Harare — A colonial-era legislation that made same-sex relationships illegal was overturned in Mauritius, according to a Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) report.

The 1898-era Section 250 of the Mauritian Criminal Code was declared unlawful today (October 4) by the nation's Supreme Court. The statute had imposed a five-year prison sentence on anybody found guilty of having same-sex relationships.

The decision to repeal the anti-homosexuality statute was made in response to a legal challenge filed by four young Mauritanians in October 2019 who said the ban "violated their fundamental rights and freedom".

The verdict received praise from the UN and other human rights organizations.

"The United Nations in Mauritius - which includes UNAIDS, UNFPA, OHCHR, UNDP and WHO - welcome today's ruling by the Supreme Court of Mauritius that a discriminatory law criminalizing consensual same sex relations is unconstitutional and will be immediately struck from the legal code. Previously, under Section 250 of the Mauritian Criminal Code (which dated back to 1898) anyone convicted could have faced up to five years in prison," UNAIDS said.

"Today's decision by Mauritius' Supreme Court declaring a law that criminalised same-sex intimacy between men unconstitutional is a momentous victory for human rights," Human Dignity Trust said in a statement.

With this decision, Mauritius joins the increasing number of African nations like Angola, Botswana, Seychelles, and Mozambique that have either decriminalized or legalized same-sex relationships.