Reclaiming Paradise: Mauritius
In the island nation of Mauritius, civic activist Manishwar Purmanund trains a force to raise awareness about the universal rights of all citizens.
In the island nation of Mauritius, civic activist Manishwar Purmanund trains a force to raise awareness about the universal rights of all citizens.
With its lush forests, volcanic mountains, white-sand beaches and turquoise waters, the island nation of Mauritius might look like heaven. But beneath the beauty lies a history filled with human struggle, two centuries of colonial rule and a sugar-cane economy built on the backs of slaves and bonded workers.
Today, Mauritius is a democratic republic with 1.2 million multicultural citizens. Yet, despite constitutional protections upholding the rights of all citizens, human rights abuses continue. Over the past decades, authorities recorded more than 150,000 cases of police brutality, including alleged cases of violence and torture. Additionally, with over 130,000 Mauritians living without access to basic necessities, Mauritius has been anything but a paradise for some.
Growing up poor, civic activist Manishwar Purmanund experienced Mauritius’s darker realities. “We were discriminated against because we were people from a rural area,” he recalls.
Determined to make a difference, he founded Yeshua Fellowship, a nonprofit focused on social support, community development and youth empowerment. Convinced that understanding human rights would empower Mauritians, he searched out a solution and discovered YHRI online. After receiving YHRI educational materials, he made its campaign central to his work, forming Mauritius’s first Youth for Human Rights Chapter. “When you are talking about issues in the community, everything is connected with one thing: human rights,” says Purmanund.
With a small team, he distributed YHRI materials, held seminars and led petition drives. He organized marches involving children and local community members.
Then the pandemic hit and with it came civic unrest. During the lockdown, videos exploded on social media showing shocking acts of police violence, and outrage erupted across the island. The Commissioner of Police, Mario Nobin, declared, “The violence shown in the videos constitute a breach to human rights.”
It was a call to action for Purmanund. He approached Divisional Commander for the Southern District, Assistant Police Commissioner Madan Sookeea. “Manishwar proposed to train my officers on upholding human rights and to have a working collaboration,” recalls Sookeea.
“I want to make Eleanor Roosevelt’s dream a reality, to change Mauritius and to make it a real paradise.”
Purmanund’s plan aimed not only to raise awareness, but also to train officers as Human Rights educators. Beginning with a dozen officers, moving station to station, he trained 230 officers. Soon, officers were distributing YHRI booklets at shopping centers, beaches and schools, empowering citizens with knowledge of their rights.
The campaign reached every segment of society. Purmanund mobilized political science students, educated underpaid hawkers about workers’ rights and informed locals about their right to assemble and protest peacefully. Over 52,000 Mauritians have learned about the 30 human rights outlined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And reports of police brutality coming to him have plummeted—to zero.
More than 80 percent of Mauritians have been reached by the campaign, advancing Purmanund’s ultimate goal: to make universal human rights a reality in Mauritius. “I want to make Eleanor Roosevelt’s dream a reality, to change Mauritius and to make it a real paradise,” he says.
As Commander Sookeea affirmed, “Youth for Human Rights International is instrumental in shaping a future for Mauritius that upholds liberty.” Join Purmanund on his journey in his TV episode at Scientology.TV/MPurmanund.
RESTORE HUMAN RIGHTS
Join the international Human Rights movement by becoming a member of United for Human Rights. UHR assists individuals, educators, organizations and governmental bodies in all parts of the world to raise awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
