Proposed New Law to Allow HIV Positive Foreigners to Marry in Mauritius

Mauritian citizens will henceforth be able to marry foreign nationals even if they are HIV positive or if they suffer from AIDS, according to a bill presented to the Mauritius parliament in Port Louis on Thursday.

Speaking in Parliament during the debate on the HIV and AIDS (Miscellaneous) Bill, the minister of Health and Quality of Life, Satish Faugoo explained that the bill aims at restoring fundamental human rights and human dignity which he said had been flouted by the previous government when in 2004 it brought amendments to the Civil Status Act (CSA) whereby it was made illegal for a non-citizen who is HIV positive or suffers from AIDS to marry a Mauritian national in Mauritius.

He cited the recent case of a female foreign national who was prevented from getting married in Mauritius as a result of those amendments as she was HIV positive. Faugoo added that any foreign national has up to ten days before the marriage ceremony to inform the Civil Status Office if he is actually HIV positive or suffers from AIDS.

The Prime Minister, Dr Navin Chandra Ramgoolam quoted Neson Mandela, who had declared that the stigma is more important than the disease itself. He added that there is no reason to believe that allowing the marriage of a Mauritian to an HIV positive foreigner will continue to spread the disease in the island.

He added that changes will be brought to the CSA and the Immigration Act in order to comply with the new HIV bill.

Nando Bodha of the Mauritian Socialist Movement (MMM), the main opposition party in parliament, indicated that there will always be cases where foreigners will not disclose that they suffer from such diseases and that it would be most advisable to have them tested before marriage as it is done in Luxembourg. They will then be able to get treatment here in order not to contaminate their spouses, he observed.

Source African Press Agency

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