Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Reviews the Report of Mauritius.
M2 PRESSWIRE-February 28, 2019-: Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Reviews the Report of Mauritius
(C)1994-2019 M2 COMMUNICATIONS
RDATE:27022019
GENEVA, Switzerland -- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded today the consideration of the fifth periodic report of Mauritius on measures taken to implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Introducing the report, Maneesh Gobin, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Institutional Reforms of Mauritius, reaffirmed his country's aspiration to become an inclusive high income country and said that it was heavily investing in modern and strategic infrastructure, in information and communication technology, and in support to the development of a strong, diversified, competitive, and resilient entrepreneur sector. A new Ministry dedicated solely to human rights had been set up in 2017, and two historic measures to advance the living standards of low income groups had been put in place - the Negative Income Tax scheme and the National Minimum Wage. The social contract scheme under the Marshal Plan against Poverty provided monthly subsistence allowance to 11,000 households. Mauritius consistently consolidated its welfare state, stressed the Minister, dedicating over one third of the budget to social protection, in particular to social security, education, and health. Maternity leave had been extended from 12 to 14 weeks and the benefit of paid maternity leave offered to women in both private and public sectors. The Government had recently made a historical announcement of free tertiary education in public institutions.
In the ensuing discussion, Committee Experts congratulated Mauritius on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of 25 February 2019 concerning the right of return of the Chagos islanders. The pending Protection of Human Rights Act should ensure that all the rights under the Covenant were enforced by domestic courts and that all its provisions were applicable in the domestic legal order. There was a concern that the current mandate of the National Human Rights Commission did not sufficiently empower it to deal with the economic, social, and cultural rights. Experts raised concern about criminalization of same sex relations and structural discrimination of the Creoles, and inquired about the implementation of reasonable accommodation, both in private and public sectors and in the provision of services. Mauritius was not a party to international instruments on refugees and stateless persons, noted the Experts, asking about measures in place to protect their rights. The delegation was asked about the impact of youth employment initiatives and steps taken to promote the employment of women and persons with disabilities; the methodology of deciding the minimum wage and the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work in different jobs and sectors; the privatization of health care; and the scope of coverage of the social security system.
In his concluding remarks, Olivier de Schutter, Committee Rapporteur for Mauritius, recognized the many promising initiatives that showed that Mauritius was on a progressive route.
Mr. Gobin concluded by thanking the Committee for a fruitful dialogue.
Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leao, Committee Chairperson, said in conclusion that this frank and open dialogue aimed to putting Mauritius in an even better place in the future.
The delegation of Mauritius consisted of the representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Institutional Reforms, Ministry of Health and Quality of Life, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, and the Permanent Mission of Mauritius to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee will issue the concluding observations on the report of Mauritius at the end of its sixty-fifth session on 8 March. Those, and other documents relating to the Committee's work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session's webpage.
The webcast of the Committee's public meetings can be accessed at http://webtv.un.org/.
The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. today, 27 February, to consider the second periodic report of Kazakhstan (E/C.12/KAZ/2).
Report
The Committee has before it the fifth periodic report of Mauritius (E/C.12/MUS/5).
Presentation of the Report
MANEESH GOBIN, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Institutional Reforms of Mauritius, in the introduction of the report, emphasized that his country ranked 20th among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings. Mauritius aspired to become an inclusive high income country, with Government investing heavily in modern and strategic infrastructure, which included the construction of light rail transit system, a new runway to accommodate bigger planes in Rodrigues Island, and the improvements in information and communication technology infrastructure, both in the mainland and the remote islands. The Government recognized small and medium enterprises as a key pillar of the socio-economic development and was therefore keen to develop a strong, diversified, competitive, and resilient entrepreneur sector. For that purpose, a ten-year master plan to improve their competitiveness and growth had been prepared.
Since the country's last review by the Committee in 2010, the Minister continued, the overall human rights framework in the country had seen fundamental changes. In 2017, a new Ministry dedicated solely to human rights had been set up, under which a national mechanism for reporting and follow up had been created. In addition, the Independent Police Complaints Commission was fully operational since April 2018, while police officers were now allowed to associate and form trade union by a way of new legislation in 2017. Mauritius had signed and ratified the Maputo Protocol, ambient with reservation, and the Arms Trade...
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