Since 2019, thirteen cases of child prostitution have been reported to the police, according to Minister Kalpana Koonjoo-Shah. Although awareness-raising measures and regular campaigns are carried out, international institutions highlight a lack of precise data on this scourge. The need to intervene more effectively and adopt strategies to counter this problem remains urgent.
Figures on child prostitution “do not reflect any substantial increase.” This was stated by the Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, Kalpana Koonjoo-Shah, in a written response tabled in the National Assembly following a parliamentary question asked by the MP of the Mauritian Militant Movement, Arianne Navarre-Marie. The minister specified that official figures from the police force indicate that since 2019, thirteen cases of child prostitution have been reported.
Nothing for the first three months of the year, that is to say from January 1 to April 1, 2024, already three cases have been recorded by the police. The minister recognizes, however, that “child prostitution is unfortunately a social scourge which has harmful consequences on many diverse aspects of our society, whether at the individual, family or community level.”
She added that a contract has been awarded to a local company to carry out an in-depth study on the commercial sexual exploitation of children, which includes prostitution. “My ministry will comply with the recommendations made,” she said.
Kalpana Koonjoo-Shah stressed that as a “concerning government”, sustained intervention must be given “to eliminate serial adverse effects on the child and their immediate environment”. In fact, preventing child prostitution involves a combination of legal, social and educational measures.
In the minister's eyes, the Children's Act 2020 “is a comprehensive legal framework aimed at providing better care, better protection and better assistance to children”. This law makes it mandatory for any person, “having reasonable grounds to believe that a child with whom they are in contact has been, is being or is likely to be exposed to harm, as well as a provision specific on child prostitution and access to brothels”, to make a report to the authorities.
Several measures, including information, education and communication campaigns, as well as capacity building for front-line workers within and outside the ministry, are regularly implemented. The minister also spoke of ensuring “networking with all relevant stakeholders, in particular the Family Protection Brigade and NGOs (MFWPA, Pedostop, Association for Population and Development, SAFIRE) and a joint intervention”. At school level, campaigns against the commercial sexual exploitation of children are organized by the ministry but also by NGOs throughout the year.
Another observation from international institutions
If the police, according to Kalpana Koonjoo-Shah, indicate that there have been 13 cases only since January 1, 2019, international institutions however speak of a different situation. In her report presented in March last year, Mama Fatima Singhateh, the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children – including child prostitution, child pornography and other child abuse materials sexual exploitation of children – sounded the alarm about the seriousness of the problem.
She criticizes the Mauritian authorities for failing to provide enough data regarding children. “The current extent and prevalence of sexual abuse and exploitation is unknown. This is due to the clandestine nature of these crimes, but also to the lack of data on the number of cases reported and the investigations and prosecutions initiated,” she wrote in her report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council. United Nations.
The Special Rapporteur was also surprised that the last qualitative national report on the phenomenon of commercial sexual exploitation of children dates back 20 years. In 2003, the University of Mauritius prepared the document. Mama Fatimah Singhateh recalled that at the time, she had noted 2,300 victims of child prostitution.
The investigation carried out by the latter in Mauritius from June 21 to June 30, 2022 revealed that the problem remains current and even that “many interlocutors consider that the problem of child prostitution is growing. There is an urgent need to understand the magnitude of the phenomenon and to intervene and adopt strategies to attack it.”
In August 2023, the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ), in a report presented at the 45th Session of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review, highlighted that in Mauritius, “in particular, girls as young as ten years old were found practicing prostitution. Unfortunately, the scale of this criminal activity remains largely unknown due to its clandestine nature and the fact that Mauritius lacks comprehensive and reliable data.”
The ECLJ clarified that “although Mauritius adopted a new law on children in 2020, the country still lacks a strategy to effectively combat the sale and exploitation of children”.
Number of cases per year according to police
| Year | Number of cases |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 0 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2024 (January 1 to April 1) | 3 |
