Mauritius
Mauritius has no history of violence, armed conflict or weapons proliferation. The country gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1968; since then, it has gradually shifted from an agricultural-centric to an industrially developed country. Mauritius is not involved in the manufacturing, brokering or sale of weapons and ammunition to other countries, and has low levels of arms possession and crime.1 An international arms-trafficking network operating through Mauritius was uncovered in 2012. The country has since tightened its legislation on firearms, and arms flows are currently considered to be minimal.2
The country’s guiding gun control legislation includes the Firearms Act of 2006, last amended in 2016. Mauritius has acceded to the Arms Trade Treaty.3
1 Guy Lamb, Arms Brokering in Mauritius (Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2013), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326462796_Arms_Brokering_in_Mauritius.
2 “Global Organized Crime Index: Mauritius,” Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 2021, https://ocindex.net/country/mauritius.
3 Philip Alpers, Michael Picard and Clara Mourlevat, Mauritius – Gun Facts, Figures and the Law (GunPolicy.org, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, 2022), https://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/mauritius.
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Further information
Accidental explosions
Since the Small Arms Survey began collecting data in 1979, no accidental explosions have been reported in Mauritius.
Source: “Unplanned Explosions at Munitions Sites (UEMS) Database,” Small Arms Survey, updated December 15, 2021, https://smallarmssurvey.org/database/unplanned-explosions-munitions-sites-uems.
Cases of diversion
No incidents of diversion related to national stockpiles were reported in Mauritius.
Source: Mauritius, National Report on the Implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) and the International Tracing Instrument (ITI), (New York: Permanent Mission of Mauritius to the UN, 2022), https://unoda-poa.s3.amazonaws.com/reports/MUS-English-1205-SUBMITTED.pdf.
Disposal
Insufficient information on the disposal of ammunition in Mauritius.
Needs
No reported needs have been identified for Mauritius.
Source: Mauritius, National PoA Report.
