Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare has released its Annual Report on Performance for the financial year 2020/2021. In a message, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, Mrs Kalpana Koonjoo-Shah underlined that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, her Ministry has never deviated from its primary concerns of gender equality, family welfare, child protection and community welfare.
My Ministry has been resilient in coping with this unprecedented situation that COVID-19 has engendered, as services for children victims of neglect and abuse, and survivors of gender-based violence were effectively sustained on a 24/7 basis, she said.
She recalled that a High Level Committee on the Elimination of Gender-Based Violence has been established under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to address existing gaps at the legislative, institutional, and operational levels.
She also pointed out that, in the best interest of children, the Children’s Act, and two other associated Acts, namely the Children’s Court Act and the Child Sex Offender Register Act were passed at the National Assembly in December 2020.
These Acts aim to provide for a more comprehensive and modern legislative framework with a view to addressing the shortcomings of the existing Child Protection Act and to give better effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, she said.
The Report underlines that the Ministry recognises the vital role of women as agents of development, and strongly believes that gender equality and the empowerment of women must be achieved in national development to enhance participation of women and men, boys and girls, vulnerable and marginalised groups for the attainment of sustainable development.
Since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare has retained the slogan “Championing Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goal” which speaks to ‘Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls”.
In that context, the Ministry has aligned its policies, interventions and programmes to international and regional treaties on gender equality such as Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); the Maputo Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa; the Beijing Platform for Action; the Sustainable Development Goals specifically Goals 5 (Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls).
Furthermore, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, as the National Gender Machinery, has through its National Steering Committee on Gender Mainstreaming set up in 2010, advocated successfully for the allocation of a Vote Item on ‘Gender Mainstreaming’ and since the year 2018, each Ministry has been receiving Rs 200, 000 for the implementation of gender mainstreaming strategies.
In a bid to address issues of gender equality at various levels, the Gender Unit has undertaken the following measures:
Prepared draft instructions to the Gender Equality Bill that aims at eliminating gender based discrimination in the Republic of Mauritius, thereby requiring good governance through accountability mechanism to realise gender justice and achieve substantive equality outcomes.
Formulated a National Gender Policy (2021-2030) to have principal guidelines that will support and translate Government’s commitment into concrete gender equality measures and actions;
Implemented of Gender Mainstreaming Strategies to empower women socially, economically and political in a bid to bridge prevailing gender gaps.
Main achievements of the Ministry from June 2020 to July 2021
Three legislations were passed in the National Assembly in December 2020, namely the Children’s Act 2020, the Children’s Court Act 2020, and the Child Sex Register Act 2020.
During the financial July 2020 to June 2021, 72 Child Day Care Centres were registered and nine Residential Care Institutions were granted licenses as Places of Safety.
In March 2021, technical assistance was obtained from the European Union through the Technical Assistance Information Exchange Facility (TAIEX) for the following:
(i) Amendments to Protection from Domestic Violence Act;
(ii)Setting up of Victim/Witness Support Service and Guardian Ad Litem
program; and
(iii) Setting up of Children’s Court.
Launching of the ’50 Million African Women Speak Project’ at national level. The Gender Unit has sustained its Information, Education and Communication campaigns ranging from Sexual and Reproductive Health; Sustainable Development Goals; Gender Concept to Climate Change and Economic Empowerment through the organisation of workshops, sensitisation campaigns, and awareness sessions.
Around 1,500 persons were trained in around 55 centres over the country and 16 mini – fairs were organised to assist about 200 trainees (potential women entrepreneurs) to sell their products and hence earn income for their families.
With a view to enhancing food security especially during this COVID – 19 period, 14 Agricultural Women’s Clubs were set up and 200 women were trained to grow vegetables and fruits and well as rear small animals.
Development of a mobile application “Lespwar”, a panic button, for victims of gender-based violence. This mobile App enables a victim of GBV to rapidly connect with the Main Police Command and Control Centre.
Challenges and the way forward
The Report states that as regards Gender Equality, Mauritius was ranked 115 out of 153 countries worldwide in 2020. Women continue to be underrepresented in decision-making position – the share of women among cabinet ministries is 14.3% (3 out of 21 Ministers).
However, there has been an increase in the proportion of women holding senior positions in government services from 19.2% in 1999 to 39.7% in 2020. Furthermore, in 2020, there were 6,039 reported cases of Domestic Violence at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare and at the Police Family Protection Unit.
The main challenges are:
Financial and human resources constraints for the implementation of programmes, action plans and projects. A fragmented approach in service delivery and time and cost overruns in the implementation of projects.
Gender mainstreaming strategies are not given adequate consideration by other Ministries/Departments. Lack of expertise in the fields of gender, family and child matters at national level. Complexity and magnitude of acts of domestic violence and child abuse.
From 2021 to 2024, the Ministry proposes to:
Sustain awareness amongst the public and private sectors, and all non-state actors on the need to adopt a gender perspective and a human right –based approach in regard to the implementation of their respective mandates;
Provide continuous support to line Ministries for the implementation of gender mainstreaming strategies;
Work on the implementation of the recommended action of the National Gender Policy (2021-2030).
Devise the national Action Plan on gender mainstreaming for the public sector. Finalise and enforce the Adoption Bill and the Gender Equality Bill. Implement recommended actions of the IORA Work Plan on Women Economics Empowerment (2018-2022).
Prepare of a new Early Childhood Development Policy Paper and its Action Plan. Implement the National Strategy and Action Plan of the High Level Committee on the Elimination of Gender Based Violence in the Republic of Mauritius.
Formulate a National Children’s Policy Paper and its Action Plan. Prepare a new Early Childhood Development Policy Document (0-3 years)
Prepare a new Policy Paper on the Family and its Action Plan.
Implement the IEC Strategy and Action Plan of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare. Promulgate the Children’s Act, the Children Court Act and the Children Offender Register Act.
Extend the Child Protection Services to all districts for immediate assistance, protection and follow-up to children victims of violence and abuse. Review all legislations for better protection of the citizens.
Set up an Observatory for Gender-Based Violence. Implement the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System. Implement the Perpetrators’ Rehabilitation Programme.
Set up a Victim and Witness Support Service to provide both pre-trial and post-trial support to victims and witnesses. Implement a National Protocol on Domestic Violence. License Residential Care Institutions as place of Safety.
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