Dentons Mauritius LLP

Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Shirin, Barrister-at-Law, has had a long political career as well as a diplomatic career. She founded several non-governmental organisations in Mauritius and abroad and has been a member of several Human Rights organisations.

Shirin was the first woman Attorney-General and Minister for Women's Rights and Family Welfare in Mauritius and the ambassador of Mauritius in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. In 1993 – 1994, she presided the Conseil Permanent de la Francophonie. She represented Mauritius at the UNESCO in 1995.

She was a member of the National Assembly and also a municipal councilor and mayor of the town of Beau Bassin-Rose Hill.

She was the first Ombudsperson for Children in 2003 to 2011, and was also appointed as Chairperson of the Public Bodies Appeal Tribunal in 2012 until October 2021.

In 2004, Shirin was a member of the Editorial Board of the United Nations Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children, working in close collaboration with Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the international expert appointed to coordinate the Study which led to the publication of a World Report on Violence against Children (2006). She still collaborates with the UN Special Representative on this issue.

Shirin has contributed to many publications for UN committees.

Of Counsel, Dentons Mauritius, 2022 – Present Barrister-at-Law, private practice, 1974 – 2002

English, French, Mauritian Creole and Seychellois Creole

Member of International Board of Trustees of the African Child Policy Forum based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2021 - Present Goodwill ambassador for the European Union (Port Louis Delegation) for the Rise and Shine Campaign on Human Rights, 2019 – present Member of the Comité des sages for the evolution of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), 2003 – present Member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, 1976 - 1991 Member of the Association Internationale des Parlementaires de Langue Française, 1976 - 1991 Founded several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Mauritius and abroad, such as La Ligue Féministe, Solidarité Femmes, which was a coalition of eight NGOs, African NGO WILDAF (Women in Law and Development Africa) and Femmes Afrique Solidarité. Member of the Board of The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Banjul, The Gambia, a member of the Advisory Council of INTERIGHTS (a human rights NGO, based in London), and also a member of the board of the International Bureau for Children’s Rights, based in Canada. Member of the Editorial Board of the United Nations Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children, 2004 – 2006 (Report at United Nations General Assembly in 2006) Shirin contested two laws which discriminated against women (The Immigration Amendment Act 1977 and the Deportation Amendment Act 1977) before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.