Cabo Delgado Province Protection Analysis Update

As the conflict against the actions perpetrated by Non-State Armed Groups (NSAGs) in Cabo Delgado Province enters its 5th year, the people in the affected areas continue to face widespread insecurity and ongoing military operations, damaged infrastructure, tattered local economies, loss of livelihoods, human rights violations, including forced recruitment, kidnapping, and conflict-related sexual violence.

The 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan reports that at least 1.5 million people in northern Mozambique will need life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance and protection in 2022 as a result of the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado Province.

The continued insecurity and the recent attacks in areas that until recently were deemed to be safe resulted in additional constraints for the response. As displaced, returnees and host communities continue to experience severe needs in all sectors, the situation in some of the inaccessible areas in the north of the province is of highest concern, despite the little data available on the situation.

This Protection Analysis Update (PAU) focuses on Cabo Delgado Province, although the conflict has already resulted in the arrival of displaced families in the neighboring provinces of Niassa and Nampula. As Cabo Delgado not only hosts around 90% of the conflict related IDPs, the remaining of its population has indirectly been affected by the insecurity.

Priority protection risks identified include:

1. Unprincipled population movements towards durable solutions
2. Gender-Based Violence
3. Protection risks facing children
4. Limited access to livelihoods and food insecurity
5. Lack of civil documentation