A/HRC/42/43/Add.2 persons.17 An issue of particular concern is discrimination in housing, land and property and livelihoods. 45. Ageism and age discrimination are a key societal concern occurring in many spheres and contexts from household decision-making about scarce resources to ageist attitudes of health professionals towards older persons. Older women and men frequently report that they are refused treatment or treated with disrespect on account of their age. 46. Despite the adoption of laws and policies on gender, discrimination against women is still a major challenge. Many women, especially older women are accused of witchcraft, thus becoming victims of violence. That adds to the challenge of approving a law on succession that forbids any form of discrimination against women as regards succession in the event of death of a spouse, whereby she is deprived of any rights to the property acquired in common life, as currently happens if they were not legally married (A/HRC/WG.6/24/MOZ/1, para. 52). 47. Many older women do not have identity documents to prove their age. Reasons for not having documents include the cost of obtaining documentation and gender-related factors, as the births of girls or traditional marriages were not necessarily registered in the past. C. Violence, maltreatment and abuse 48. Older persons in Mozambique, in particular older women, face high levels of crime, violence or abuse, in particular emotional abuse. A significant proportion of older women face malicious accusations of being a witch (ibid., para. 10). Witchcraft-related beliefs and practices are too often taken as an explanation for undiagnosed dementia and other cognitive health conditions. Older women accused of witchcraft are at risk of being assaulted and expelled by their families and communities, and even murdered. Their assets are either confiscated or destroyed. 18 The National Commission on Human Rights also stated that major manifestations of domestic violence were accusations of witchcraft, often levelled against older women and widows, which served as validation for grabbing housing, land and property, violence and even murder. 49. Gender-based violence remains a serious problem in the country. Despite the establishment of a political and legal framework to address the issue, including a law against domestic violence (2009), the establishment of specialized police services and a referral system offering assistance to victims, the lack of effective implementation remains an area of concern (A/HRC/26/28/Add.1, para. 30). 50. In the context of gender-based violence, the Government of Mozambique has implemented an integrated multisectoral assistance mechanism for victims of violence, approved by the Cabinet on 22 May 2012. The purpose of the mechanism is to guide a national and integrated response to violence against women, ensuring that all stakeholders in the area, in particular police officers, health, social welfare and other officials, work together in order to respond and follow up on all cases of gender-based violence (A/HRC/WG.6/24/MOZ/1, para. 53). 51. The reported high levels of violence and abuse appear to be committed with impunity and little access to redress. Considerable levels of neglect in social care and support and being treated in a degrading or humiliating way because of age are also reported.19 17 18 19 See “Information submitted by Mozambican civil society organizations to the United Nations Committee on Human Rights”, para. 2 (iii), available from https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR %2fNGO%2fMOZ%2f14746&Lang=en. See report of the Government of the Republic of Mozambique submitted under article 62 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, para. 303. See HelpAge, “The rights of older people in Mozambique” (2013), p. 1. 9