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Caption: Woman wears a blood-stained wedding dress in a protest against law pardoning rapists who marry their victims. – AFP/Getty Images.

MAPUTO – In April, Mozambican MPs will debate and approve a long-overdue review of the penal code: finally, the country is getting rid of the colonial law which dates from 1886.

The world has advanced in giant leaps in terms of human rights since then, 127 years ago. The laws of a young country should reflect these changes. Many of the revisions in the new code are wise – but, surprisingly, some of the old laws are maintained, laws that severely infringe on the constitutional rights, the human rights and the dignity of Mozambican girls and women.

Consider the facts:

• Of the 250 members of Parliament, 98 are women (40%). Both the ruling party Frelimo and the opposition Renamo have a significant number of women MPs.

• Mozambique ranks 14 among 145 countries in terms of the number of women in Parliament. In Africa only Rwanda, South Africa and the Seychelles rank higher.

• In global indexes on women’s equality, Mozambique ranks high, largely because of the number of women MPs.

Yet in December 2013, the Mozambican parliament provisionally approved a law that allows the rapist of a girl under 18 to go free if he marries his victim to protect the family’s honour (Article 223).

This bit of medieval legislation – where marriage is considered to be such a prize that it will obliterate the rape of a child – has earned the deserved rage of an Amnesty International online campaign to collect signatures against it, urging MPs to protect, not punish, rape victims, and to punish, instead of protecting, rapists.

But many other violations of human rights appear in the new Penal Code. Among these:

• Article 218 – Child rape only covers rape of female children under age 12, yet under Mozambican law, male and female children are minors until age 18. Only vaginal rape is considered. Anal rape or rape with objects are not punishable.

• Article 233 – Rape involves “illicit relationships”. Hence, rape in marriage is not punishable. Again, rape is defined as vaginal rape. Anal rape or rape with objects are not punishable.

• Article 24 – If a criminal’s relatives shelter or help the criminal escape, or tamper with or conceal evidence of a crime, from rape to murder, it will not be considered a criminal offence.

• Article 45 – The age of criminal liability is lowered from 16 to 10 years.

NGOs have met many times with MPs and written many briefs pointing out these discriminatory articles, suggesting changes that protect women and not rapists, abusers and criminals, but the parliamentary committee charged with drafting the new penal code remains unmoved.

And the women MPs are not complaining. They keep quiet.

Do they lack the courage to stand up to their male colleagues? Do they risk negative consequences for their political careers? Do they fear loss of privileges and business opportunities? Worse … do they agree with these laws?

The parliamentary committee of women MPs was supposed to bridge party differences to advance gender issues. It is not happening.

Mozambican women MPs have been through countless trainings, funded by donors, on women’s rights, gender issues, women and the law, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, assertiveness; you name it.

They know these points are indefensible. So why, instead of closing ranks and putting their 40% of the vote to good use blocking these laws, do they choose they remain silent?

About 1,000 supporters of women’s rights marched in Maputo last week to express their anger over the code. Riot police prevented them from reaching the National Assembly but a small group was allowed through to deliver their concerns to the Speaker,Veronica Macamo.

Before the march Macamo had contacted the directors of the two leading women’s NGOs to try to persuade them to call it off. She told them “efforts would be made” to remove the offending articles, but they defended their right to march.

The next day, carrying posters with slogans such as “I was raped and I will be punished”, the march took place. One couple made the point graphically: she wore a red-stained wedding dress and her partner wore a sign that read, “I am the rapist”.

After the march, MP Teodoro Waty told the national press agency AIM that all offending articles had been removed from the penal code in February – although but no one, not even the Speaker, had been told. No one has seen the revised version that Waty mentioned. Women’s groups recalled that in the last two years the offending articles have been removed from the draft penal code by civil society several times only to pop up again in the later versions.

The government is facing significant negative international publicity and anger on the street over the law. In 2013, a march for peace and safety, against corruption, police brutality, rape and kidnappings attracted thousands of people and showed a deep well of public anger.

With presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for November – and the opposition having made a strong show in the municipal elections in late 2013 – the ruling party cannot afford to antagonise people further. – theguardian.co.uk.