The Children’s Act 2020: What Every Parent in Mauritius Should Know

The Children’s Act 2020 is Mauritius’s central statute on children’s rights, parental responsibilities, protection and offences against children. It defines a child as anyone under 18 and makes the child’s best interests paramount in any matter concerning that child. The Act came into operation on 24 January 2022 alongside the Children’s Court Act 2020 and the Child Sex Offender Register Act 2020.

Why the Children’s Act 2020 was introduced

The Act places the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child inside a detailed Mauritian framework. It does more than punish abuse: it states best-interests and participation principles, defines parental responsibilities, creates care-and-protection orders, regulates foster care and adoption-related matters, and establishes specific offences.

It must also be read with other laws. Section 3 expressly preserves relevant provisions of the Code Civil Mauricien and legislation on child abduction, divorce, the Ombudsperson for Children and domestic violence. A custody dispute, suspected offence and child-protection assessment may therefore engage different institutions and proceedings even though they concern the same child.

Who is a child under the Act

The general definition is simple: a person below 18 is a child. The separate term “juvenile” means a person aged 14 or over but under 18 and is used for parts of the criminal-justice framework. Parents should not apply that narrower label to the protection provisions and assume a 13-year-old or 17-year-old falls outside the Act.

Age changes how participation works, not whether dignity matters. A child able to participate because of age, maturity and development has a right to do so, and the child’s views must receive due consideration. That is not a right to dictate the result: the decision-maker remains responsible for the best-interests assessment.

Protection from violence and humiliating punishment

Section 13 addresses ill-treatment or allowing ill-treatment likely to cause harm. “Harm” includes physical, sexual, psychological, emotional or moral abuse, neglect, degradation, discrimination, exploitation and impairment of health or development. Section 14 separately states that no person may inflict corporal or humiliating punishment to correct or discipline a child.

The discipline rule is not confined to schools and contains no parental exception. A parent cannot convert force causing pain or suffering into lawful conduct merely by calling it a smack. Readers needing the precise scope can consult our focused explanation of the corporal-punishment prohibition.

Online safety, bullying and identifying a child

The statutory bullying offence has defined elements. It covers behaviour by any means, including information and communication technologies, that is repetitive, persistent and intentionally harmful, or involves a power imbalance causing distress, fear, loneliness or loss of confidence, and results in serious physical or psychological harm. A single rude message is not automatically the statutory offence, although it may still require school, safeguarding or other action.

Suppose pupils repeatedly alter a classmate’s photograph, circulate it in a school chat and threaten further publication unless the child complies with demands. Preserve the original chat, membership details, dates and files; do not repost the image in a public campaign. The Act also restricts media identification of child victims, witnesses and offenders, so adults can compound the harm by publishing names, faces, school details or recognisable family information.

The Child Services Coordinating Panel and frontline bodies

The Child Services Coordinating Panel is a national coordination body, not a complaints counter. Its statutory work includes inter-ministerial coordination, monitoring government arrangements, collaboration with stakeholders and considering cases referred by the Ministry. An urgent report should go to a frontline body rather than waiting for the Panel to meet.

The Ministry’s Family Support Services and Child Development Unit assess and support children in need of care and protection; child-protection concerns can be reported on the 24-hour hotline 113. Police investigate suspected offences, while the Protection Division of the Children’s Court hears applications for child-protection measures. Our guide to a Child Development Unit assessment explains why home visits, interviews and supporting records may follow a report.

How the Act interacts with custody and divorce cases

The Act lists custody, daily upbringing, contact, guardianship and contribution to maintenance among parental responsibilities and rights. In a court dispute, those responsibilities are examined through the child’s welfare, safety, routine and relationships; they are not prizes for the parent who made the first allegation. Existing orders should be followed unless the competent court changes them or an emergency requires immediate police or child-protection intervention.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2026 expressly says its future framework is additional to the Children’s Act 2020. It was assented to on 20 July and gazetted on 21 July 2026, but commencement is by Proclamation and had not occurred by late August. Until Proclamation, the Protection from Domestic Violence Act 1997 procedures remain the operative domestic-violence route; confirm the operative position before filing. The Children’s Court overview distinguishes protection work from criminal proceedings.

What parents most often get wrong about the Act

First, the Act protects children from adults and other children; it is not limited to misconduct by a parent. Secondly, listening to a child does not mean rehearsing an account or asking the child to choose between parents. Thirdly, deleting a harmful post does not preserve the evidence needed by a school, authorised officer or police investigator; retain a private, unaltered copy before seeking removal.

Finally, parental responsibility is as much about providing care and maintenance as asserting contact. Useful records are therefore specific to the issue: school attendance and reports, medical or therapy records, proof of maintenance, the existing custody order, and messages about handovers. The Act’s ban on child marriage is addressed separately in our guide to marriage or cohabitation involving a child.

This article is general legal information for Mauritius, not legal advice. For advice on your situation, consult a barrister.