Mauritius: The Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Alan Ganoo, held a meeting on 07 August 2023 in Port Louis with key Human Rights stakeholders as part of the consultations being held to finalise the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report 2023.
Those present included: the Ombudsman, Harry Ganoo; the Ombudsman for Children, Rita Venkatasawmy; the Ombudsperson for Financial Services, Dr Mitrajeet Dhaneshwar Maraye; the Ombudsperson for Sports, Ramesh Sunt; the Chairperson of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, Deviyanee Beesoondoyal; and Member of the Equal Opportunities Commission, Louis Richard Toulouse.
The UPR is a unique process driven by the Human Rights Council, which involves the review of Human Rights records of all United Nations Member States. It is an opportunity for States to inform of actions taken to uphold human rights.
Mauritius is required to submit its next Universal Periodic Review Report to the Human Rights Council for the 4th Cycle of the UPR Exercise in October 2023.
The consultation process to develop the Report started in October 2022 with working sessions held by the Human Rights Division with Ministries/Departments whereby the importance of the Report and the information required were explained.
In January 2023, Minister Ganoo led the consultations with members of the Rodrigues Regional Assembly. He chaired two National Mechanism for Reporting meetings and follow-up with stakeholders and NGOs in February 2023 to explain the UPR process and call for inputs.
A press communique was thereafter issued in February/ March 2023 to invite submissions from civil society. A workshop was held on 19 June 2023 with relevant Ministries/Departments to review inputs received.
It is to be noted that following a review of the third UPR Report for Mauritius, which was submitted on 13 August 2018, Mauritius received a total of 176 recommendations, out of which 133 recommendations were supported, whilst 43 were noted. The recommendations were shared with stakeholders for necessary action to be taken to address the same.