• • • • • • • Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; Convention on the Political Rights of Women; AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (signed); Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the AU; and Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. 222. Mozambique has experienced difficulties in complying with its reporting obligations to the UN treaty monitoring bodies and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). As far as UN treaties are concerned, Mozambique has submitted five reports 2 and seven are overdue. This situation may improve with the establishment of an ad hoc interministerial committee on human rights, which is responsible for Mozambique’s reporting obligations. 3 223. No reference could be located to any international instrument applied by the courts. The Constitution does, however, make reference to international treaties (Box 3.1). This is indicative of a low level of awareness of international law by the courts and the Judiciary. In an interview with representatives of Mozambican universities, it was indicated that international codes and standards do form part of certain courses and are adhered to where possible in university management. Box 3.1: Good Practice in the Applicability of Treaties The Mozambican Constitution of 2004 can be considered “international law friendly”. Article 17(2) states that the Republic of Mozambique shall accept, observe and apply the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity. Article 18 deals specifically with international law, stating that validly approved and ratified international treaties and agreements shall enter into force in the Mozambican legal order once they have been officially published and are internationally binding on the Mozambican state. This means that once a treaty has been entered into in terms of the constitutional requirements of Mozambique and international law, and has been officially published, it will form part of Mozambican law. No additional legislative act of domestication or incorporation is therefore required. Article 18(2) states that norms of international law shall have the same force in the Mozambican legal order as infra-constitutional legislative acts of the Assembly of the Republic and the government, according to the respective manner in which they are received. 2 One report was submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (for CEDAW), two to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and two to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 3 Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). 2006. Mozambique: Justice sector and the rule of law. AfriMAP report. Johannesburg: OSISA, page 6. 94 A P R M COU N T RY R EV IEW R EP ORT NO. 11