Mozambique

Detains migrants or asylum seekers?

Yes

Has laws regulating migration-related detention?

Yes

Refugees

5,331

2023

Asylum Applications

27,389

2023

International Migrants

353,143

2024

Population

34,631,766

2024

Overview

Mozambique Although Mozambique does not appear to have dedicated immigration detention facilities, it has faced criticism for the prolonged arbitrary detention of refugees and asylum seekers in prisons under poor conditions.

Types of facilities used for migration-related detention
Administrative Ad Hoc Criminal Unknown

Mozambique: Covid-19 and Detention

On World Refugee Day (20 June), rights groups called on Mozambican authorities to release a group of 16 African refugees and asylum seekers detained in the country since 2019 and who are held in conditions in which their health is not safeguarded. The group, which includes 15 Congolese people and one Ethiopian man, were arrested […]

Read More…

Amnesty International, “Mozambique: Failure to Release African Asylum Seekers and Refugees Reveals Disturbing Flaws in Justice System,” 20 June 2020, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/06/mozambique-failure-to-release-african-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-reveals-disturbing-flaws-in-justice-system/
Last updated: July 2024

DETENTION STATISTICS

Migration Detainee Entries
Not Available
protprot

DETAINEE DATA

Total Number of Children Placed in Immigration Detention (Year)
Not Available
protprot 2017

DETENTION CAPACITY

ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION

ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA

PRISON DATA

Criminal Prison Population (Year)
15,976
protprot 2015
15,735
protprot 2012
15,249
protprot 2010
15,000
protprot 2007
10,000
protprot 2004
8,812
protprot 1999
7,120
protprot 1996
Percentage of Foreign Prisoners (Year)
0.9%
protprot 2012
Prison Population Rate (per 100,000 of National Population)
57
protprot 2015
64
protprot 2012
65
protprot 2010
69
protprot 2007
49
protprot 2004
49
protprot 1999
43
protprot 1996

POPULATION DATA

Population (Year)
34,631,766
protprot 2024
33,900,000
protprot 2023
31,300,000
protprot 2020
27,978,000
protprot 2015
International Migrants (Year)
353,143
protprot 2024
338,850
protprot 2020
334,665
protprot 2019
222,900
protprot 2015
International Migrants as Percentage of Population (Year)
1.02%
protprot 2024
1.08%
protprot 2020
0.8%
protprot 2015
Refugees (Year)
5,331
protprot 2023
4,797
protprot 2021
4,757
protprot 2020
4,713
protprot 2019
4,907
protprot 2018
4,876
protprot 2017
4,663
protprot 2016
5,622
protprot 2015
4,536
protprot 2014
Ratio of Refugees Per 1000 Inhabitants (Year)
0.16
protprot 2016
0.17
protprot 2014
Asylum Applications (Year)
27,389
protprot 2023
797
protprot 2019
2,096
protprot 2016
3,285
protprot 2014
Refugee Recognition Rate (Year)
100
protprot 2014
Stateless Persons (Year)
0
protprot 2022
0
protprot 2016
0
protprot 2015

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS

Gross Domestic Product per Capita (in USD)
$ 585,000
protprot 2014
Remittances to the Country (in USD)
$ 217,000,000
protprot 2014
Unemployment Rate
%
protprot 2014
Net Official Development Assistance (ODA) (in Millions USD)
2,103.4
protprot 2014
Human Development Index Ranking (UNDP)
180 (Low)
protprot 2015

LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Does the Country Detain People for Migration, Asylum, or Citizenship Reasons?

Yes

2023

Yes

2020
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?

Yes

2023
Legal Tradition(s)

Customary law

2017

Civil law

2017

GROUNDS FOR DETENTION

LENGTH OF DETENTION

DETENTION INSTITUTIONS

PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS

Procedural Standards
Name
In Law
In Practice
Year
Access to free interpretation services
No
2018
Information to detainees
No
2018

COSTS & OUTSOURCING

COVID-19 DATA

TRANSPARENCY

MONITORING

NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES

NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)

GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES

INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES

International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CRSR, Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
1983
2017
VCCR, Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
1983
2017
CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
1997
2017
ICERD, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
1983
2017
CTOCSP, Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
2006
2017
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2006
2017
CRSSP, Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
2014
2017
ICRMW, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
2013
2017
CRPD, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
2012
2017
CRC, Convention on the Rights of the Child
1994
2017
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1999
2017
ICCPR, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
1993
2017
OPCAT, Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2014
2014
PCRSR, Protocol to the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
1989
1989
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 14/19
Treaty Reservations
Reservation Year
Observation Date
CRSR Article 22
1983
2017
Individual Complaints Procedures
Acceptance Year
CRPD, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2012
2012
CEDAW, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1999 2008
2008
Ratio of Complaints Procedures Accepted
Observation Date
2/7
2017
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on Migrant Workers 33. The Committee is concerned, however, about the lack of information regarding measures to ensure that migrant workers and members of their families, in particular those in an irregular situation.... 34. The Committee recommends that the State party take the steps necessary to ensure that, in administrative and judicial proceedings, including detention and expulsion proceedings, migrant workers and members of their families, particularly those in an irregular situation.... 2018
2018
2018
Committee on the Rights of the Child § 43. "Recalling joint general comments No. 3 and No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families/No. 22 and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the human rights of children in the context of international migration, the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure that asylum procedures systematically identify and refer unaccompanied or separated children to appropriate protection and support services; facilitate these children ’ s access to services such as education and health care; and ensure that best interests assessments are carried out at all stages of the procedures, including by ensuring safety and security for asylum-seeking and refugee children in camps; (b) Ensure that all the children living in Maratane refugee camp have full access to the existing child protection system, including education and health services; (c) Consider withdrawing all of its reservations to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees." 2019
2019

> UN Special Procedures

Visits by Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council
Year of Visit
Observation Date
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons 2023
2023
2023

> UN Universal Periodic Review

Relevant Recommendations or Observations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Observation Date
No 2016
2017
No 2011
2017

> Global Compact for Migration (GCM)

GCM Resolution Endorsement
Observation Date
2018

> Global Compact on Refugees (GCR)

GCR Resolution Endorsement
Observation Date
2018

REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS

Regional Legal Instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
Observation Date
APRW, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) 2005
2005
2017
ACRWC, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1998
1998
2017
ACHPR, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 1989
1989
2017

HEALTH CARE PROVISION

HEALTH IMPACTS

COVID-19

Country Updates
On World Refugee Day (20 June), rights groups called on Mozambican authorities to release a group of 16 African refugees and asylum seekers detained in the country since 2019 and who are held in conditions in which their health is not safeguarded. The group, which includes 15 Congolese people and one Ethiopian man, were arrested (and allegedly beaten) by police and immigration officers in Maratane Refugee Camp in the north-east of the country and have since been arbitrarily detained in Pemba, Cabo Delgado province. According to Amnesty International, the group have been held in inhuman conditions with no access to clean drinking water and no toilet in their cell, and no measures have been implemented in the prison to prevent the spread of Covid-19. They have not been provided with beds and instead are reported to be sleeping on sheets of paper on the floor. In June 2019, it was also reported that the group had been denied food and medical attention, and in April 2019 the prison in which they are held was reported to have been flooded and damaged by Cyclone Kenneth. Amnesty said in a 20 June statement, “The Mozambican government must immediately and unconditionally end the arbitrary detention of these refugees and release them without any delay or charge them with internationally recognizable offences if they have committed any crime.” In January 2019, Mozambican authorities had attempted to deport seven of the asylum seekers to the Democratic Republic of Congo, but Congolese immigration authorities denied them entry. In a previous case in 2018 involving the six-month detention of three asylum seekers, a High Court ordered their release, affirming the rights of asylum seekers within the country. According to the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, despite Article 11 of the country’s Refugee Act stating that any criminal or administrative proceedings directly connected with illegal entry shall be suspended immediately upon the submission of the petition, asylum seekers have continued to be arrested and detained for illegal entry.
Did the country release immigration detainees as a result of the pandemic?
Unknown
protprot 2021
Did the country Temporarily Cease or Restrict Issuing Detention Orders?
No
protprot 2020
Did the Country Adopt These Pandemic-Related Measures for People in Immigration Detention?
Unknown (Unknown) Unknown Unknown Unknown
protprot 2021
Did the Country Lock-Down Previously "Open" Reception Facilities, Shelters, Refugee Camps, or Other Forms of Accommodation for Migrant Workers or Other Non-Citizens?
Unknown
protprot 2021
Were cases of COVID-19 reported in immigration detention facilities or any other places used for immigration detention purposes?
Unknown
protprot 2021
Did the Country Cease or Restrict Deportations/Removals During any Period After the Onset of the Pandemic?
Unknown
protprot 2021
Did the Country Release People from Criminal Prisons During the Pandemic?
Yes
protprot 2020
Did Officials Blame Migrants, Asylum Seekers, or Refugees for the Spread of COVID-19?
Unknown
protprot 2021
Did the Country Restrict Access to Asylum Procedures?
Unknown
protprot 2021
Did the Country Commence a National Vaccination Campaign?
Yes
protprot 2021
Were Populations of Concern Included/Excluded From the National Vaccination Campaign?
Unknown (Unknown) Unknown Unknown Unknown
protprot 2021