 1,000 births, with 40% of girls giving birth before the age of 18.

● Level of education: Girls have less access to full-time education, particularly girls over age 15. Parents place less importance on girls’ education, placing higher importance on unpaid domestic work, marriage and child rearing. According to 2011 DHS data, girls with secondary education were 53% less likely to marry by age 18, compared with girls with no education at all.

Humanitarian settings can encompass a wide range of situations before, during and after natural disasters, conflicts, and epidemics. Crises and conflicts exacerbate poverty, insecurity and lack of access to services like education, factors which all drive child marriage. While gender inequality is a root cause of child marriage in both stable and crisis contexts, in times of crisis, families often see child marriage as a way to cope in greater economic hardship and to protect girls from increased violence.

In Mozambique, multiple and consecutive climate shocks, including drought, tropical cyclones and floods left an estimated 2.3 million people in need of humanitarian assistance as of 2023.

Natural disasters and climate change: Already in 2016, a study by CARE concluded that during the El Niño-induced drought in Mozambique, many families used child marriage as a coping mechanism in a context of food scarcity, poverty and economic insecurity. While data on the impact of the 2019 cyclones on child marriage is not available yet, Save the Children has provided anecdotal evidence from field-based humanitarian workers about child marriage taking place in the affected areas.

Displacement: Since conflict broke out in 2017, approximately 370,000 children have been internally displaced. In 2023, across the Northern province of Cabo Delgado, an estimated 670,000 internally-displaced persons were affected by conflict and civilian unrest. Conflict has forced children into displacement camps . Between January and March 2022, there were 108 reported cases of child marriage that took place in Chiure, Montepuez, Pemba and Metuge districts of Cabo Delgado.

Mozambique has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

During its 2021 Universal Periodic Review, under the five year government plan 2015-2019 and the National Action Plan for Children (PNAC II) 2012-2019, the government intends to revise these to remove legislation that allows for children to marry below age 18 with parental consent.

Mozambique co-sponsored the 2018 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2020 High Level Political Forum, where they confirmed that the Law for Preventing and Ending Child Marriage (Law No. 19/2019 of 22 October) was approved. The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High-Level Political Forum since 2020.

During its review in 2019, the CEDAW Committee expressed concerns about the persistence of harmful practices like child marriage and the absence of convictions. They recommended Mozambique to continue to engage with communities, including community leaders and parents, on the negative impacts of child marriage, and to criminalise all harmful practices.

In 2019, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child also expressed concerns about the extremely high prevalence of child marriage in Mozambique. The Committee urged the country to take all necessary measures to end child marriage and initiation rites for girls, to ensure that the National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Child Marriages (2016–2019) is adequately resourced, extended beyond 2019 and effectively implemented, and to develop comprehensive awareness-raising campaigns with different stakeholders.

Mozambique co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2017 resolution on recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage, and the 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Mozambique also signed a joint statement at the 2014 Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

During its 2016 Universal Periodic Review, Mozambique supported recommendations to establish the minimum age of marriage at 18 years and to operationalise a gender strategy within the education system to address child marriage.

In 1998 Mozambique ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage. In 2005 Mozambique ratified the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, including Article 6 which sets the minimum age for marriage as 18.

Mozambique was one of 20 countries which committed to ending child marriage by the end of 2020 under the Ministerial Commitment on comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents and young people in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Mozambique ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

Mozambique is one of the countries where the Spotlight Initiative (a global, multi-year partnership between European Union and United Nations) is supporting efforts to end all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices against women and girls. Between 2019 and 2020, the European Union invested $28 million USD. The funds were distributed as follows:

Policy: Review and harmonisation of key legislation and policies such as law on domestic violence and family law. This will result in raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 for girls and boys , and increasing the age of sexual consent.

Institution: Strengthening the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action in its coordination, support and budgeting on early marriage, sexual and gender-based violence.

Prevention: Develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to prevent sexual and gender-based violence and child marriage.

Data: Developing a nationwide data management system to collect, process and analyse data on sexual and gender-based violence.

Women’s movement and civil society: Strengthen the capacity of women’s movements to monitor laws and policies, hold government accountable and develop programmes to enhance institutional capacity.

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/DREAMS Initiative is also working in Mozambique to reduce rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women.

Mozambique is a partner country of the Global Partnership for Education.

In 2019, the Parliament of Mozambique approved the Law on Prevention and Combat of Premature Unions. The law aims to prohibit, prevent, mitigate and penalise premature unions or marriages (child marriage), and establish mechanisms to protect children in those unions. The Parliament also approved a revision of the Family Law criminalising the marriage of persons under 18 years with the consent of parents.

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action, in collaboration with UNICEF and with technical assistance from the International Child Development Programme, have established the Acompanhamento Familiar (family support programme). This project is a cash transfer programme implemented in the Nampula province that is aimed at reducing poverty and improving child wellbeing and access to social services.

With the technical and financial support of UNICEF, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action is developing a new National Action Plan of Children III (PNAC). The main aim of this plan is to end child marriage. It has been approved by the Council of Ministers, and UNICEF has provided the government with support in sharing the plan with key stakeholders in Maputo.

Mozambique is a focus country of the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage (Global Programme), a multi-donor, multi-stakeholder programme working across 12 countries over fifteen years .

Mozambique is a focus country of the Strategic Technical Assistance for Research (STAR) Initiative that is supported by the Global Programme. The main aim of the STAR initiative is to provide comprehensive technical research on ending child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), through capacity enhancement workshops, strategic research and evidence synthesis.

The 2022 Global Programme annual report established:

More than 4,500 girls were reached through a mentorship programme approach on life-skills and sexual and reproductive health education.

Linha Fala Crianca, a child helpline, provided vital support to adolescent girls on reporting gender-based violence and child marriage cases. The helpline responded to 170,655 calls in 2022. Of the 170,655 calls, 42% related to child marriage and 28% related to sexual violence in the Nampula, Zambézia and Angoche province.

Social mobilisation and engagement for boys and men to promote positive masculinities, 240 mentors were trained to facilitate intergenerational conversations that reached 16,070 boys.

In partnership with Secretaria de Estado, community dialogues were established in Nampula province aimed at breaking down cultural barriers surrounding gender-based violence and child marriage. This programme reached 18,079 people and trained 268 community elders.

The 2020 Global Programme annual report established:

More than 2,000 adolescent girls and boys were reached by the education radio drama Ouro Negro, which relayed content related to child marriage, adolescent pregnancy and COVID-19.

1,900 village mentors and safe spaces facilitators were provided with content on gender-based violence, adolescent pregnancy and child marriage through digital platforms to provide support and mentor adolescent girls.

Enhancing investments in and support for married and unmarried adolescent girls by engaging young people as agents of change and shifting towards positive gender norms.

Psychological support was provided to 1,295 girls including life-skills training through a total of 3,194 consultations with peer mentors.

As part of the Global Programme, in 2018 more than 200,000 Mozambican girls were offered life skills interventions and approximately 5 million people were engaged as part of a mass media campaign against child marriage.

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Affairs developed a National Costed Strategy to Prevent and Eliminate Child Marriage (2016-2019), which is being implemented in collaboration with UNICEF, UNFPA and the Girls Not Brides National Partnership (Coligação para Eliminação dos Casamentos Prematuros, CECAP).

The strategy was developed through consultation with multiple ministries, international agencies, donor partners and the National Coalition to End Child Marriage[ES6] . It contains eight main pillars, including:

● A communications and social mobilisation campaign.

● Improving girls’ access to education and sexual and reproductive health services.

● Support for married girls.

● Reform of the legal framework.

The strategy will be evaluated in 2020, after which the government will decide on continuation of the strategy.

Under the Family Law 2004 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years, with no exceptions (following its amendment in 2019).