WUNRN
Equality Now
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Mozambique - Protect Women & Girls - Reject
Discrimination in New Penal Code
Photo from
March protest by NGOs in
14 May, 2014 - In June,
TAKE ACTION NOW! << Click on this link to
send all letters below online.
Furthermore, Equality Now and our partners are concerned that a provision
from an earlier draft of the legislation, which would allow a rapist to escape
punishment by marrying his victim (former Article 223), might be re-introduced
into the current draft before the vote.
The vote is mere weeks away. Please Take Action today!
If this legislation is approved without rectifying these harmful
discriminatory provisions, the ramifications for women and girls would be
extremely harmful, signaling that rape and sexual violence are less serious
crimes, if crimes at all, and will not be prosecuted vigorously. Such laws
would also violate Mozambique’s Constitution [3]—which guarantees equal rights before the law—and other
regional and international human rights instruments that Mozambique has
ratified, including the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa [4] (the Maputo Protocol).
With the vote this close, we need your help! Please
stand with Equality Now, our partners in the Solidarity for African Women's
Rights (SOAWR) coalition, along with WLSA Mozambique, Fórum Mulher and other
Mozambican NGOs in calling on Mozambique’s Parliament to ensure that all
positive changes already made will be approved, and that all provisions that
jeopardize the rights and safety of women and girls are removed before the
revision to the Penal Code are adopted.