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Summary: This book has been written by M. l.
Lam Hung in the context of the UN
Special Session on
Children. It aims to explain all the
laws relating to the child in
Mauritius.
Authors note: Firstly, I am responding to the call of parents,
social workers and NGOs who have approached me for a single
document explaining all the laws relating to the child in this
country. We do not have a single and comprehensive Children’s
Act in Mauritius. At present, anybody seeking information on the
rights of the Child has to go through all the laws scattered in a
number of legislation including the Civil code, the Criminal code
and 52 Acts of Parliament. Some other 22 statutes also deal
indirectly with children’s issues. This present exercise explains
the law as it stands today regarding the Child. Moreover, it not
only brings to light various loopholes and weaknesses in our
legal system but also helps to record the efforts made so far in
improving the fate of the child in Mauritius. Furthermore, it is
within the spirit of the Extraordinary Session of the UN General
Assembly dedicated to the children and adolescents of the world
- September 2001, New York, a follow up to the 1990 World
Summit for Children.
Secondly, every citizen in this country has to be fully informed
about the unconditional and inviolable rights of the Child and the
existence of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Having
been a Counsellor at the Family Counselling Unit, Prosecuting
Counsel in the District Courts, and Legal Adviser to the Minister of
Women, Family Welfare and Child Development, I have been
directly involved in all sorts of situations involving children at risk.
That is why I feel that this publication is a necessity and I am
confident that it will enlighten and better equip all those who are
committed to defending and promoting the rights of the Child.