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Mauritius Scout Association — Scouts Mauritius

Safeguarding

Keeping young people safe

The safety and wellbeing of every young person in Scouting is our highest priority. This page explains our policy, what we expect of every adult, and exactly what to do if you are worried about a child.

If a child is in immediate danger

Call the Police on 999.

You can also reach the Child Development Unit of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare on 113, a national child protection hotline staffed 24 hours a day. Do not wait for a Scouting process to run its course before contacting them.

Reporting a concern in Scouting

If you see, hear or suspect something — an indicator, a disclosure from a young person, an allegation, or a breach of the Scout code of conduct — report it. You do not need to be certain, and it is not your job to decide whether it is serious enough.

  1. Tell the nominated person in your Group within 24 hours, and as soon as is practicably possible. Every Group has one.
  2. Complete a Child Protection Report Form. Your Group or District Commissioner will provide it.
  3. Leave the investigating to the people appointed to do it. The nominated person works with the District Commissioner to check the basic facts of the report only. Groups and Districts must not run their own independent investigations unless legislation requires it.

Depending on what the initial assessment finds, a report may be referred to the Police or the Child Protection Authority, or lead to ongoing monitoring and review.

If you would rather raise it outside your Group, or the concern involves the people you would normally report to, contact MSA headquarters directly at msa.admin@scoutsmauritius.org or 466-6771.

Our commitment

MSA’s National Safe from Harm Policy commits the Association to promoting the wellbeing, healthy development and safety of children and young people by providing a safe environment throughout their time in the Scout Movement. In practice that means:

  • creating awareness of why child and youth protection matters;
  • involving everyone around a young person — the young people themselves, adult volunteers and staff, parents, schools and faith-based organisations;
  • keeping the educational purpose of Scouting activities front and centre;
  • safety in the activities we run;
  • developing personal skills; and
  • promoting and encouraging positive behaviour.

The policy is aligned with WOSM’s Safe from Harm framework and assessment tool, which MSA is measured against as a member organisation.

What we expect of every adult

Every adult in Scouting agrees to a code of conduct. Among other things, adults must remember they are a role model at all times, inside and outside Scouting; treat everyone with dignity and respect in line with Scout values; show no favouritism; and report every Safe from Harm concern to the Safe from Harm Team as soon as possible, and always within 24 hours.

Adults joining MSA do so under the Adult in Scouting Policy and must complete the mandatory Safe from Harm programme.

The policies themselves

These are published in full, and we would rather you read them than take this summary at face value. All are available on the documents and policies page:

  • MSA National Safe from Harm Policy (v1.0, 2023)
  • By-Law No 1 of 2025 — Adult in Scouting Policy
  • By-Law No 2 of 2025 — Safe from Harm mandatory programme
  • By-Law No 3 of 2025 — Safe from Harm structure
  • By-Law No 4 of 2025 — Safe from Harm code of conduct and behaviour
  • MSA Child Protection Policy (2015)