A/HRC/41/45/Add.2 II. Context and background 6. Mozambique became independent in 1975, after almost five centuries as a Portuguese colony. Multiparty elections took place for the first time in 1994, following 15 years of civil war. Political stability was challenged when the armed conflict between the Government and the opposition party reignited in 2013 and the opposition refused to recognize the result of the 2014 elections. A ceasefire was achieved in 2016 and, in February 2018, a peace agreement was concluded in the form of a Constitutional review. According to the 2018 Constitutional amendment, the political parties that win provincial parliamentary elections will be able to select a provincial governor, subject to approval by the President. The country is divided into 11 provinces, which are headed by governors in charge of ensuring the implementation of government policies at the provincial level and exercising administrative supervision over local authorities. 7. The economy of the country was hit by the disclosure in 2016 of nearly US$ 2 billion of hidden debt, which had been contracted without recourse to the required legal procedures. This contributed to rapid inflation and decreasing gross domestic product (GDP). After 18 years of average annual real GDP growth above 7 per cent, the economic performance of Mozambique has slowed down since 2015, falling to 3.3 per cent in 2017. Mozambique ranks 142 out of 176 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index and 23 out of 54 in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. 8. The hidden debt case has severely undermined the confidence of development partners. It led to the suspension of budget support in 2016 and unravelled the aid coordination framework. Official development assistance is increasingly channelled through direct project investment, and there is a progressive shift in allocations in favour of direct support to non-State actors. The health sector is financed almost entirely by global initiatives. 9. Mozambique faces pervasive poverty and inequality, particularly in rural areas where most of the population lives. 1 In 2018, Mozambique was ranked 180 out of 187 countries in the human development index.2 In 2017, the World Bank estimated that 62.9 per cent of Mozambicans lived on less than $1.90 per day, with the per capita gross national income falling from $620 in 2014 to $420 in 2017.3 More than 70 per cent of Mozambicans are estimated to be poor, with substantial variations based on region and province. 4 10. High illiteracy and widespread lack of access to education are serious barriers to inclusion, particularly in rural areas and in the northern provinces. 5 Between 2006 and 2016, the adult literacy rate was 50.6 per cent and in 2017, average life expectancy at birth was 58.9 years.6 Since 2010, the number of new HIV infections has decreased by 24 per cent and AIDS-related deaths by 46 per cent.7 HIV prevalence, however, remains an issue of great concern. 11. Some groups and individuals in Africa express the opinion that diversity in sexual orientation and gender identity is a phenomenon that is foreign to the continent, a fabrication or import from other areas of the world. During his visit to Mozambique, the Independent Expert met with gay men, lesbian women, and bisexual and trans men and women, as well as other gender-diverse persons. All of them shared with him their lived experiences of knowing, for as long as they could remember, that they were “different” from the prevailing norm and knowing that this awareness was connected to sexual desire 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 See African Development Bank, Mozambique Country Strategy Paper 2018–2022 (2018). See United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical Update (New York, UNDP, 2018). See https://data.worldbank.org/country/mozambique. See Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, “Mozambique: Country briefing December 2018”, University of Oxford, 2018. See African Development Bank, Mozambique Country Strategy Paper 2018–2022. See UNDP, Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical Update. See Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), “Country overview: Mozambique”. Available at www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/mozambique/. 3