I refer to an article published on 15 March 2007 in your newspaper signed by Miss Deepa Bhookhun entitled ?The deafening silence of our judges and lawyers? with an introduction that states that ?Mauritian judges and lawyers never (my emphasis) speak out against government policies even when human rights may have been abused?.

Such a sweeping statement is such a gross exaggeration, that when confronted with facts, it becomes absurdly untrue, even though I wish that more lawyers at the bar and even law students at the University would develop more interest in the defense of human rights. In the not too distant past quite a number of lawyers publicly expressed their concern and their opposition when ex-Deputy Prime Minister Berenger, in his servile eagerness to please the ever war- mongering Bush, rammed through Parliament his Prevention of Terrorism Act wherein there were provisions that violated basic human rights principles. I recall how my colleague Mr. Rosario Domaingue, among others, brilliantly exposed in the press how the POTA put at risk human rights enshrined in our Constitution.

Further, the article also contains another fallacy when it reports that former Chief Justice Lallah allegedly asked lawyers present at the Human Rights Conference. ?How many of you have read the report of the UN Human Rights Committee?? and your journalist herself answered the question as follows: ?No one had.?

Well, it is quite true that no one had read such a report for the simple reason that it simply does not exist. There is no such document known ?the report of the UN Human Rights Committee? as imagined by Miss Bhookhun who is manifestly unaware that the UN rights Committee does not publish any report but communicates its Concluding Observations to the Member States after it has examined their Periodic Country Reports. It is unfortunate that your journalist does not realize that she is misleading the public when she refers to a fictitious ?report of the UN Human Rights Committee.?

Mr Lallah did ask whether lawyers present had read the Fourth Periodic Country Report that had been submitted by the Government of Mauritius to the UN Human Rights Committee. He then went on to state that, as far as he knew, only one barrister, Jean? Claude Bibi, had not only read the Country Report of Mauritius but had also written a critical Country Counter ? Report on behalf of JUSTICE (Association against violence by agents of the State) and that he had bothered to travel to New York to vindicate his criticisms before the UN Human Rights Committee. Incidentally, several of my criticisms, including the lack of independence of the National Human Rights Commission, were found to be justified and were mentioned in the Concluding Observations known in UN parlance as COBS.

Your reporter is apparently not familiar with the various mechanisms neither of the UN system nor with the procedures and functions of the UN Rights Committee. A minimal amount of research would have taught her that the UN Human Rights Commission (recently replaced by the Human Rights Council) based in Geneva publishes reports but that the UN Human Rights Committee, a distinct body, does not. She has confused the Country Periodic Report Mr Lallah mentioned in his question with a non-existent report of the UN Human Rights Committee. It is rather surprising, (or, maybe it is not really) that your journalist should make such a weird error when she attempts to report what Mr. Lallah was talking about. What is definitely not surprising is that she managed to omit the answer he gave to the question he raised. Your readers should be told the truth: some lawyers do care about human rights and they do voice their critical views in the media, including in your newspaper and elsewhere.

Finally, I have to refer your readers to page 10 of the edition of ?l?express? dated 10 December 2005 on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day that carried a whole page interview adorned with no less than three photographs of my humble person. I was introduced to your readers as follows: ?Jean-Claude Bibi, avocat, est aussi un militant des droits de l?homme. Tout en s?élevant contre les violations de ces droits, il ne baisse pas les bras en cette journée internationale des Droits de l?homme; il y a l?espoir.?

The journalist who wrote these lines and who interviewed me was Miss Deepa Bhookhun herself who now writes that lawyers ?never? (my emphasis) speak out against human rights violations. Can we expect a minimum of consistency and some knowledge, however basic, of the subject a journalist writes about?

Indeed, it may well be asked, is there any hope left?

Jean-Claude BIBI

<B>OUR REPLY</B>

In case the gist of Mr Bibi?s letter has been lost on our readers, here?s a summary: Jean Claude Bibi desperately wants to be known as a Human Rights lawyer. He believes the best way to achieve this, is to write abusive letters to ?l?express? and demand publication.

<B>Deepa BHOOKHUN</B>