Mozambique: Assembly passes Amended Domestic Violence Bill

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, has passed the second and final reading of a bill on domestic violence against women, but with a clause tacked onto the end to placate the howls of rage from some male quarters that the bill was "unconstitutional" because it "discriminated against men".

Some of the press has waged a relentless campaign against the bill. The private TV channel, STV, and the daily paper "O Pais", owned by the same company, have been particularly insistent that the bill violates the constitutional clause on equality between the sexes, and should be "more inclusive".

When the bill passed its first reading earlier this month, the weekly paper "Savana" ran a front page headline claiming that the Assembly "is demonizing men". The latest issue of the Sunday paper "Domingo" carried an editorial accusing the Assembly of "mulherismo" - an entirely new word in the Portuguese language, and which could roughly be translated as "female chauvinism".

Inside the Assembly the opposition Renamo-Electoral Union coalition also waved the constitution aloft, hinting that if a bill protecting only women was passed, it might later be struck down as unconstitutional.

All these voices seemed to imagine that Mozambique is a country where women regularly beat up, mutilate, rape and murder men, rather than the other way round.

The proponent of the bill, the Assembly's own Social Affairs Commission, opted for a tactical retreat. After a series of clauses outlining various forms of violence against women, and the penalties they should bear, an article was tagged on at the end stating "The provisions of the present law apply to men, under equality of circumstances, and with the necessary adaptations".

This vague formulation was enough for the Renamo deputies to drop their objections, and so the amended bill passed unanimously. The chairperson of the Assembly, Eduardo Mulembue, described the new article as "a tactical arrangement to avoid allegations that we are violating the constitution".

The new clause could be impossible to enforce in a court since "the necessary adaptations" are not defined, and it is easy to argue that there is no such thing as "equality of circumstances" in Mozambican gender relations.

The large audience of women in the public gallery obviously did not believe that the new clause made any significant difference to the bill. For when it was passed they erupted in chants and songs of victory.

The final version of the bill is much more specific about penalties than the document presented at the first reading. Husbands, lovers or other male relatives who beat women so severely as to endanger their lives will be sentenced to between eight and twelve years imprisonment. If the violence results in the death of the woman, the normal penalty for first degree murder applies - which is up to 24 years imprisonment.

Serious physical injury, but which is not life threatening, is punished by between eight months and two years imprisonment. Minor assaults are punished with between one and six months in jail, but the court can order a period of community service instead.

The penalty for marital rape is between six months and two years, while threats and other forms of "verbal violence" carry a maximum sentence of one year.

A man who refuses to pay alimony to his former wife or partner is liable to a six month prison sentence, and the alimony owing will be doubled. Male relatives who seize the property of a woman after the death of her husband - a distressingly common fate of widows in the Mozambican countryside - will be sentenced to up to six months in jail.

One regressive change since the first draft is that courts will no longer be able to order a violent man to leave the house he shares with his victim. Apparently the Social Affairs Commission buckled under the plaintive cries of "But where will he go?"

However, courts may still seize any weapons found in the possession of the man, forbid him from selling or removing any family property, and suspend his authority over the couple's children. The courts may also take measures to secure the safe return of a woman driven out of her home by violence.

The bill defines domestic violence as a "public crime" - which means that the police do not have to wait for the victim to make a formal complaint. Anyone can denounce the crime to the authorities, and the police can act on any indications that domestic violence is taking place.

The bill provides for medical care for the victims of domestic violence, and the health unit involved must draw up a detailed report on the state of he woman's health and the injuries she has suffered, which will be forwarded to the public prosecutor's office.

Any man who disobeys a court summons in cases of domestic violence, will be tried in absentia.