21-24 May 2019

The Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Institutional Reforms, in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights held the following two Workshops at Hennessy Park Hotel:

a)     a 2-day workshop on ‘The four key capacities of a National Mechanism for Reporting and Follow up (NMRF)’ on 21 and 22 May 2019; and

b)    a 2-day workshop on ‘The use of the National Recommendations and Tracking Database (NRTD)’ on 23 and 24 May 2019’

The objective of the first workshop was to familiarize participants with the key features and capacities of THE NMRF with particular focus on the coordination and information management capacities and the development of a plan to implement the recommendations.

In the second workshop, the participants were introduced to the NRTD including its possible benefits, its main functions and features and ways to customize its use in Mauritius.

The 2 workshops form part of the Capacity Building Programmes of the NMRF and were attended by around 50 participants from Ministries/ Departments, National Human Rights Institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations.

The Workshop was facilitated by Ms Ivana Machonova Schellongova, Human Rights Officer of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva and Mr. Jean Fokwa, Human Rights Officer of the Regional Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for Southern Africa. 

Honorable Maneesh Gobin, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Institutional Reforms, who participated at the opening ceremony of the workshops, reminded the participants of the structure and importance of the NMRF.

 “There is no such other platform where members of the Civil Society, NGOs and Ministries come together to share their experiences and come up with recommendations and policies”

He further stressed that it is imperative, once the platform is set up, that its members be trained so they are fully aware of their roles and help in implementation.

Ms Ivana Machonova Schellongova, in her address, commended the progress of Human Rights in Mauritius:

 “Mauritius has made an excellent progress in terms of reporting to human rights mechanisms. It is up to date with its reporting obligations under seven core human rights treaties. However, implementation of the recommendations remains a major challenge. It is our hope that this training will help Mauritius to address this challenge – through strengthening key capacities of its National Mechanism of Reporting and Follow Up and through rolling out the National Recommendations Tracking Database. The NRTD should serve as the information management tool to track human rights recommendations and progress in their implementation. It is not a magical solution to replace current processes and plans. It is a tool which should fit into the existing workflows and improve them

She affirmed that Mauritius will be the second country worldwide and the first country in Africa to roll-out the database. She wished that “the NMRF and the NRTD will contribute to synergies among all mechanisms of human rights protection – international, regional and national – as well as voluntary national reporting under Sustainable Development Goal – to ultimately reinforce promotion and protection of human rights in Mauritius.”

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