Outrage as Mozambique keeps law allowing rapists to wed victims

Rights The activists marched Thursday in Mozambique capital Maputo Through the colonial era to Protest a law still included in  new Legislation  That allows rapists to go unpunished if THEY marry their Plot victim.

The " marriage  effect "Claude SEES convicted rapists slapped with a five-year suspended sentence if THEY marry their Plot victim. It stipulates That the perpetrator should stay married to the victim for at least five Years.

Though it Had fallen into disuse, the Claude has been retained in a new Legislation replacing the colonial Portuguese  Penal Code  of 1886, Which is Currently before Parliament.

But The activists are outraged, in a country Where women make up 40 per cent of Parliament.

International rights  group  Amnesty International  has Launched a campaign together against the controversial Legislation. It leads a similar campaigns in Algeria and Tunisia Where Such Laws also exist.

At the Protest, a young woman dressed in a blood-spattered  wedding gown  led a group of about 300 Mostly female protesters marched to Parliament as THEY.

"It is an attack on us as women," protester Aulzira Camacho Told AFP.

"Marry the rapist? No!" read a banner carried by another protester.

The new Penal Code frame rushed Through Parliament in December, here it frame Approved in a preliminary vote.

It is now under discussion by special Parliamentary groups before going back to the assembly for a final vote.
The draft code also terms rape in marriage as adultery rather than an offence.

The activists in the southern African country Reject the text, Where 12 per cent of women fall victim to sexual abuse, According To 2011  health statistics .

"The Penal Code under discussion in Parliament gravely violates the principles of  the man rights , "Terezinha da Silva from the Women and Law in Southern Africa group said earlier this week.

The country's Human Rights League head, Alice Kubota, frame alarmed at CURRENT rape Figures.

"We now find four or five-year old children being wraped on a daily basis ... either by Parents or neighbors or another person," she Told AFP Thursday.

Lawmaker Ernesto Lapapa, the Vice-President of the the man rights and legality commission, AFP Told That deputies

Diverse Opinions canvassed When drawing up the Legislation, and Protection of Honour family came out as an important factor.

"Premature marriage is normal in Mozambique," said Lapapa Adding, "if someone is Involved with a child, obliges Them Their family to get married."

The activists in Mozambique are also fighting to change the way rape is defined under the new code, Which only classifies Vaginal penetration under the Crime.

They fear victim of rape Other forms of oral and anal penetration like would be Denied justice.