Draft Penal Code in Violation of Women and Children’s Rights · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

Advert for the March Against the Violation of Human Rights in the Mozambican Penal Code, March 20, 2014. Photo published by Fórum Mulher on Facebook
This week, the Mozambican NGO Fórum Mulher (Women's Forum) organized a march in protest of a change to the penal code that would threaten human rights.
A group of civil society organizations delivered a note on February 24, 2014 denouncing violations of the rights of women, children and sexual minorities and other gaps in the Draft Penal Code. [.pdf].
A post on the Facebook page of Lambda Mozi, an organization which defends the rights of sexual minorities, summarizes the problem:
A revisão do Código Penal aprovada na generalidade em Dezembro último pelo Parlamento moçambicano manteve artigos que atentam contra os Direitos Humanos de todas(os) nós, por exemplo:
– Promove a impunidade do violador sexual e força a vítima a casar-se com este,
– Aplica medidas de segurança àqueles que se dedicam a prática de actos contra a natureza
The revision of the Penal Code approved in as a whole last December is that it maintained articles which are an attack on the Human Rights of us all, for example:
– It promotes impunity of a rapist and forces the victim to marry [the rapist]
– Applies punishments against those who practice acts against nature