Abducted and missing: Mozambique’s children trapped by conflict

Armed insurgents linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) have abducted at least 120 children in northern Mozambique recently. The children were taken in the Cabo Delgado province—a region plagued by violence linked to Islamic extremists since 2017. Abducted children face forced recruitment into armed groups, forced marriage, forced labor, and other forms of exploitation, warns Human Rights Watch.

Children remain missing

Mozambique’s Constitution and laws require the government to protect children from violence, exploitation, and abuse. Yet, a disturbing pattern is emerging: the armed group Al-Shabab routinely attacks villages and abducts boys and girls for exploitation. The article reports:

“On January 23, 2025, Al-Shabab attacked the village of Mumu, in Mocímboa da Praia district, and abducted four girls and three boys. During Al-Shabab’s subsequent retreat, two children were released, but five remain missing. In March, the armed group abducted six children in Chibau to carry looted goods; four were released the following day. On May 3, Al-Shabab abducted a girl in the village of Ntotwe, Mocímboa da Praia district; on May 11, they kidnapped six girls and two boys near Magaia village in Muidumbe district.”

Mozambique is also a signatory to key international and regional agreements safeguarding children’s rights, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, both of which ban child abduction, recruitment, and exploitation.

Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch said:

“Mozambique’s government needs to take concrete actions to safeguard children and prevent armed groups from using them as tools of conflict … There is a need to ensure that there are robust reintegration measures so that the children are not further ostracized when they come back to the community.”

International law also protects children in conflict. Under the Rome Statute and customary international humanitarian law, recruiting or using children under 15 in combat is a war crime. Children must always be treated with special respect and protection.

Slavery in conflict is not new—and neither is the inaction

The violence in Cabo Delgado has displaced over 600,000 people and is spreading into neighboring provinces. Yet, the crisis remains largely overlooked. Post-election unrest, recent cyclones, and past cuts to foreign aid under the Trump administration have overshadowed the issue, ABC News reports. During a visit to the region, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Secretary General, Jan Egeland, called it a “neglected crisis.”

Between 2014 and 2017, Freedom United joined partners to successfully push the UN Security Council to debate slavery in conflict for the first time, resulting in a landmark victory: the establishment of an investigative team focused on ISIS crimes in Iraq.

But the crisis in Mozambique shows that the fight is far from over.

The UN and the Mozambican government have already acknowledged the need to protect children during conflict. Now they must act on it.

Freedom United’s campaign showed that change is possible when civil society speaks out. As new cases of conflict-fueled slavery emerge, it’s time to demand broader accountability and stronger protections for those most at risk. Mozambique’s children cannot be abandoned.