Implicações jurídicas do incumprimento dos planos de reassentamento resultantes da implantação de actividades económicas em Moçambique

Abstract

This Final Year Project is entitled “Legal Implications of Non-Compliance with Resettlement Plans Resulting from the Implementation of Economic Activities in Mozambique” and aims to analyze the legal consequences arising from the failure to comply with resettlement plans within the context of the implementation of economic investment projects. The study is based on the observation that Mozambique, as a country rich in natural resources, has attracted large-scale investments, particularly in the mining, energy and industrial sectors, whose implementation often entails the involuntary displacement of local communities. To regulate this phenomenon, the Mozambican legal system provides for the resettlement process, mainly governed by Decree No. 31/2012 of 8 August, which approves the Regulation on the Resettlement Process Resulting from Economic Activities and requires the preparation and implementation of Resettlement Plans as an instrument for the protection of the rights of affected populations. However, practical reality reveals recurrent situations of non-compliance with these plans, manifested through delays or failure to pay compensation, the construction of housing and infrastructure below legally required standards, the failure to restore livelihoods, as well as violations of the right to information and public participation. Thus, the study analyses the legal and institutional framework of resettlement in Mozambique, the legal nature of the Resettlement Plan as a binding administrative act, and the legal implications of its non-compliance, with particular emphasis on administrative, civil, environmental and, in certain cases, criminal liability