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Fixed Broadband Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2017

Mozambican authorities must uphold international obligations on freedom of expression, and refrain from attacking journalists covering important and sensitive issues.

A Southeastern country by the Indian ocean. Its population is 30 million and the government is a one-party dominant presidential republic.

In Mozambique journalists who report on sensitive issues are at risk of violent attacks. In the 2019 presidential election year, human rights organizations documented several cases in which journalists and activists were threatened and subjected to pressures interfering with their work, including threats that were sent via SMS. Since June 2018, the government has barred various media organizations and correspondents from visiting the northern province of Cabo Delgado, while the army detained journalists who had travelled to cover the fighting against an armed Islamist group. The police also arrested several journalists on bogus charges.

Mozambique

We conduct advocacy during the pre-session through direct lobbying to UN member state representatives and support local advocacy events and workshops that amplify the UPR. During the reviews, we amplify the UPR process and the recommendations our partners have drafted through live- monitoring by our local partners and on social media. We then conduct advocacy during the post- UPR period with activities such as training for government officials and events that highlight the recommendations made during the UPR. 

The country clusters are a local working group in each Uproar target country made up of our partner organisations. The clusters are organised by local lead organisations, who then coordinate local civil society and human rights defenders with digital rights expertise to engage in national-level advocacy and campaigning.

A review cycle is a four-and-half-year period within which all UN Member states’ human rights records are reviewed.  Each 4.5-year period is called a UPR cycle. In this section, you can find all recommendations made organised by cycle.

Over a hundred local and international human rights organisations are part of the wider Uproar programme. You can find them listed here.

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FÓRUM DAS ASSOCIAÇÕES MOÇAMBICANAS DAS PESSOAS COM DEFICIÊNCIA (FAMOD)

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Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted of Mozambique (ACAMO)

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Mozambique has [ratified](https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=118&Lang=EN) the major international human rights instruments including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). As part of the various mechanisms introduced to monitor the rights protected under international human rights treaties, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the United Nations Human Rights Council (the Council) in 2006.

The UPR is the [unique mechanism](https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/upr/pages/uprmain.aspx) used to assess the human rights records of all UN member states. Carried out every four to five years, a State under review (SuR) submits a report which is assessed together with other reports submitted by other stakeholders in the State including independent experts and civil society organisations. The assessment is carried out by the UPR working group consisting of 47 UN member states but can be joined by other UN member states for such assessment.

The goal of the UPR is primarily to ensure that UN member states fulfill their human rights obligations under various international human rights treaties and systems. In doing this, member states are assessed based on various thematic aspects of human rights including children’s rights, rights of persons living with disability, women’s rights and many others.

However, an important thematic aspect of human rights that is beginning to gain traction is digital rights. Simply put, these rights are those enjoyed through the use or non-use of digital technologies. For the purpose of assessment at the UPR, these rights have been categorised into four broad categories namely freedom of expression and opinion; freedom of information and censorship of content; right to equal access and opportunity; and right to data protection and privacy on the Internet.

Mozambique has gone through three reviews since 2011. In terms of Mozambique’s performance at the UPR, its [first review](https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/MZIndex.aspx) on 28 March 2011 at the Council’s seventeenth session received no specific recommendation on digital rights out of the 169 recommendations made by 52 UN member states. It also did not receive any general recommendation with respect to any of the rights to privacy, freedom of expression and association and assembly.

At the Council’s 32nd session on 12 April 2016 where Mozambique’s report was reviewed for the [second time](https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/MZIndex.aspx), it received 210 recommendations from 94 UN member states. Only nine of these recommendations referred to the right to freedom of expression, the press and access to information. Six of these recommendations were accepted by Mozambique.

At its [most recent review](http://webtv.un.org/watch/mozambique-review-38th-session-of-universal-periodic-review/6252363599001/) at the 38th session of the Council which was held on 4 May 2021, Mozambique received 266 recommendations. Out of these recommendations, 22 were on the right to freedom of expression, protection of journalists and human rights freedoms and media freedom. This marked the highest number of recommendations received by Mozambique at the UPR since its first review. Some of the recommendations received include those from Spain, Latvia, Netherlands, Ghana, France, Czech Republic, Uruguay, USA, Sweden, Slovenia, Norway, New Zealand, Malawi, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Iceland, Bulgaria, Iceland, Austria and Australia.

For example, France recommended that Mozambique should ‘guarantee the freedom of expression, association and assembly and the protection of human rights defenders; guarantee the freedom of the press and take all measures so that all journalists may carry out their work independently and without fear of reprisals.’

Bulgaria also noted in one of its recommendations that Mozambique should ‘ensure that the right to freedom of expression and freedom of press is respected including on the Internet space and maintain a positive environment for the work of independent media and journalists.’ Canada equally called for the need for Mozambique to respect the right to freedom of expression by recommending that it should ‘ensure the protection of freedom of expression provided for under international human rights law are reflected in the texts of new laws governing media and broadcasting and that they are respected in practice.’

With respect to media law reforms, Norway recommended that Mozambique ‘ensures that the on-going revisions and reforms of media laws protect freedom of expression and media freedoms, promote media pluralism and are based on stakeholder consultations.’ Sweden also toed the same line in its recommendation by stating that Mozambique should ‘redraft laws on social communications and the law on broadcasting to guarantee the freedom of expression including by increasing the space for dissent and discussion and ensure an enabling space for everyone to enjoy these rights.’

With a two-pronged recommendation on the right to freedom of expression, the United States recommended that Mozambique should ‘allow independent press and civil society access to report on conflict regions and uphold Mozambique’s domestic and international obligations and commitments to respect the freedom of expression including those of the members of the press.’ In terms of access to justice and protection of the press, it recommended that Mozambique should ‘investigate and hold accountable those responsible for violent attacks against members of the press.’

These are some of the highlights of the recommendations received by Mozambique which also mirror some of the concerns of local stakeholders who work on the protection of digital rights both in and outside Mozambique. This can be seen in the [submission](https://cipesa.org/?wpfb_dl=438) made by three civil society organisations for review at the recent 38th session. The organisations, namely the [Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa](http://www.cipesa.org/) (CIPESA), [Small Media](http://www.smallmedia.org.uk/), [Fórum das Associações Moçambicanas das Pessoas com Deficiência](https://www.famod.org/) (FAMOD) and the [Associação de Cegos e Amblíopes de Moçambique](http://acamo.co.mz/acamo/) highlighted a number of challenges being faced by digital rights in Mozambique to include low [Internet penetration](https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-mozambique), [attacks on journalists](https://www.misa.org.mz/index.php/destaques/noticias/79-o-estado-deve-por-termo-a-perseguicoes-e-atentados-%20contra-jornalistas-em-mocambique) and [systemic threats](https://globalvoices.org/2016/05/16/the-government-of-mozambique-is-spying-on-its-citizens-according-to-%20verdade/) against the right to data protection and privacy.

In its recommendations on how to surmount these challenges, the submission made five recommendations including the need to increase capacity building on the right to information law, the repeal of provisions of the COVID-19 Decree which have been found to be non-compliant with international human rights standards; the need to improve access to justice mechanisms for media practitioners; improving Internet access especially for vulnerable groups by optimising the Universal Service Fund; and ensuring the enactment of a data protection law.

In summary, Mozambique should consider accepting the recommendations made to it by various UN member states and other stakeholders at the recently concluded review. This is because the protection of human rights online is no longer a luxury, especially when the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 on human development is critically considered. Therefore, in protecting these rights, Mozambique should ensure that its policies on digital rights protection are rights-respecting and multi-stakeholder in its approach in order to have an improved human rights record especially towards its next review at the UPR.

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Discussing the state of freedom of expression and digital rights in Mozambique as it comes under review during the 38th session of the UPR.

Mozambique’s third UPR cycle and the need to improve its digital rights protection

The [38th session](https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/upr/pages/uprsessions.aspx) of the Human Rights Council (the Council) held from 3 to 13 May 2021. At the session, the human rights records of our UPRoar countries including Namibia, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone were reviewed through the [Universal Periodic Review (UPR)](https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/upr/pages/uprmain.aspx).

Since 2006, the UPR has been tasked with the assessment of human rights obligations of UN member states. The process, which is largely dialogic, addresses various thematic aspects of human rights based on international human rights treaties and how each State under review (SuR) has performed between four to five years. Since inception, the UPR has reviewed the human rights records of UN member states at least three times.

The various thematic aspects include women’s rights, children’s rights, rights of persons living with disabilities, protection of human rights during conflicts and many others. One of such nascent but crucial aspects of human rights is digital rights. [Digital rights](https://uproar.fyi/), also referred to as human rights online. With respect to the UPR, these rights have been broadly categorised into four, namely freedom of expression and opinion; freedom of information and censorship of content; right to equal access and opportunity; and right to data protection and privacy on the Internet.

In total, Namibia, Mozambique and Sierra Leone received 268, 266 and 268 recommendations respectively. 30 recommendations focused on the right to freedom of expression, media freedoms, access to information, developing rights-respecting policies on data protection and cybersecurity and protection of journalists. Namibia, Mozambique and Sierra Leone received recommendations from 22 UN member states namely Spain, Latvia, Netherlands, Ghana, Greece, France, Czech Republic, Uruguay, USA, Sweden, Slovenia, Norway, New Zealand, Malawi, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Iceland, Bulgaria, Iceland, Austria and Australia.

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During Namibia’s [review](http://webtv.un.org/watch/namibia-review-38th-session-of-universal-periodic-review/6252018168001/) which was held on 3 May 2021, it received three recommendations from Greece, Latvia and the United States with respect to digital rights protection. For Greece, it recommended that Namibia should ‘take concrete steps to improve the safety of journalists, investigate incidents of attacks on journalists and implement the [United Nations’ Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.’](https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/un-plan-on-safety-journalists_en.pdf) Latvia also recommended that Namibia should ‘promote and protect the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as well as media freedom and safety of journalists.’ Making a connection between fighting corruption and access to information, the United States recommended that Namibia should ‘prioritise fighting corruption by enacting an Access to Information law.’

Mozambique at its [review](http://webtv.un.org/watch/mozambique-review-38th-session-of-universal-periodic-review/6252363599001/) on 4 May 2021 received the highest number of recommendations with respect to protecting digital rights from 22 countries namely Spain, Latvia, Netherlands, Ghana, France, Czech Republic, Uruguay, USA, Sweden, Slovenia, Norway, New Zealand, Malawi, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Iceland, Bulgaria, Iceland, Austria and Australia.

For example, with respect to the protection of digital rights, Bulgaria recommended that Mozambique should ‘ensure that the right to freedom of expression and freedom of press is respected including on the Internet space and maintain a positive environment for the work of independent media and journalists.’ In addition, both Canada and the Czech Republic recommended that Mozambique should ‘ensure the protection of freedom of expression provided for under international human rights law are reflected in the texts of new laws governing media and broadcasting and that they are respected in practice.’

The United States also made two recommendations with respect to Mozambique’s obligations to protect the right to freedom of expression and protection of the press. First, it recommended that Mozambique should ‘allow independent press and civil society access to report on conflict regions and uphold Mozambique’s domestic and international obligations and commitments to respect the freedom of expression including those of the members of the press.’ It also recommended that Mozambique should ‘investigate and hold accountable those responsible for violent attacks against members of the press.’

For its [review](http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-council/watch/sierra-leone-review-38th-session-of-universal-periodic-review/6253886909001/?term=&lan=english) which was held on 12 May 2021, Sierra Leone received six recommendations with respect to digital rights. With respect to the right to freedom of expression of sexual minorities, Spain recommended that Sierra Leone should ‘investigate the restrictions of the right to freedom of expression and assembly of LGBTI persons as well as harassment, arbitrary detention and other forms of violence against them.’

Latvia also recommended that Mozambique should ‘ensure the right to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly as well as media freedom.’ Netherlands equally recommends that Sierra Leone should ‘uphold the right to freedom of expression and refrain from criminalising the legitimate activities of human rights defenders and journalists by restricting their activities and rights including arbitrary arrests of journalists and human rights defenders.’ Ghana, France and Czech Republic also gave various recommendations on the need for Sierra Leone should ensure the right to freedom of expression of media practitioners and human rights defenders.

In summary, recommending UN member states and stakeholders pointed out to Namibia, Mozambique and Sierra Leone to ensure that they all optimise the use of their Universal Service Funds, improve the safety of journalists and human rights defenders while also carrying out stakeholder-driven media sector reforms.

In doing this, the SuRs are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity provided for technical assistance through the UPR system for the implementation of the recommendations made to them. On the part of local stakeholders, they are also encouraged to work in collaboration with the SuRs in terms of monitoring and evaluation of the recommendations made especially towards the next review of countries in question.

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A summary of recommendations made to Namibia, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone during the 38th session of the UPR.

The 38th session of the Universal Periodic Review: Improving digital rights protection in Namibia, Mozambique and Sierra Leone

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Small Media

Mozambique Factsheet.pdf

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Mozambique_OHCHR Submission_38.pdf

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OHCHR Submission Mozambique - Portuguese.pdf

Mozambique UPR Submission (Portuguese Translation)

Protection from violence

Women and girls

Equality and non-discrimination

Free expression

Digital rights

Association and assembly

Human rights defenders

Journalists and media workers

Torture and ill-treatment

Arrest and detention

Free movement

LGBT+

Advox is a project of Global Voices. They are a global network of activists and journalists dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online. They report on threats to online speech, share tactics for defending the work and words of netizens, and support efforts to improve Internet policy and practice worldwide.
 
Global Voices is an international, multilingual, primarily volunteer community of writers, translators, academics, and human rights activists. The non-profit reports, translates, defends and empowers freedom of expression.

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Global Voices

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A global network of activists and journalists dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online.

In partnership with Advox Global Voices - a global network of activists and journalists dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online.

Uproar Tools are interactive data-driven tools that aim to show you how you can use the Universal Periodic Review to improve the situation of human rights in your country. 

Uproar Tools aims to show you how you can use the Universal Periodic Review to improve the situation of human rights in your country. 

The Tools were made in partnership between Uproar and Data4Change, a non-profit organisation working at the intersection of data, design, journalism and technology, collaborating with organisations on social and policy change interventions to forge real change and lasting impact.

Uproar Tools

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Use our free interactive tools to build recommendations and tailor advocacy efforts at the Universal Periodic Review.

Uproar Tools 

Advocacy Assembly is a free multilingual e-learning platform set up in 2015 aimed at educating campaigners, activists, human rights defenders and journalists in digital rights and digital skills. 
In partnership with leading digital rights organisations and experts, Advocacy Assembly offers self-paced online courses in Arabic, English, Farsi and Spanish using a variety of videos, quizzes and slides. The courses cover topics like design, data science, investigative journalism, open source investigations, effective campaigning for social change and much more.

Advocacy Assembly

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A free multilingual platform to access courses with leading organisations such as Amnesty International, Witness and Greenpeace. 

Advocacy Assembly is a free multilingual e-learning platform to educate on digital rights and digital skills.

Mozambique

Upr cycle

Resources

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Partner organisations

Mozambique cluster