Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique is a scenic country in southeastern Africa with a lengthy coastline along the Indian Ocean. It shares borders with Tanzania, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi. It has a population of about 36 million people and ranks 183 out of 193 countries in the UN Human Development Index report from 2022.
Portuguese is the official language, although the majority of the population speak a variety of Bantu languages. About half the population is Christian and some 19% Muslim. Most of the population works in agriculture.
Mozambique was under Portuguese rule until 1975, then torn apart by warfare until 1992, leaving the country extremely poor and riddled with land mines. War displaced at least four million people. Tropical storms have ravaged the land, each one leaving people without crops, homes, power, water, and health supplies. Health issues abound: it has the third-largest population of people living with HIV globally, 38% of children under the age of five are chronically malnourished, and outbreaks of infectious diseases have ravaged the country over the years. The infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world, while average life expectancy is among the lowest.
2020
Love Justice begins expansionary research for piloting our anti-trafficking strategy in Mozambique.
2021
After working hard to overcome multiple obstacles, the Mozambique team intercepts one person in their first month of operation, March!
2022
- The team plans and pilots two new stations.
- With hard work and collaboration across teams, intercepts soar to over 800 nationwide!
- The first suspected trafficker is arrested.
2023
Team continues to grow to new stations and better strategies, resulting in over 1,000 intercepts.
Since its inception in 2021, LJI Mozambique has intercepted more than 3,594 individuals to prevent them from being trafficked.
Stories from LJI Mozambique
Staff Helps Two Victims of Labor Exploitation Return Home to Malawi
Staff Helps Two Victims of Labor Exploitation Return Home to Malawi
Two young men, ages 19 and 20, recently traveled from Malawi to Mozambique to visit family and to look for work. Although they managed to find jobs working on different farms, the conditions were harsh. They were never allowed to leave the farm, and they were often denied food. The two finally decided to try to return home even though they did not have enough money to cover their travel expenses. They left early one morning and were walking along a road, begging for food, when our monitors first saw them. After hearing their story, our staff intercepted them and arranged their safe transportation home.
Team Intercepts Siblings Traveling to Mozambique in Search of Father
Team Intercepts Siblings Traveling to Mozambique in Search of Father
Our staff recently intercepted three minor brothers who were desperately begging for help at a busy transit station. When the siblings were first approached by our team, they were too afraid to respond to any of their questions. Our monitors continued to talk with them, reassuring that they only wanted to help. After establishing trust, our staff eventually convinced the siblings to talk.
The brothers shared that they were traveling from their home in Zimbabwe to Mozambique to look for their father who had left them many years ago. They explained that their mother had died giving birth to her youngest child. After her death, their father abandoned them, claiming that he was going to find work to provide for them. In his absence, the boys were left to fend for themselves, and their father never returned or sent any money to them for support. With economic conditions becoming more difficult, the older child stopped attending school in order to provide for his two younger brothers. Despite this sacrifice, the siblings were still unable to make ends meet, so they decided to go to Manica, Mozambique, which is where they believed their father was living.
The brothers admitted that they had never been there before and had no established contact with their father. Our monitors recognized they would be in an extremely vulnerable situation and could easily be exploited or abused in a foreign country. After listening to our team’s warnings about human trafficking, the brothers agreed it would be dangerous to continue their travels and decided to return home. Our staff then contacted a social welfare office to inform them of the situation and to partner with them to provide the siblings with financial assistance.
Human Trafficking in Mozambique
-The Global Slavery Index estimates that there are 93,000 people living in slavery in Mozambique.
-The U.S. Department of State categorized Mozambique on Tier 2 Watchlist in their 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, indicating that the government of Mozambique is working to eliminate human trafficking in their country but as of yet does not meet the minimum standards necessary to accomplish that.
-With AIDS being a leading cause of death among adolescents, many children are left orphaned, making them vulnerable to trafficking.
-Natural disasters, conflict, and poverty lead many people to migrate in hopes of finding a better life elsewhere—but without the resources to keep themselves safe, these migrants are at high risk of being trafficked.
-Since children make up more than half the population, child trafficking—both in labor, sex, and forced marriage—is of special concern.
Where We Work
Our core work is currently based in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Liberia, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Argentina.
- Where we're on the ground