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National law and policies on minimum ages – Mozambique

 

According to the CRC, laws and policies must be directed to the best interest of the child. This is especially so in provisions that aim to safeguard the child against exploitation or an early end to childhood, i.e. in the instances where children are most vulnerable and at risk. Yet such safeguards are often ignored and different areas of legislation found to clash with each other. What happens if the age for the end of compulsory education is 14 but the minimum age of employment is 12? Or vice versa? What if a girl can be married before school leaving age - will she then return to school? And who ensures schooling in prisons, when in reality education should protect children from incarceration?

 

 

 

 

With 192 parties to it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified UN treaty. Each State Party must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which uses this process to monitor State compliance with the treaty. The vast majority of the information on minimum ages presented on these pages is taken directly from such reports (occasionally, if these failed to include relevant information concerning minimum ages, other components of the reporting process - such as the Committee’s Concluding Observations - were consulted). States Parties’ reports constitute self-assessment by governments and are therefore authoritative sources, emanating directly from those empowered to make decisions. Using this type of sources also permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC. The sections of these reports have been reproduced faithfully, and readers are encouraged to make use of the full original text, available here.

 

Individual country reports are often written by diverse parts of the government, and frequently run to more than 100 pages. Moreover, within some states’ legal systems there are various recognised sources of law, which frequently generate conflicting minimum ages. Distilling precise numbers out of such documents is therefore a precarious task. While we would encourage cross-country comparison, we would also stress the danger that those countries with a more honest engagement with the reporting process might come off worse when compared with those which would mis-represent the degree of compliance, whether wilfully or not. For a full explanation of the principles that guided us in our analysis, please visit the introductory pages here.

 

Sources:
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/MOZ/2, 23 March 2009
Initial report: CRC/C/41/Add.11, 14 May 2001
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
From 2nd report
116. The following matters are as previously reported in the initial report: […] Compulsory schooling, for which the legal age of admission to basic primary education is six years; the State tries to encourage school age children enrolment and retention up to grade seven […]
From initial report
60. Given the impact of the war and its destruction of the school network and the general structure of the country’s education system, under the new education policies it has been decided that mandatory school attendance is an objective to be achieved gradually. The Council of Ministers shall determine the rate of implementation, in the light of the country’s socio-economic development. Consequently, there is no rigid determination of ages for mandatory school attendance. It is however stipulated that the legal age for admission to basic primary education is six years. The State tries to encourage the registration of school-age children and their continuation throughout the seven classes that make up basic education.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
From 2nd report
116. […] The legal age to work is 15 years, as per Labour Law No.° 8/98, which is currently under review. The review is looking at the possibility of allowing children aged 12 to 15 to work under special conditions […]
From initial report
569. The right of Mozambican citizens to work, regardless of their sex, is based on the Constitution, in particular articles 88 and 51. As regards ordinary legislation, it is important to note the principles established in Law 8/98 of 20 July, the Labour Law. Article 79 of this law forbids employers from employing minors under 15 years of age, except in cases of derogation determined jointly by the Ministers of Labour, Health and Education, and with the authorization of their legal representatives. This legal provision allows minors aged between 12 and 15 to work under special conditions. Under the terms of the General Statute of Civil Servants (Decree No. 14/87), the minimum age for admission to the civil service is 18.
 
Minimum age for marriage
From 2nd report
115. The Civil Code previously stated that all persons wishing to marry should not be of “age lower than 16 years for men and 14 years for women”. The new Family Law now stipulates that a person should not be of “age lower than 18 years”. However, it states that “women or men over the age of 16 may, exceptionally, enter into marriage in the case of special circumstances involving public and family interest, and when there is consent from parents or legal guardians”.
From initial report
63. The marital age is 18, although boys aged 16 and girls aged 14 can be allowed to marry if they have the consent of their parents or guardian, or through ‘‘emancipation’’. The definition of the minimum age for marriage is affected by the traditional and religious environment that influences many marriages in the country.
In general, marital age is related to the concepts of child and adult and marriage can thus take place at ages lower than those stipulated by law […]
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
From 2nd report
348. As mentioned in the initial report, the minimum age for criminal responsibility established under the Mozambican Penal code is 16 years.
354. Minors aged between 16 and 18 years of age have reduced criminal responsibility in that they cannot be sentenced to more than 8 years imprisonment.
From initial report
550. As regards criminal protection measures under ordinary legislation, of relevance are the principles established in the Penal Code, particularly the principle established in article 42, paragraph 1, according to which children under 16 years old are not criminally liable. This legal provision means that no person aged under 16 can be subjected to criminal liability, that is, the person may not be subject to penal measures depriving him/her of his/her liberty.
 
Sources:
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/MOZ/2, 23 March 2009

Initial report: CRC/C/41/Add.11, 14 May 2001