© UNODC
Maputo (Mozambique), 15 May 2024 – The recent terrorism phenomenon affecting Mozambique has led to an influx of individuals convicted on terrorism-related offences into the Southern African country’s prisons, many of which still remain detained. The National Prison Service of Mozambique (SERNAP), in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), held a training session for prison directors and officials on prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration, a follow-up activity to a UNODC-organized exchange visit with Belgian authorities.
The mentoring programme (14-15 May 2024), financed by the European Union, aimed to raise awareness of best management and rehabilitation practices for prisoners associated with terrorism in Mozambican prisons. Rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals associated with terrorism is key to preventing recidivism and violent extremism and to ensuring a successful post-related reintegration back into Mozambican society.
Speaking on the event’s opening ceremony, Zenóbia Machangua, National Programme Officer at UNODC, in representation of the Head of the UNODC Office in Mozambique, said that “this was yet another mentoring action aimed at improving the capacities of staff to better face the security challenges posed by terrorism, violent extremism and organized crime, taking into account the development of coordinated approaches in the fight against deradicalization and the treatment of prisoners associated with terrorism.” Machanguana hopes that this mentoring will help SERNAP develop recommendations for effective strategies to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals associated with terrorism in prisons.
National Director of the Penitentiary Operations Service, Ramos Zambuco, representing SERNAP’s Director-General, praised UNODC “for the support it provides in the context of preventing violent extremism within the prison system, and also the prison officers who, despite the difficulties faced by the sector, dedicate themselves daily to rehabilitating and reintegrating prisoners involved in acts of terrorism.”
According to the Global Prison Trends (2023), there are more than 11,5 million people in prison worldwide, most of which men, with around 120 countries recording occupancy rated exceeding prison system capacity, including Mozambique, a major challenge for the Mozambican prison system. Beyond a consistent increase in prison population year-on-year – from around 18,000 in 2020 to 20,517 in 2021, 20,517 in 2022 and over 23,000 in 2023 – further challenges remain. SERNAP faces lack of adequate infrastructure to house inmates, largely expired pre-trial detention periods, poor nutrition, poor hygiene and medical care, the housing of juvenile prisoners in adult facilities, the sharing of cells between convicted and untried prisoners, inadequate nutrition and medical care, and the lack of adequate food.
UNODC works to build the capacity of national criminal justice systems to prevent and counter terrorism more efficiently through capacity-building workshops at the national, subregional and regional levels, sharing legislation expertise on implementing anti-terrorism legislation and other measures in compliance with the rule of law and international norms and standards on human rights, and promoting regional and international cooperation between Member States. For more information, click here.
