Children's Court Bill The main object of the Children's Court Bill is to provide for the establishment of a Children’s Court, which is a dedicated and specialised Court, having jurisdiction to hear and determine cases involving children on fast track, in a child-friendly environment and where the best interests of the child are upheld. Court proceedings of the Children's Court will be similar to that of the Intermediate Court. The Court's Act is amended to empower the Family Division of the Supreme Court to hear and determine, inter alia, any action entered under the Code Civil Mauricien for adoption, sale of minor's rights, ouverture de la tutelle, appointment of guardian and subguardian, recherche de maternite, recherche de paternite and desaveu de patente. ‘The proposed Children’s Court Bill provides for the following: a) Children’s Cour The Children’s Court will comprise: * i. @ Protection Division, which shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine, inter alia, any application for child protection matters, under the Children’s Act 2020; and ji, a Criminal Division, which shall have jurisdiction to try, inter alla, sexual offences against children and offences where children are witnesses thereto, b) Jurisdiction of, and proceedings before, Protection Division and Criminal Division: The Protection Division will hear any application, under part 4 of the Children’s Act, relating to Assessment Order, Contact Order, Long Term Care Orders, amongst others. The Criminal Division will hear and determine criminal offences in regard to child victim, child witness, juvenile offender and any other prescribed matter. ¢) Appeal against decision of Protection Division and Criminal Division:‘The Children's Court would give right to the supervising officer or the parent of a child to appeal before 21 days to the Judge in Chambers against any order made by a Magistrate of the Protection Division. The appeal against an order or final judgement of a Magistrate of the Criminal Division may be made to the Supreme Court. (d) Live Video and Television Link: Provision is made to allow any Court at its discretion and on motion made by prosecution to allow a child victim or witness to depose through live video or live {elevision link system,Children’s The main object of this Bill is to repeal the Child Protection Act and replace it with a more appropriate, comprehensive and modern legislative framework with a view to addressing the shortcomings of the Child Protection Act and giving 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. The Proposed Children’s Bill provides for the following; a) Best interests principles: The best interests of a child shall be paramount and be the primary consideration by any person, Court, institution or other body. They shall respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights and the best interests of the child b) Child Participation: Every child who is of such age, maturity and stage of development as to be able to participate in any matter concerning the child shall, so far as is practicable, have the right to participate in the matter and any views expressed by the child shall be given due consideration, ¢) Children’s duties and responsibilities: There shall be due regard to the duties and responsibilities to be conferred to a child in line with its evolving capacities, age and maturity. ) Parental responsibilities and rights: ‘Any person having the legal responsibility of the child shall provide the basic needs of the child including the responsibility to take decisions relating to the child’s day-to-day upbringing,e) Child Services Coordinating Panel: ‘An Inter-agency Coordinating Panel for Child Services will be set up to coordinate interagency cooperation in issues requiring multiagency effort and/or cross-sectoral approach. The setting up of this Panel is in ine with the Concluding Observations and Recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child 2015, whereby the State of Mauritius was called upon to establish or designate an effective coordination body, such as through a children’s act, at a high interministerial level, with a clear mandate and sufficient authority to coordinate all activities relating to the implementation of the Convention at the cross-sectoral, national, regional and local levels. ) Composition of Panel: Clause 9 The Panel shall comprise: {ithe supervising officer; (ii)a representative of the Ministry; (iia representative of the Ministry responsible for the subject of education; (iv)a representative of the Ministry responsible for the subject of finance; (v)a representative of the Ministry responsible for the subject of health; (via representative of the Ministry responsible for the subject of reform institutions; (vila representative of the Ministry responsible for the subject of social security; (vilja representative of the Commissioner of Police, not below the rank of ‘Superintendent of Police; and {(x)2 other members, to be appointed by the Minister. 9) Forcing child to be married: ‘The definition of “child” has been revised to mean any person under the age of 18 years, The possibility for minors aged 16-18 years to be married with parental consent and’ Dispense d’age du Juge en Chambre’ as per sections 145-148 of the Code CivilMauricien will be repealed in line with international recommendations from both Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), as well as international best practices. h) Reporting procedure in case of child in need of care and protection: At present all cases related to child victims are reported to the Hotline 113 and referred to the Child Development Unit. In the Bil, provision is made for reporting directly to the Police, where a person has reasonable grounds to believe that a child has been, or is likely to be, exposed to harm, for immediate support and assistance to the child in distress. The Police shall, notify the supervising officer for assessment of the child's need of care and protection i) Assessment Order: In the Child Protection Act, there was only provision for an Emergency Protection Order which gave rise to practical issues. Very often officers were not granted an Emergency Protection Order when they had to carry out anly an assessment of a child’s situation, reported by an anonymous caller. The Assessment Order empowers an authorised officer to assess a child's health or development to enable him to determine the type of assistance to be provided to the child or his family. However, when the application for the Assessment Order is made, the Magistrate may choose to grant an Emergency Protection Order in lieu of an Assessment Order if the situation so warrants. i) Additional Orders: i.Placement order: If a child has to be placed into long-term alternative care due to the threat persisting beyond the 21 days of the Emergency Protection Order, the ‘Supervising Officer may apply to the Children's Court for a Placement Order, which, if granted, may be renewed every year, not exceeding a period of 3 years.ii. Ancillary orders: (following an assessment order, an emergency protection order or a placement order) iii Long-term Care Order: Where itis in the best interests of a child that he/she stays in Alternative Care Placement for a period exceeding 3 years, the Supervising Officer may apply for a Long-Term Care Order for the child to be placed in Long-Term Care, iv.Contact Order: Contact which is to be allowed between the child and any person k) Children with serious behavioural concerns: The Bill provides for children with both mild behavioural problems and severe behavioural issues. Under the Mentoring Order, the child would undergo mentoring sessions by a trained adult child mentor for his/her emotional reconstruction. Children with serious hostile and aggressive behaviours would undergo conciliation counselling through professional assistance. For Children with serious behavioural concerns, the Probation Officer is called upon, not later than 21 days after the application for parenting support intervention, to issue a letter ceriifying that a parenting support intervention has been completed, where such intervention has not been successful on a finding of serious behavioural concerns, the Magistrate of the Protection Division of the Children’s Court will place the minor, in accordance with the Probation of Offenders Act, in an institution }) Criminal Responsibility of Children: The minimum age of criminal responsibility is set at 14 years old, where probable cause exists to charge a juvenile with a criminal offence, the Director of the Public Prosecutions will have the discretion not to file charges where it is in the best interest of the juvenile and in the public interest. The Director of Public Prosecutions shall also request a probation officer to assess whether itis in the best interests of the juvenile to enrol or not in a diversionary programme,m) Sentencing of Juvenile Offenders: The Bill provides for different options with regard to sentencing of Juvenile Offenders which range from absolute or conditional discharge of the juvenile to eventually ‘committing the juvenile to custody in a place of detention and training as provided under the Reform Institutions Act. n) Appointment of Guardian Ad Litem: Provision is made to appoint a guardian ad litem to advocate for the best interest of the child and to monitor proceedings involving the child in the justice system.Child Sex Offender Register Bill The proposed Child Sex Offender Register Bill provides for the following: a) Objects: The purpose of the proposed Bill is to establish a Child Sex Offender Register, with the view to reducing and preventing the risk of sexual offences committed against children, b) Child Sex Offender Register: The Register will assist in a) _ monitoring and tracking persons in the community who have been found guilty of committing sexual offences against children; and b) detecting and investigating sexual offences against children. c) Management of CSO Register: The register will be kept and managed by the Commissioner of Police with rights of access to authorised officers only. d) Information in CSO Register: The CSO Register'will contain personal details of every registrable offender and details of each quali ing offence. e) Reporting Period: There is a lifetime reporting obligation on an offender who has been sentenced for a term of imprisonment for a class 3 offence. f) Qualifying Offences: The offences are classified as follows a) Class 1 Offence; Least serious offences committed against children. 8 years where the offender has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a class 3 offence;») Class 2 Offence: The reporting obligation is for a period of 15 years, where the offender has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a class 2 offence; and ©) - Class 3 Offence: Most serious offences committed against children. There will be reporting obligations imposed on the Offender for the remainder of his life, he/she has been sentenced.