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Mauritius News & Reports 2006 Also see:
1 Hundreds of gays and lesbians in Mauritius stage the first gay rights march 6/06 2 Mauritian gay people seek legal protection 7/06 3 Sodomy Halts Debates on Sexual Offences Bill 4/07 4 Battle over sexual offences bill in Mauritius 5/07 May 22, 2006 1 Hundreds of gays and lesbians staged the first gay rights march on the largely conservative Indian Ocean island on Saturday, shocking afternoon shoppers in the bustling town of Rose Hill. Mauritius, located off the southeast coast of Africa, has a population of 1.2 million made up of Hindus, Catholics and Muslims. The gay community, which activists say makes up about 10 percent of the population, is mostly underground as many face persecution and discrimination. Wearing wigs and in full make-up, men dressed in sequinned dresses, feather boas and high heels led a march down the busy high street of Rose Hill. "The point of today is visibility," said Thierry De Ravel, president of the Collective Arc-en-Ciel (Rainbow Coalition), a gay rights group which organised the march. We want to show Mauritius that there is a gay community, that we want to be out in the open. We want to be respected and we want equal rights for all," he added. Gay rights activists say those who are open about their sexual orientation are often refused jobs or promotions in the workplace and some even face death threats. Carrying hundreds of brightly coloured balloons and waving banners saying "Viva sexual freedom!" and "To be gay is not a crime", the marchers danced, waved and handed out leaflets to bemused onlookers. "I must say that I am very surprised to see this," said a local shop owner. "I've never in my life seen such a thing in Mauritius, but I think it's good because we need to be more open and like the rest of the world." Other onlookers shook their head in disgust, saying that homosexuality was wrong and should not be allowed. Organisers said the event was a victory for gays because permission was granted by local authorities, who have previously stopped such marches from taking place. Rama Valyden, the attorney-general and minister for human rights and justice, said it was a new beginning for gays in Mauritius. "I believe that every one is equal and that no one is superior or inferior to each other," he said. "Today we have a turned to a new page in the history of Mauritius and that is the page of freedom." Valyden is planning to introduce an equal opportunities act in parliament, which will make discrimination against sexual orientation a crime.
July 2006 2 Port Louis, Mauritius - Gay and lesbian people on the conservative Indian Ocean island of Mauritius said on Tuesday they want protection against discrimination built into new human rights legislation. Three days after staging the island-state's first-ever gay rights rally, the small but increasingly vocal homosexual community on Mauritius said sexual orientation must be included in the law to be debated by Parliament in July. "Currently there is a gap in the law concerning homophobia in Mauritius," said Jean-Luc Ahnee, the spokesperson for the Collectif Arc-en-ciel (Rainbow Coalition), an organisation representing Mauritian gay people. Homosexuality is neither legal nor illegal, so if a victim of sexual discrimination complains to the police, they have no legal reference," he said. "That is why we are insisting that the Equal Opportunity Bill has provisions on discrimination based on sex, race or religion. There should be no second-class citizens in this country. It is time discrimination ended in this country." Although Mauritian law does not explicitly outlaw homosexuality, gay people here complain of rampant social discrimination despite provisions in the Constitution designed to prevent such bias. In a bid to draw attention to their demands, the coalition sponsored a rally on Saturday south of the capital of Port Louis, attended by about 300 colourfully dressed gay people and their backers who called for equal rights. "Visibility, equality and liberty", "No to homophobia", "I love the way I love", and "My sexuality, my choice" read some of the banners they carried in a march through the streets of the town of Rose Hill. The rally passed off peacefully without any incidents, but it remains unclear whether the government will support efforts to write sexual orientation into the draft law. Justice Minister Justice Rama Valayden said the Constitution already protects homosexuals, along with other minority groups, from discrimination. "Article 1 of the Constitution of Mauritius is there to remind us that all are born equal before the law," Valayden said. "Homophobia is a serious problem in Mauritius. A society is not built on hate but love."
12 April 2007 3 by Deepa Bhookhun MMM leader Paul Bérenger has not yet expressed himself on the matter and MSM leader Pravind Jugnauth has already at the outset opposed the depenalization of consensual sodomy, qualifying it as "immoral" and saying that Government's move was "a telltale sign of a society that was losing its values". Even within the majority alliance, the matter of sodomy is causing a rift and has prevented any dispassionate debate on the more important matter of harsher sentences for rapists. The main criticisms against the depenalization of sodomy are that it is "immoral."The main arguments for it are that the right to practise sodomy is part of the broader constitutional right to sexual privacy. The debate in Mauritius is, however, slightly different. In actual fact, the precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law but is typically understood by courts to include any sexual act, which does not lead to procreation. Furthermore, sodomy has many synonyms: buggery, crime against nature, unnatural act and deviant sexual intercourse. Respect for individual private lives While, in theory, this may include heterosexual oral sex, anal sex, masturbation and bestiality, in practice and - in general - such laws are primarily enforced against sex between men. Historians, however, dispute the reason for the emergence of such laws but they have roots in antiquity and are linked to religious proscriptions against certain sexual acts. Contemporary supporters of sodomy laws argue that there are additional reasons for retaining them. They include public health concerns about anal sex or concerns that legalisation of homosexuality will lead to a declining population. But more and more around the world, courts are striking down sodomy laws in decisions that gay rights supporters the world over have hailed as "historic." As an example, Justice Anthony Kennedy of the US Supreme Court wrote, "The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. ( ) The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime". The petitioners in this case were homosexuals. As mentioned earlier, the situation in Mauritius is slightly different. As a general rule, men homosexuals rarely publicise the fact that their sexual behaviour is in actual fact a crime according to Mauritian laws. And the police do not make it a regular practice of arresting homosexuals because they practise sodomy in the privacy of their homes. Sodomy between adults of different sex is also practised on a regular basis in Mauritius as elsewhere. When it is consensual, there is no question of a crime having been committed because it cannot be proved. 45 years behind bars So the move by Government is purely a technical one. Attorney General Rama Valayden, aware of this absurdity in our laws, has chosen to justify Government's decision by saying that many women, because they have to find fault with their husbands whom they wish to divorce, often say the latter have engaged in sodomy. Not many lawyers agree but this is really beside the point. After the proclamation of the Sexual Offences Act, nothing will have changed in the sexual behaviour of consenting adults. But when a man rapes another man or has non-consensual anal sex with a woman, instead of the actual five years, the rapist will be liable to a maximum of 45 years behind bars. To all intents and purposes, this is about the only change that the depenalization of sodomy will bring in the country. The debate, however, will be anything but rational because in it will be mixed a large dose of political demagogy, religious zealousness and - let's face it - much hypocrisy.
3 May 2007 4 by Loga Virahsawmy (Ms Virahsawmy is the President of Media Watch Organisation in Mauritius) In Mauritius, the bill would not only mean stronger legal protections, but it has already meant a greater openness on gender violence issues. Activists are commending Rama Valayden, Attorney General and Minister of Human Rights, for daring to bring such "a progressive piece of legislation" to the table. For the first time, the Mauritian society is discussing taboo words like sex, vagina, penis, anal sex and other sexual terms openly. But activists hold some points still need clarification, such as sex trafficking of children and adults; offences covering commercial sexual exploitation related to pimps and others who force children and adults into prostitution; indecent exposure, etc. It is also seen as unfortunate that the voices of those most concerned: victims, survivors, youth, sex workers, gays and lesbians, were largely absent from the debates. The bill is very much in line with the draft National Action Plan (NAP) to end Gender Violence, approved at an October 2006 workshop organised by the activist group Gender Links of South Africa and Mauritius' Media Watch Organisation, with various representatives of ministries, police, civil society and non-governmental organisations. The Mauritius NAP recommends that the Sexual Offences Bill encompass a wider definition of rape, including marital rape, as well as protection against human trafficking and harsher penalties. It recommends provisions for comprehensive treatment and empowerment of victims, and video recording of complaints to reduce distress of survivors. However, gender activists hold that the adoption and implementation of the national Sexual Offences Bills may become even more imperative if leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) approve the elevation of the SADC Gender Declaration to a Protocol, one of the issues on the table at the upcoming Heads of State meeting in August. Mauritius is a member state of SADC. The protocol would legally bind member states to implementing new measures including comprehensive legislation and budgetary allocations for ending gender violence. Gender activists argue that legally binding measures must be put in place to move SADC from a "region of commitments to one of implementation." In Mauritius, one of the major causes of disagreement and public outcry of the bill is on the legalisation of anal sex. The bill states: "Any person who, without the consent of another person intentionally penetrates the vagina or anus of that other person with any part of his body, with any object, shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a term of a penal servitude not exceeding 45 years." Gender activists know too well that women do make complaints in private on marital rape, sodomy and putting the penis and other objects in parts of their bodies. It has been difficult for these women to take the matter further as the Mauritian police are very rarely sympathetic to what happens in private. However, the bill also makes provision for anal sex with consent, which has shocked and disturbed many in the conventional society of Mauritius. Activists ask: "Why can't we be tolerant and leave those who want to live their sexual life as they wish in peace? If it is between two consenting adults, they are not disturbing anybody." Other countries around the world repealed such laws, which mainly go after homosexual love, long ago. Britain repealed the laws against anal sex in 1967, over four hundred years after their first adoption in 1553. While they were in place, these antiquated laws resulted in the persecution of many, including two great worldwide figures, Oscar Wilde and Alec Guinness. In 1895, soon after his triumphant 'The Importance of Being Earnest', Mr Wilde's love and passion for another man resulted in his arrest, conviction and sentencing to two years of hard labour. In the unreformed Dickensian prison, a series of illnesses brought him to his death. The great Alec Guinness gave a false name when arrested in 1946 for his homosexual inclination. It was only eight months after his death in 2001 that the 'Sunday Times' revealed his struggle with his sexual orientation, Mauritian activists note, hoping to influence the conservative society on the island. "When will a culture of tolerance prevail? Must we wait hundreds of years, as in Britain?" they ask. "The Sexual Offences Act is urgent. In the name of the thousands of victims, can't we for once put aside our political pettiness, our prudishness and our Puritanism?" Mauritian activists hope. |
