In November 2017, the EU entered into a partnership with the National Human Rights Commission of Mauritius (NHRC), granting it funds to implement the Project entitled ‘Promotion of Respect for Human Rights in Mauritius and Rodrigues’ over a period of 3 years.

The partnership has helped to reinforce the NHRC’s mandate to promote human rights under the Protection of Human Rights Act 1998, by providing us with the resources to improve awareness of human rights and to conduct training on specific rights issues with civil society groups, law enforcement, and the media. Over the past year, the Commission has conducted a number of workshops in order to generate broader discussion on specific issues such as child rights, the elimination of violence against women, and the promotion and protection of the rights of LGBTI persons.

Collaboration and sharing expertise has been a priority for the project and we invited specialists from other institutions to contribute to our training programme. Professor Ludovic Pierre Hennebel from the Law Faculty of Aix-en-Provence and Member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council, gave lectures to different target groups on various aspects of international human rights law including; states obligations, rights violations and right to remedy, corruption and human rights, and the rights of barristers and magistrates. Professor Hennebel also provided case studies from the European Court of Human Rights, and the training was a good opportunity for law practitioners and other stakeholders to gain insight into the international human rights system, and the application of international norms and provisions in the domestic context.

In November 2018, Karen Grayson, Principal for Institutional Strategy and Lynn Welsh, Head of Legal at the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), visited us to share perspectives and insight into their work as a National Human Rights Institution and Equality Body. They provided a series of lectures to different stakeholders on the UK Equality Act 2010; the EHRC’s legal levers, sex and disability discrimination, and the EHRC’s state of the nation report. This made possible a comparative study of equality and non-discrimination legislation and measures in Mauritius and in UK. The NHRC and other human rights institutions in particular, benefitted from a useful insight into the enforcement powers and legal levers of the EHRC.

Some 5,000 people have participated in project activities and training so far, which reinforces not only our mandate to promote, but also highlights the benefit that collaboration and shared expertise can bring to the protection of human rights in the Republic of Mauritius.

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The National Human Rights Commission of Mauritius