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