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Mauritians on the Move, American Style

Mauritius makes progress in curbing child prostitution

Mauritius has made solid progress toward reducing human trafficking on the island over the past year, especially curbing the sale of young girls into prostitution, according to a new report by the U.S. State Department.

The Trafficking in Persons Report 2009, released Tuesday in Washington, D.C., is an annual progress report to the U.S. Congress on the efforts made by 175 countries to combat severe forms of human trafficking.

In what the U.S. government calls "modern day slavery," human trafficking takes many forms: forced labor and exploiting workers, including domestic servants; forced child labor, child soldiers, forcing women into prostitution, and exploiting children for the commercial sex trade, including abusing children for so-called "child sex tourism."

The impacts of human trafficking are devastating. "Victims may suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats against self and family and even death," the report said. "But the devastation also extends beyond individual victims; human trafficking undermines the health, safety and security of all nations it touches."

In Mauritius, the problem has been the exploitation of children into the commercial sex trade. This is especially acute among young girls from all areas of the island, including Rodrigues, who are forced into prostitution, often by their peers, family members or businessmen offering other forms of employment.

"Taxi drivers are known to provide transportation and introductions for both the girls and the clients," the report said. "Boys who mothers engage in prostitution are reportedly forced into prostitution at a young age. Some drug-addicted women are forced to engage in prostitution by their boyfriends, who serve as pimps."

The report notes that Mauritius is among "a growing community of nations" that are making notable progress to eliminate this crime.

In fact progress has been so significant in Mauritius that the U.S. government has upgraded the country's ranking from a Tier 2 to a Tier 1, placing it among the world's largest economies like Australia, Canada, France and the U.K. The report classifies countries into different categories based on efforts to help victims and prevent trafficking. Mauritius had been a Tier 2 country since 2004 and was even put on the Tier 2 Watch List.

Mauritius and Nigeria are now the only two sub-Saharan African countries to be placed in Tier 1.

What made the difference was the passage in April of a comprehensive human trafficking law called the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act. This brought the country into full compliance with the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.

"In addition, Mauritius sustained its strong efforts to identify, address and prevent incidences of trafficking during the past year," said Rachel Yousey, reports officer for Africa in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. State Department. "Government officials demonstrated an increasing level of awareness of human trafficking and commitment to addressing the problem."

The report outlined the specific steps taken to prosecute violators, protect victims and prevent abuse.

"The government made notable efforts to prevent the sex trafficking of children and reduce the demand for commercial sex acts," the report said. In 2008, the Ministry of Tourism, Leisure and External Communications published and distributed to hotels and tour operators pamphlets regarding child sex trafficking. Police conducted surveillance at bus stops, nightclubs and casinos. Awareness campaigns were held at schools and community centers. Police taught more than 100 children in Flic-en-Flac, which is heavily frequently by tourists, about the dangers of child prostitution.

Law enforcement efforts have also intensified under several new laws passed in 2008 and 2009, and the government "vigorously investigated cases of human trafficking throughout the year." Eight child sex trafficking convictions were reported in 2008, with sentences ranging between three months and three years in prison and fines up to an equivalent of $1,764. In January 2009, police in Curepipe arrested and charged a massage parlor owner for allegedly exploiting three girls in prostitution within the spa. Ten trafficking cases are under investigation, including two for brothel keeping and three for causing a child to engage in prostitution, according to the report.

To protect child victims, the government funds a drop-in center for sexually abused children, which provided counseling to about 16 girls engaged in prostitution in 2008. Plans are now underway to build a residential center for victims. There's also a 24-hour hotline for reporting abuse cases, and medical and psychological support is available at public clinics.

As a result of these efforts, "Mauritius is indeed emerging as a regional leader on these issues," Yousey of the State Department told Weekend. "The State Department is extremely pleased and wishes to extend our appreciation to the Government of Mauritius for the seriousness with which it is approaching its fight against human trafficking."

By contrast, trafficking remains a problem in Madagascar, where the report says there is active exploitation of children into forced labor and prostitution. "Children, mostly from rural areas, are trafficked within the country for domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation, forced marriage, forced labor for traveling vendors and possibly forced labor in mining, fishing and agriculture." There's also a child sex tourism problem in coastal cities.

In 2008, the government enacted an anti-trafficking law, but it has reported no investigations or convictions. And it's unclear whether the new government, which took power in an unlawful coup in March, "will maintain the previous administration's keen interest in combating trafficking."

$3,400 raised in Washington for school in Mauritius

The Washington chapter of Trait d'Union Canada-Maurice has raised more than US$3,000 to help under privileged school children in Mauritius.

At a June 6 fundraising dinner organized by a dedicated team of volunteers under the leadership of Suzanne Kon Kam King, the group collected monetary donations and auctioned items from Mauritius to raise almost $3,500.

More than 40 Mauritians living mostly in the Washington area and their friends attended the dinner, which was held at the home of Suzanne and her husband, David Loken.

The money will be sent to the Catholic Diocese of Port Louis for renovations at the St. Antoine RCA Primary School in Goodlands. The school needs new toilets, a new roof, fresh paint and new electrical wiring. The money will also be used to pay the school examination fees for "hardworking and diligent students" from Tombeau Bay who can't afford fees for their Cambridge Examinations and High School Certificates, according to Suzanne.

The fundraiser is held every year to help a specific educational project in Mauritius. In 2008, money helped pay for renovations to the St. Esprit RCA Primary School in Eau-Coulée.

Fundraising also continues in Canada, where Trait d'Union Canada-Maurice, led by Teresa Wong, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007. Mgr. Maurice Piat visited Canada and the United States to mark the occasion.

Aside from raising money for educational projects in Mauritius, the Trait d'Union groups in the United States and Canada provide an excellent venue for Mauritians living abroad to keep in touch with each other and maintain a link to their homeland.

For more information, or to make a contribution, contact: traitdunionusamauritius@gmail.com or visit the website: www.traitdunionusamauritius.org

Report gives high marks for competitiveness of Mauritius economy

A new report on the competitiveness of African businesses considers Mauritius a "shining light in Africa" as a good place to do business.

The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009, a joint effort by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, says that more can be done to make African countries more internationally competitive. In the short-term, this would include improving access to finance and resisting protectionism by erecting barriers to trade. In the long term, countries must improve infrastructure (roads, rails, ports, energy), as well as health and education systems.

Most importantly, the report says, is improving governmental institutions that will create friendly business environments in their countries.

Overall, the report said that African countries tend to be less competitive than many other regions. But there are a few countries that are "shining lights" because they are quite competitive by international standards, according to Jennifer Blanke of the World Economic Forum and co-author of the report. These include Mauritius, South Africa and Botswana.

Compared to the rest of Africa, Mauritius gets high marks in several areas: corruption is low, a high percentage of businesses believe that the court system is fair, impartial and uncorrupted, crime and theft are not a significant problem, it's easy to start a business, and tax rates are relatively low.

But several barriers to doing business were also cited. These include inefficient government bureaucracy, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of educated workforce (especially scientists and engineers) and restrictive labor regulations.

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WEEK-END --- dimanche 21 juin 2009