ISSN 2413‐807X Legal pluralism, women’s land rights and gender equality in Mozambique Harmonizing statutory and customary law FAO LEGAL PAPERS No. 104 Legal pluralism, women’s land rights and gender equality in Mozambique Harmonizing statutory and customary law Marianna Bicchieri Land Tenure Officer, FAO Anabel Ayala Land Consultant, FAO FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2017 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO. ISBN 978‐92‐5‐109936‐0 © FAO, 2017 FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use in non‐commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO’s endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not implied in any way. All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.fao.org/contact‐ us/licence‐request or addressed to [email protected]. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through publications‐ [email protected]. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... VI ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................. VII 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 2. MOZAMBIQUE: POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE ...................................................... 4 3. GENDER ISSUES AND WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS ........................................................... 6 3.1 Gender issues .......................................................................................................................... 6 3.2 Women’s Land rights ............................................................................................................... 8 4. MOZAMBICAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND LEGAL PLURALISM ........................................ 12 5. CUSTOMARY PRACTICES: PAST AND PRESENT .......................................................... 16 6. CUSTOMARY LAW IN ACTION: COMMUNITY COURTS, CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AND PARALEGALS ............... 21 6.1 Community courts as forums for conflict resolution ............................................................. 21 6.1.1 Community courts in urban areas .............................................................................. 22 6.1.2 Community courts in rural areas ................................................................................ 25 6.1.3 Common considerations to urban and rural community courts ................................ 26 6.1.4 Efforts to revitalize the CCs ........................................................................................ 32 6.2 Civil society organizations and their role on gender issues and conflict resolution ............. 34 6.3 The role of paralegals on gender issues and conflict resolution ........................................... 36 7. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 39 8. RECOMMENDATIONS: ACTIONS TO ALIGN CUSTOMARY LAW WITH STATUTORY LAW ................................. 41 a) Systematizing the information on the CCs and creating mechanisms to align customary with statutory law .......................................................................................................................... 41 b) Legal education of the judges of the community courts and of the community leaders ...... 42 c) Training of paralegals ............................................................................................................ 42 d) Awareness and dissemination of information on gender equality and women’s and children’s rights ..................................................................................................................... 43 APPENDIX I ― METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 44 APPENDIX II ― LIST OF INTERVIEWEES ............................................................................ 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 49 FAO LEGAL PAPERS No. 104 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors of this publication are Marianna Bicchieri, Land Tenure Officer and Anabel Ayala, Land Consultant, who contributed to the Mozambican land programme and component projects between 2010 and 2014. The publication was developed under the technical supervision of Margret Vidar, Legal Officer in the Development Law Branch. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is grateful to all the people and institutions who supported the development of this study: in particular, the Chairman of the Committee of the Community Courts of the city of Maputo, His Honour Bernardo Deve, who organized and supported the visit to different courts; the paralegals who actively collaborated in the organization of the field work, especially Paciencia Inácio Tomás, Maria Angelina Sales Conceição and Esmeralda E. Angalaze of the Associação de Paralegais de Inhambane (API) – Association of Paralegals of Inhambane, Teresa Pedro Samuel Boa from Associação das Mulheres Desfavorecidas da Indústria Açucareira (AMUDEIA) – Association of Disadvantaged Women in the Sugar Industry, and Samuel Manuel Guambe and Rogério Jaime Cumbane from the district of Zavala, Inhambane. The authors also wish to thank all the interviewees for their invaluable and significant contributions. Comments and suggestions were gratefully received from Christopher Tanner, Naomi Kenney, Paolo Groppo and Rubén Villanueva, including further review from Clara Park and Tina Lorizzo, all to whom FAO wishes to express its deep appreciation. FAO also wishes to thank the Embassies of the Netherlands and Norway for their financial support to the land programme in Mozambique. FAO LEGAL PAPERS No. 104 vi ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AMETRAMO Associação dos Médicos Tradicionais de Moçambique (Association of Traditional Doctors of Mozambique) AMMCJ Associação Moçambicana das Mulheres de Carreira Jurídica (Association of Mozambican Women in Legal Careers) AMUDEIA Associação das Mulheres Desfavorecidas da Indústria Açucareira (Association of Disadvantaged Women in the Sugar Industry) API Associação de Paralegais de Inhambane (Association of Paralegals of Inhambane) CC Community Court CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women CEPAJI Centro de Pesquisa e Apoio à Justiça Informal (Centre for Research and Support to Informal Justice) CESAB Centro de Estudos Sociais Aquino de Bragança (Centre for Social Studies in Aquino de Bragança) CFJJ Centro de Formação Jurídica e Judiciária (Centre for Juridical and Judicial Training) CRM Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique CSO Civil society organization CTV Centro Terra Viva (Living Earth Centre) DC District Judicial Court DNTF Direção Nacional de Terras e Florestas (National Land and Forestry Directorate) DUAT Direito de Uso e Aproveitamento da Terra (Land Use and Benefit Right) FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FRELIMO Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Mozambican Liberation Front) GAMC Gabinete de Atendimento à Família e Menores Vítimas de Violência (Office of Family and Children’s Victim of Violence) GAMC‐AMUDEIA Gabinete de Atendimento à Mulher e Criança Vítimas de Violência (Office of Women and Children’s Services Victim of Violence at AMUDEIA) GDP Gross Domestic Product HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus IPAJ Instituto de Patrocínio e Assistência Jurídica (Institute of Legal Patronage and Assistance) MCA Millennium Challenge Account MMAS Ministério do Género, Criança e Acção Social (Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action) MISAU Ministério da Saúde (Ministry of Health) MULEIDE Associação Mulher, Lei e Desenvolvimento (Association of Women, Law and Development) NGO Non‐governmental organization PC Provincial Judicial Court PEDSA Plano Estratégico para o Desenvolvimento do Sector Agrário (Agricultural Sector Development Strategic Plan) FAO LEGAL PAPERS No. 104 vii PRM Police of the Republic of Mozambique RENAMO Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Mozambican National Resistance) UNDP United Nations Development Programme VGGT Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security WLSA Women and Law in Southern Africa FAO LEGAL PAPERS No. 104 viii Legal