A/HRC/41/45/Add.2 indispensable to dispel such misconceptions and further the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. 15. The Mozambican equation has been singularly successful at protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people from the levels of violence that they face in other corners of the world. Yet this social pact comes at a price: inequality and emotional captivity. The tacit social agreement is not to attack lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans people as long as their true nature remains invisible. However, in accordance with their human rights, every lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans person is entitled to be able to live free and equal, openly and proudly. III. Legal, institutional and public policy framework A. Legal framework 16. Mozambique has ratified most core international and regional human rights treaties, 11 without reservations, has accepted the individual complaints procedures under two optional protocols and the inquiry procedure under three treaties. 12 It has not yet ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights or the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The scourge of criminalization 17. Under the 1886 Penal Code imposed by the colonial power, Portugal, persons who were “usually engaging in vices against nature” could be sentenced to “security measures” that could include hard labour, internment in an asylum and debarment from professional activities.13 The absence of a definition of such “vices” carried the risk that these provisions be used to criminalize same-sex relations. 18. In July 2014, the parliament of Mozambique approved Law No. 35/2014 removing articles 70 and 71.4 of the colonial-era Penal Code. This legal development was largely symbolic as there had been no documented reports of any prosecutions under these articles since Mozambique gained independence in 1975. The revised Penal Code came into force in June 2015. 19. The process of decriminalization took place in the context of some regressive laws being adopted by other African countries. In 2014, the former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, in his capacity as joint chairperson of the High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development, sent an open letter to African leaders in 2014 calling for an end to all forms of discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, in which he stated that: “We can no longer afford to discriminate against people on the basis of age, sex, ethnicity, migrant status, sexual orientation and gender identity, or any other basis – we need to unleash the full potential of everyone.” 20. The Independent Expert welcomes all steps to end the criminalization of same-sex adult consensual relations. Even when legislation is not used actively to prosecute individuals, its removal goes beyond the symbolic: criminalization invariably contributes to stigma and discrimination, promotes social ostracism and often promotes corruption and violence against persons with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Removal of these provisions is a welcome action and the Independent Expert therefore unequivocally praises Mozambique for having accomplished that. 11 12 13 See www.achpr.org/instruments/. See https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx. See arts. 70 and 71.4 of the Penal Code. The “security measures” listed in art. 70 include confinement in an insane asylum, confinement in a workhouse or agricultural colony, probation, taking a pledge of good conduct and/or disqualification from the practice of a profession. 5