Welcome to the United Nations 
OHCHR 
Human rights don’t protect themselves.
Your donation protects the essentials we all rely on.
Restoring the justice system in conflict-affected Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
28 September 2026
© OHCHR/Guilherme Chirinda
For the first time since the 2021 attacks on Palma District, northern Mozambique, the district's justice institutions are fully operational. On 29 July, a prosecutor was reallocated to Palma in an initiative supported by UN Human Rights (OHCHR), in coordination with Mozambique's Attorney-General's Office, restoring public prosecution services in one of the areas most severely affected by insecurity in Cabo Delgado Province.
This milestone comes against the backdrop of the protracted insecurity that has affected the district since the March 2021 attack on Palma town, which displaced over 51,000 people from the district within weeks, 43 percent of them children, and disrupted essential public services, including justice and protection mechanisms.
While returns to Palma have increased in recent years, they remain fragile. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ March 2026 Humanitarian Snapshot, returns to Palma are constrained by limited service availability and persistent insecurity. Displacement and repeated population movements have heightened protection risks, including family separation, gender-based violence, and psychosocial distress, while also limiting access to justice and legal remedies, underscoring why strengthening local justice institutions is critical for Palma's returning population.
It is against this backdrop that the restoration of a functioning justice presence in Palma takes on particular significance. The deployment re-establishes a functioning prosecutorial presence in the district, enabling residents to file complaints, initiate criminal proceedings, and access due process guarantees that had been disrupted by conflict and forced displacement. It also restores, for many communities, a tangible pathway to justice that had been out of reach for years. Restored formal justice mechanisms will once again enable them to seek redress for grievances, help strengthen trust and confidence in State institutions, and contribute to longer-term peace and stability.
João António Nhane, Chief Prosecutor of Cabo Delgado Province (centre), briefing the Palma District Administrator on the mission of the newly deployed public prosecutor (on his right), accompanied by the OHCHR Human Rights Officer, Bia Albernaz (on his left). © OHCHR/Guilherme Chirinda
UN Human Rights and Mozambique's Attorney-General's initiative is anchored in international human rights standards, notably Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which guarantee the right to a fair hearing before a competent, independent tribunal and to effective access to justice. These standards are also mirrored in Mozambique's legal framework, including the Constitution and national legislation governing legal aid and the Public Prosecution Service.
"This marks the end of a five-year gap in Palma's justice chain," said João António Nhane, Chief Prosecutor of Cabo Delgado Province. "With this appointment, the justice system is complete and better positioned to function effectively, and we expect human rights cases, particularly those involving children, women and persons with disabilities, to be handled with the professionalism and diligence they require."
Part of a sustained institutional effort
The Palma deployment builds on a broader set of UN Human Rights-supported interventions to rebuild justice services in Cabo Delgado. In March 2026, the Office supported the deployment of judges to Palma and Nangade districts, a step that, for the province's judiciary, carried weight well beyond an administrative appointment.
"Since 2025, our collaboration with OHCHR has been instrumental in restoring judicial capacity in districts where courts had been unable to operate," said Bruno Michael Albano de Castro, Chair Judge of the Cabo Delgado Judicial Court. "The deployment of judges to Palma and Nangade was not simply an administrative measure, it was the reactivation of citizens' constitutional right of access to a court of law, in districts where that right had, for years, unreachable."
On the ground, Tomás Domingos Mazive, the judge deployed to Palma District Court, described the situation he encountered upon arrival.
"When I first walked into the court building in Palma, it was an empty structure, no clerks, no supporting staff, just a building," he said. "Today, the courthouse has changed. We now have the minimum personnel required to receive, process and adjudicate cases from start to finish, meaning judgments can finally be rendered, and justice can be brought to people."
The following month, in June 2026, UN Human Rights supported the posting of a public defender from the Institute for Legal Assistance and Representation (IPAJ) to Nangade district, expanding access to legal representation for economically disadvantaged residents and completing another essential link in the justice chain.
Alongside these deployments, the Office has supported missions of justice actors to conflict-affected districts to strengthen local institutional capacity, conduct human rights awareness-raising with communities, and reinforce coordination among justice-sector institutions at district level, an integrated approach that treats courts, prosecution and legal defense as parts of a single functioning system, rather than isolated services.
"UN Human Rights' support for the deployment of justice actors reflects our shared commitment with Mozambique's justice institutions to expand access to justice, strengthen the rule of law, and ensure that all people can exercise their rights with dignity," said Bia Albernaz, Human Rights Officer at UN Human Rights’ sub-office in Pemba, Cabo Delgado Province.
For the communities of Palma, the significance of this milestone extends beyond institutional statistics. It means a mother seeking recourse after a crime, a survivor of violence pursuing accountability, or a family displaced by conflict asserting their rights, can once again turn to a functioning justice system rooted in their own district, rather than facing the added burden of travelling long distances, facing insecurity, at prohibitive cost, to access services that should be available where they live, Albernaz added.