Bio
Mookhesswur Choonee GOSK is a Mauritian statesman, heritage advocate, and public intellectual whose work centres on the memory of indenture. He is a fourth generation Girmitiya descendant. His great grandfather reached Aapravasi Ghat in 1875 at age five from Arrah, Bihar, an ancestral journey that informs his lifelong commitment to culture and history.
As Minister of Arts and Culture, he had direct responsibility for the Aapravasi Ghat World Heritage Site and the National Heritage Trust Fund. It was in this capacity that he conceived and drove the UNESCO Indentured Labour Route Project (ILRP) which received UNESCO’s endorsement in 2014. He led a Mauritian delegation to UNESCO wherein he persuaded the organisation that the 19th-20th century movement of 2.2 million indentured labourers from India, China, and South Asia must be accorded the same historical weight as the Slave Route.
His nearly five-year tenure as Ambassador/High Commissioner to India provided him first-hand knowledge of the Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar depots through which labourers passed. Dialogues with the late Prof. Brij Lal of Fiji deepened his resolve to document the dignity and resilience of the diaspora.
Mauritius, under his direction, proposed Aapravasi Ghat as the ILRP hub, backed by the Mahatma Gandhi Institute’s archives, recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Heritage. He continues to champion academic research, site preservation, and international collaboration for the benefit of some 18 million descendants globally.
He is regarded today as a bridge between heritage, diplomacy, and identity, advancing cultural understanding and peace.
His first book Creative Mauritius: Vision 2025 was published in 2014. His latest book More than Paradise: Why Mauritius Matters will be published soon.
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