Johannesburg — Protect, Reintegrate Children at Risk in Cabo Delgado Province
An armed group linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) has ramped up abductions of children in northern Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, Human Rights Watch said today. Most of the abducted children are being used for transporting looted goods, forced labor, forced marriages, and taking part in the fighting.
National civil society groups and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report that such kidnappings are on the rise. While the armed group, locally known as Al-Shabab, released some of the children they abducted earlier this year, a number of children remain missing; those who have returned to their communities struggle with reintegration.
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"The surge in abductions of children in Cabo Delgado adds to the horrors of Mozambique's conflict," said Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Al-Shabab needs to spare children from the conflict and immediately release those who have been abducted."
In May and June 2025, Human Rights Watch interviewed nine people in Mozambique, including residents of Cabo Delgado, journalists, civil society activists, and a UN official, all of whom expressed concern about the resurgence of kidnappings. "In recent days, 120 or more children have been abducted," said Abudo Gafuro, executive director at Kwendeleya, a national organization that monitors attacks and provides support to victims.
On January 23, 2025, Al-Shabab attacked the village of Mumu, in Mocímboa da Praia district, and abducted four girls and three boys. During Al-Shabab's subsequent retreat, two children were released, but five remain missing. In March, the armed group abducted six children in Chibau to carry looted goods; four were released the following day. On May 3, Al-Shabab abducted a girl in the village of Ntotwe, Mocímboa da Praia district; on May 11, they kidnapped six girls and two boys near Magaia village in Muidumbe district.
When Al-Shabab fighters "enter or attack certain areas, they tend to abduct children," said Augusta Iaquite, coordinator at the Association of Women in Legal Careers in Cabo Delgado. "They take them to train them and later turn them into their own fighters."
When children who have been abducted return to the community, there are few resources to help them reintegrate, Human Rights Watch said. "The country needs a clear strategy on what to do when a child, especially one that has been rescued, returns," said Benilde Nhalivilo, executive director at the Civil Society Forum for Children's Rights.
Civil society organizations have called on Mozambique's government to fulfill the country's obligations under domestic and international law to protect the nation's children.
Mozambique's Constitution and the 2008 Law for the Promotion and Protection of Children's Rights enshrine the state's duty to protect children from all forms of violence, exploitation, and abuse. Additionally, Mozambique is a party to various international and regional instruments that guarantee children's rights, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Both explicitly prohibit the abduction, recruitment, and exploitation of children. The UN Optional Protocol to the Child Rights Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict, ratified by Mozambique in 2004, prohibits non-state armed groups from recruiting or using children under 18.
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Under customary international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, children are entitled to special respect and protection, and recruiting or using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities is a war crime.
Mozambican authorities should seek to prevent further abductions, investigate existing cases and fairly prosecute those responsible, and ensure proper support for victims, Human Rights Watch said. Rescued children need medical care, psychosocial assistance, and reintegration mechanisms that provide for their protection and well-being.
"Mozambique's government needs to take concrete actions to safeguard children and prevent armed groups from using them as tools of conflict," Budoo-Scholtz said. "There is a need to ensure that there are robust reintegration measures so that the children are not further ostracized when they come back to the community."
