a. Freedom of Expression, Including for the Press

The constitution provides for freedom of expression, including for the press; however, a related law was amended in October 2018 to prevent internet users from posting anything that could cause “annoyance, humiliation, inconvenience, distress or anxiety to any person” on social media. Anyone found guilty faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Press and Media, Including Online Media: Independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views.

The government owned the sole domestic television network, MBC TV. Opposition parties and media commentators regularly criticized the station for its allegedly progovernment bias and unfair coverage of opposition parties, as well as alleged interference in the network’s daily operations by the prime minister’s senior adviser. International television networks were available by subscription or via cable. Stringent limitations on foreign investment in local broadcast media contained in the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act were deterrents to the establishment of independent television stations.

Censorship or Content Restrictions: On July 31, the United Arab Emirates deported Mauritian citizen Shameem Korimbocus for posting offensive comments on social media directed at the Mauritian government. Media reported in 2018 that a senior member of the Mauritian government requested that the Dubai government intervene. Authorities did not charge Korimbocus with any crimes on his return.

The government maintained its 1989 ban of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie and the Rape of Sita by Lindsey Collen. While bookstores could not legally import the book, purchasers could buy it online without difficulty.

The government did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet. There were continuing unsubstantiated claims that police tapped cellphones and email of journalists and opposition politicians.

There were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The constitution and law provide for the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, and the government generally respected these rights.

c. Freedom of Religion

See the Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report at https://www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/.

d. Freedom of Movement

The constitution provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights.

Foreign Travel: In cases where individuals were arrested and released on bail, the government generally seized the person’s passport and issued a prohibition order prohibiting such individuals from leaving the country.

Not Applicable.

f. Protection of Refugees

Access to Asylum: The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government has not established a system providing protection to refugees. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there were no registered refugees or asylum seekers in the country.

Not applicable.

Rape and Domestic Violence: The law prohibits rape, but there is no provision criminalizing spousal rape, unless it is sodomy. Police and the judicial system did not effectively enforce the law, according to local NGOs that work with domestic violence victims. The penalty for rape is up to 20 years’ imprisonment, with a fine not exceeding 200,000 rupees ($5,555). Rape cases rarely make the headlines, unless they are egregious in nature.

The law criminalizes domestic violence, but it remained a major problem. On September 7, media reported 32-year-old Stephanie Menes was found dead in her house after her husband beat her. Her hands and feet were tied with a rope. Amendments to the Protection from Domestic Violence Act (PDVA) effective in 2016 establish a list of offenses separate from the criminal code, which was not the case prior to the amendment. The amendments redefine the term “spouse” to include unmarried couples of the opposite sex; redefine “domestic violence” to include verbal, psychological, economic, and sexual abuses; and empower police officers and enforcement officers to act on behalf of the victims instead of waiting for a formal complaint from the victim. Although the amendments do not mention spousal rape, section 2.d. stipulates that a spouse cannot force or threaten the other partner into a sexual act “from which the spouse or the other person has the right to abstain.”

Domestic violence activists stated police did not effectively enforce the law. According to women’s rights NGOs, police were not always effective in protecting domestic violence survivors to whom authorities had granted court protection orders. Authorities prosecuted crimes including assault, aggravated assault, threats, and blows under the criminal code, but law enforcement recordkeeping did not always indicate whether they were linked to domestic violence.

The law provides for protection and housing rights for victims, as well as counseling for the abuser; however, counseling for the abuser is not mandatory, and there were few shelters available to house survivors. Anyone found guilty of violating a protection order under the PDVA may be fined up to 50,000 rupees ($1,373) or first-time offenders may be imprisoned for up to one year. Under the newly amended PDVA, the penalty is 100,000 rupees ($2,747) and imprisonment not to exceed two years for a second offense and up to five years’ imprisonment for subsequent offenses. In June 2018 the government launched a new mobile phone application, the Family Welfare app, to facilitate reporting of domestic violence and child abuse. As of December there was one case of domestic violence reported through the new application.

Sexual Harassment: The law prohibits sexual harassment, which is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment. Generally, however, sexual harassment continued to be a problem due to lax enforcement and because victims often did not believe filing a complaint would resolve anything.

Coercion in Population Control: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization.

Discrimination: Men and women enjoy the same legal status and rights under the constitution and law. The courts upheld these rights. Nonetheless, cultural and societal barriers prevented women from fully exercising their legal rights.

Birth Registration: Children derive citizenship by birth within the country’s territory if one or both parents are citizens of the country. Authorities register births, and the law provides for late registration. Failure to register births resulted in denial of some public services.

Child Abuse: The law criminalizes certain acts compromising the health, security, or morality of a child, although the government was unable to ensure complete compliance, such as in child labor cases. NGOs asserted child abuse was more widespread than the government acknowledged publicly or than actually reported to authorities.

Early and Forced Marriage: The minimum legal marriage age for boys and girls is 16 with parental consent, but marriages of younger children were reported. For example, in June 2018 the investigation into the death of a 13-year-old who died of epilepsy revealed she had been married since January to a 19-year-old man, with her parents’ consent, and that the religious marriage was not registered as the law requires.

Sexual Exploitation of Children: The law prohibits child pornography and provides for a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine not exceeding 100,000 rupees ($2,747) for each offense. The law prohibits all forms of child sex trafficking and provides for a maximum penalty of 30 years’ imprisonment. The minimum age for consensual sex is 16. The penalty for rape is imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine not exceeding 200,000 rupees ($5,494). In addition, the Judicial Provisions Act of 2008 prescribes punishment for child trafficking offenses of up to 30 years’ imprisonment.

The government assisted victims of child abuse by offering counseling at a drop-in center in Port Louis and referring victims to government-supported NGO shelters. Both medical treatment and psychological support were available at public clinics and NGO centers.

Institutionalized Children: The law provides that a simple oath before a magistrate allows parents to have their children placed in the care of the Rehabilitation of Youth Center (RYC) on the basis that they are “children beyond control.” Once admitted to the RYC, the children, some as young as eight or nine, could remain in detention until they reached the age of 18. There were allegations children held in the Correctional Youth Center did not have access to education during their detention and imprisonment.

International Child Abductions: The country is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. See the Department of State’s Annual Report on International Parental Child Abduction at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/International-Parental-Child-Abduction/for-providers/legal-reports-and-data/reported-cases.html.

Approximately 120 Jews, predominantly expatriates, resided in the country. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during the year.

See the Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report at https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/.

The law prohibits discrimination in employment against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental disabilities. Authorities did not effectively enforce the law with respect to public conveyances. Many buildings also remained inaccessible to persons with disabilities despite a legal requirement for public buildings to be accessible for them. The law stipulates that persons with disabilities must constitute at least 3 percent of a workforce of 35 or more employees, but authorities did not effectively enforce it.

The government implemented programs to provide that persons with disabilities had access to information and communications, such as captions and sign language interpretation of news broadcasts. The state-run television station broadcasts a weekly sign language news program for persons with hearing disabilities. The government did not restrict the right of persons with disabilities to vote or participate in civic activities, although lack of accessible transportation posed a barrier to some voters with disabilities. The government provided wheelchairs to make polling stations more accessible to persons with disabilities and elderly persons. Children with physical disabilities have the right to attend mainstream schools, but, according to students with disabilities and their parents, schools turned them away because they could not be accommodated. In 2018 the government approved the Special Needs Bill, which established a regulatory authority to address and advocate for individuals with special needs, including children. Children with mental disabilities attended specialized schools that received minimal government funding.

Poverty continued to be more common among citizens of African descent (Creoles) than in any other community. On September 24, a court acquitted former vice prime minister and minister of housing Showkutally Soodhun of abusing his authority after a video emerged of him reassuring a group of Hindu citizens that 90 percent of a new housing project would go to Hindus, 10 percent to Muslims, and that Creoles would get nothing to “prevent prostitution from spreading in the neighborhood.” The minister stepped down in 2017 but continued as a member of parliament.

The law does not specifically criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity. It criminalizes sodomy, however, for both same-sex and heterosexual couples. Authorities rarely used the sodomy statute against same-sex couples, unless one of the partners cited sodomy in the context of sexual assault.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) victims of verbal abuse or violence generally did not file complaints with police for fear of ostracism or, in some cases, fear of reprisal from family members. The law allows individuals who have had same-sex sexual activity to donate blood so long as they satisfy blood donation requirements, namely, not having had unprotected sex in the 12 months prior to the donation. There were unsubstantiated claims, however, that health officials still prevented LGBTI persons who engage in sodomy from donating blood. Unlike in previous years, there were no incidents or counterprotests during this year’s Gay Pride march.

The law provides that persons with HIV/AIDS should be free from stigmatization and discrimination. There were no pending cases of discrimination against such persons or their relatives.

The local NGO Prevention Information Lutte contre le Sida reported authorities denied HIV/AIDS patients social aid due to the absence of an HIV/AIDS expert on the medical board of the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life.