Mauritius working on response to explosive 2022 US Department of State report

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing a response to the criticisms made by the U.S. Department of State in its 2022 report on Human Rights, published on 04 April.

The government has reportedly taken the report “very seriously”.

At least that’s what Social Security Minister Fazila Jeewa Daureawoo has announced. She was cited as saying that the Mauritian response will be drafted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and “will include the measures taken to remedy the situation.”

The report had found that “significant human rights issues included credible reports of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the government, arbitrary arrests, arbitrary or illegal interference in privacy, serious restrictions on freedom of expression and the media, including censorship, serious government corruption, lack of investigation and accountability for gender-based violence, and crimes.

The State Department had also noted that the government has not always taken measures to prosecute and punish officials who have committed abuse or engaged in corruption.

“The application of prosecutions and sentences was inconsistent and sometimes politically influenced, which translated into impunity. ”

Source: Le Mauricien