fences involving firearms (86 per cent of the total) were committed in Maputo city and province. Of particular concern is the spread of mob violence, as crowds take the law into their own hands and lynch people they believe to be criminals. There were 68 lynches and attempted lynches in 2008, in which 54 people were murdered and 26 injured. An apparent spike in crime and the police’s inability to deal with it, were said to be behind these acts. cxxxix. There is also an international dimension to crime in Mozambique. Due to its porous borders, the country is increasingly afflicted by transnational organised crime. Mozambique is fast becoming a major transit route for illegal narcotics coming from South and Central Asia bound for Europe and the United States. There are also signs that predominantly Pakistani gangs have begun to establish drug laboratories in Mozambique. The country is also turning into an important regional centre for money laundering, primarily by way of investments in casinos, hotels, shopping malls and mining activities, where triads from the former Portuguese enclave of Macau are very active. cxl. Confronted with an increasingly violent criminal element and the loss of many of its members, the Mozambican security service has responded with equal violence. The Mambas and the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) have been regularly accused of summary executions and the torture of alleged criminals. Heavier investment in intelligence and community policing will likely prove more effective than the use of brute force. cxli. Although there is no “ideal” approach to preventing crime and violence, they can be reduced by means of interventions such as slum-upgrading projects, youth development initiatives, and reforming the criminal justice system. Creating mechanisms to increase parliamentary oversight over the security service and establishing an effective unit to deal with police corruption might improve the effectiveness of the police. The international community and Interpol should continue to play a vital role in supporting the government in such efforts. 4.10 Gender-based Violence cxlii. The term “gender-based violence” is still emerging and developing. Originally, it was used mostly to replace the term ”male violence against women”, because the word ”woman” refers to both individuals of the female sex and to feminine gender roles in society. cxliii. In Mozambique, CRM consultations revealed that the most prevalent forms of gender-based violence include the following: • Domestic violence (e.g. childhood sexual abuse primarily in the form of sexual abuse occurring within the family, most often perpetrated by a father, stepfather, grandfather, uncle, brother or other male in a posi- 29