Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Mauritania.htm
Mauritania is a
source and destination country for children trafficked for forced labor and
sexual exploitation. Slavery-related practices, rooted in ancestral
master-slave relationships, continue to exist in isolated parts of the
country. Mauritanian boys called talibe are
trafficked within the country by religious teachers for forced begging.
Children are also trafficked by street gangs within the country that force
them to steal, beg, and sell drugs. Girls are trafficked internally for
domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Mauritanian children may also be
trafficked for forced agricultural and construction labor, herding, and for
forced labor in the fishing industry within the country. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check
out a later country report here and possibly a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** The unspeakable truth
about slavery in Mauritania The Guardian, 8 June
2018 www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jun/08/the-unspeakable-truth-about-slavery-in-mauritania [accessed 18
February 2019] For all the
government’s denials, slavery persists in Mauritania. In a rare insight into
the lives of the tens of thousands of people affected, photojournalist Seif Kousmate
spent a month photographing and interviewing current and former slaves. While
there, he was arrested and imprisoned by police, who confiscated his memory
cards, phone and laptop. In 1981, Mauritania
made slavery illegal, the last country in the world to do so. Nonetheless,
tens of thousands of people – mostly from the minority Haratine or
Afro-Mauritanian groups – still live as bonded labourers, domestic servants
or child brides. Local rights groups estimate that up to 20% of the
population is enslaved, with one in two Haratines forced to work on farms or
in homes with no possibility of freedom, education or pay.” ***
ARCHIVES *** Slavery: Pascale Harter, BBC
News, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4091579.stm [accessed 17 April
2012] In answer to the
Mauritanian government's assertion that slavery no longer exists in Boubakar Messaoud
and other members of SOS Slaves have been imprisoned and harassed by the
authorities for their anti-slavery campaign. It seems the government has
little interest in really wiping out slavery. Meanwhile, slavery remains 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Mauritania U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/mauritania/
[accessed 16 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Slavery and
slavery-like practices, which typically flowed from ancestral master-slave
relationships and involved both adults and children, continued. Although
reliable data on the total number of slaves does not exist, local and
international experts agreed hereditary slavery and slavery-like conditions
affected a substantial portion of the population in both rural and urban
settings. Enslaved persons suffered from traditional chattel slavery,
including forced labor and forced sexual exploitation. Human rights groups
reported that masters coerced persons in slavery and slavery-like
relationships to deny to human rights activists that such exploitative
relationships existed. Slavery, including
forced labor and de facto slavery, were more prevalent in areas where
educational levels were generally low or a barter economy still prevailed,
and prevalent to a lesser degree in urban centers, including Nouakchott. The
practices commonly occurred where there was a need for workers to herd
livestock, tend fields, and do other manual or household labor. Nevertheless,
such practices also occurred in urban centers where young children, often
girls, were retained as unpaid domestic servants (see section 7.c.). PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Child labor in the
informal sector was common and a significant problem, particularly in poorer
urban areas. Several reports suggested girls as young as age seven, mainly
from remote regions, were forced to work as unpaid domestic servants in
wealthy urban homes. Young children in the countryside were commonly engaged
in cattle and goat herding, cultivation of subsistence crops, fishing, and
other agricultural labor in support of their families. Young children in
urban areas often drove donkey carts, delivered water and building materials,
and were very active in garbage collection. Street gang leaders occasionally
forced children to steal, beg, and sell drugs. In keeping with longstanding
tradition, many children also served apprenticeships in small-scale
industries, such as metalworking, carpentry, vehicle repair, masonry, and the
informal sector. Freedom House Country
Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/mauritania/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 8 July
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Despite amendments
to the antislavery law passed in 2015 meant to address the problem more
robustly, slavery and slavery-like practices continued in 2019, with many
former slaves still reliant on their former owners due to racial
discrimination, poverty, and other socioeconomic factors. The government cracks down on NGOs that push for greater enforcement of the law
and rarely prosecutes perpetrators, but at the same time has shown an
increased commitment to enforcing laws against slavery. In March 2018, a
court handed down 10- and 20-year prison sentences to three people for
practicing slavery. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 19 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 3 May
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 666] Children in
Mauritania, especially from the Haratine ethnic
minority, continue to be exploited as slaves and endure slave-like practices,
particularly in rural and remote areas of the country. Some children are born
into slavery, while others born free but remain in a dependent status and are
forced to work with their parents for their former masters in exchange for
food, money, and lodging. (9; 18; 22; 23; 18; 20; 5; 2; 8) Child slaves herd
animals, such as cattle and goats; perform domestic labor; and are often
sexually exploited. (14; 15; 2; 5; 24) In Mauritania, it is
a traditional practice to send children to Koranic teachers to receive an
education. However, some Koranic teachers (marabouts) force their students (talibés) to beg on the streets for long hours and to
surrender the money they have earned. (7; 8; 9; 17; 2). Anti-Slavery
Efforts In Mauritania The Borgen Project borgenproject.org/category/mauritania/ [accessed 1 January
2021] THE SITUATION -- Since outlawing
slavery in 1981, Mauritanian officials have publicly denied any presence of
the practice in their borders. In spite of these claims, data that
independent observers collected shows that slavery is still prevalent: the
Global Slavery Index (G.S.I.) estimates that 90,000 Mauritanians live in
modern slavery, a figure likely lower than reality because the government
obstructs all efforts to study the practice. Mauritania ranks
sixth on the G.S.I’s Prevalence Index, behind North Korea, Eritrea, Burundi,
the Central African Republic and Afghanistan. Other estimates, from local
sources, claim that as much as 20% of the population lives in slavery. Because the
Mauritanian government has categorically denied the existence of slavery,
efforts to measure or sanction the practice have made slow progress. Major
sites like the Washington Post claim that there are no reliable statistics on
how many people are enslaved due to government obstruction and cultural norms
that make measurement difficult. In fact, Mauritania’s census does not count
enslaved people. Slavery did not receive criminalization until 2015, and
Mauritanian courts have largely neglected to prosecute individuals accused of
enslavement. The African nation
living under the shadow of slavery Joe Wallen, The Telegraph, 14 October 2018 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/14/inside-uk-allied-nation-torture-slavery-rife/ [accessed 15 October
2018] Like most other
Mauritanian slaves, Habi would tend to her master’s
livestock or work in the household, fetching water and preparing food. She says she was regularly raped by the
head of her household after he threatened her with a knife and later on became
pregnant by his son following another rape.
None of us ever went to school,” she said in an interview with the
Telegraph, “none of us had identity or civil papers. “I received no support, no one could help
me. I was totally at the mercy of my masters.” It is rare for
slave owners - who include government officials and even judges - to free a
slave and slaves are reportedly traded between families like livestock. They are put to work either in their
master’s home, carrying out mundane tasks such as cooking and cleaning, or
sent out to the scrub and desert to herd animals such as goats or camels in
arid, remote areas of the country for months on end. Saudi Religious
Leader Calls for Slavery's Legalization Daniel Pipes,
November 7, 2003 www.danielpipes.org/blog/2003/11/saudi-religious-leader-calls-for-slaverys [accessed 20
February 2011] Five hundred years
ago, Jews, Christians and Muslims agreed that owning slaves was acceptable
but paying interest on money was not. After bitter, protracted debates, Jews
and Christians changed their minds. Today, no Jewish or Christian body
endorses slavery or has religious qualms about paying reasonable interest. Muslims, in
contrast, still think the old way. Slavery still exists in a host of
majority-Muslim countries (especially The challenge ahead
is clear: Muslims must emulate their fellow monotheists by modernizing their
religion with regard to slavery, interest and much else. No more fighting
jihad to impose Muslim rule. No more endorsement of suicide terrorism. No
more second-class citizenship for non-Muslims. Mauritania activists
jailed as police quash resurgent anti-slavery protests Monica Mark, West
Africa correspondent, The Guardian, 17 January 2015 [accessed 22 January
2015] Police used teargas
to disperse protesters, after three anti-slavery activists – including a
presidential runner-up – were jailed amid a resurgent anti-slavery movement
in the nation with the world’s highest rate of the practice. Anti-slavery
activists have stepped up campaigning recently in Mauritania, which in 1981
became the world’s last country to officially abolish slavery. But the
practice has continued to flourish in remote desert outposts. Figures are
notoriously difficult to confirm. The Walk Free Foundation said recently that
up to 151,000 people in the country are thought to be slaves. Activists
suggest the number could be five times higher. But there has been only one
successful conviction since slavery was criminalised in 2007. Worthing care home
couple's trial for human trafficking www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/local/worthing_care_home_couple_s_trial_for_human_trafficking_1_244508 [accessed 20
February 2011] careappointments.com/care-news/england/82345/worthing-care-home-couples-trial-for-human-trafficking/ [accessed 3 May
2020] David Scutt, prosecuting, said the couple
were part of an international trafficking network which lured poor
Mauritian workers to the country with the promise of wages four times what
they could earn at home. CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW - He said a
recruitment agency on Mauritius provided cover letters allowing the workers
to enter the country as visitors – but, on arrival, they were put to work on
13-hour shifts caring for elderly people suffering from dementia, and paid
£450 a month – the sum they had been told would be their weekly wage. Mauritanian rights
groups protest suspected case of human trafficking At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 8
September 2011] Mauritanian human
rights groups Sunday embarked on a protest against a suspected case of human
trafficking in the country, involving an 18-year-old boy believed to have
been sold by his boss as a `camel shepherd` The NGOs are
certain that Mahmoud was "sold to work as a camel shepherd" in
western Sahara or even in the Though human
trafficking is banned in Mauritanian
Journalist Arrested ...Or Does It
Explode?, March 15, 2005 www.ordoesitexplode.com/me/2005/03/mauritanian_jou.html [accessed 20
February 2011] A journalist in Hushed-up slavery
persists in Mauritania Amadou Ndyaye and
Sinikka Tarvainen, Nouakchott, March 5 2004 -- South African Press
Association SAPA & Deutsche Presse-Agentur (German Press Agency) DPA www.iol.co.za/news/africa/hushed-up-slavery-persists-in-mauritania-1.207193 [accessed 20
February 2011] The African Commission
on Human and Peoples' Rights, www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/comcases/54-91.html [accessed 20
February 2011] 26. Communication
54/91 alleges that there are over 100,000 Black slaves serving in Beidane
houses. And that though 300,000 had bought their freedom, they remain
second-class citizens. Besides, Blacks do not have the right to speak their
own languages. According to communication 98/93, a quarter of the population
(500,000 out of 2,000,000 inhabitants in the country) are either slaves or
Haratines (freed slaves). The freed slaves maintain many traditional and
social links with their former masters, which constitutes a more subtle form
of exploitation. As Many As 27
Million Worldwide Forced into Slavery Feminist Majority
Foundation, May 31, 2002 www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=6576 [accessed 20
February 2011] the report showed
the trafficking of boys between to the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf
States, continued slavery in Brazil, and inaction to free slaves in
Mauritania. Slavery Lives on in
National Public
Radio NPR, Aug. 28, 2001 www.npr.org/programs/specials/racism/010828.mauritania.html [accessed 20
February 2011] The government of Slavery in the
northwest African country is more of a private tradition than an public
institution. The government isn't directly involved, and it even refuses to
publicly admit that slavery exists in In Opposition to
Eligibility of Alice Bullard, Ph.D.
& Jason M. Waite, Esq., The Human Rights Initiative, August 15, 2000 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 8
September 2011] II. MAURITANIA IS
INELIGIBLE AS A BENEFICIARY AGOA COUNTRY BECAUSE IT HAS FAILED TO EFFECTIVELY
ABOLISH SLAVERY
- In Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 12 October 2001 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/mauritania2001.html [accessed 20
February 2011] [49] The Committee
is concerned about the high number of children engaged in labor, in
particular children working in agriculture, in the informal sector and in the
street, including the talibés who are exploited by their teachers. While
recognizing the efforts undertaken by the State party to stop cases of
trafficking of children towards Arab countries, it remains concerned that
girls involved in domestic service are often not paid or underpaid and that
involuntary servitude is reported to exist in some isolated areas. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61581.htm [accessed 10 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– The country was a source and destination for men, women, and children
trafficked for the purpose of forced labor. Multiple NGO reports suggested
that forced labor took several forms. Slavery-related practices, and possibly
slavery itself, persisted in isolated areas of the country where a barter
economy still prevailed. Several reports suggested that young girls from
remote regions, and possibly from western SECTION
6 WORKER RIGHTS
– [c] The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children,
but the law only applies to relations between employers and workers; there
were credible reports such practices occurred. Slavery is illegal although
there were still areas where the attitude of master and slave prevailed and
slavery was practiced. Citizens continued
to suffer from the country's heritage of slavery. Slavery has been officially
abolished. The practice of chattel slavery was once a tradition. Numerous
reports suggested that some members of the long-dominant White Moor community
continued to expect or desire the servitude of Black Moors. The nature of
these reports also suggested that such attitudes impeded the goal of
eliminating all remnants of slavery and related practices, a goal to which
the former and transitional governments and major opposition parties were
committed. Slavery-related practices, and reports of slavery, persisted most
strongly in those remote regions of the east and southeast where a barter
economy existed, where education levels were generally low, and where a
greater need existed for manual labor in work such as herding livestock and
tending fields. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/mauritania.htm [accessed 20
February 2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor CHILD
LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT - The 2004 Labor Code sets the minimum age for
employment at 14 years, and defines what the government considers to be worst
forms of child labor. The Labor Law
also prohibits forced and compulsory labor and sets 18 years as the minimum
age for work requiring excessive force, or that could harm the health,
safety, or morals of children. The
Criminal Code establishes strict penalties for engaging in prostitution or
procuring prostitutes, ranging from fines to imprisonment for 2 to 5 years
for cases involving minors. The Law
Against Human Trafficking expands the scope of trafficking for cases
involving children. CURRENT
GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - The Government of
Mauritania held public awareness campaigns on radio, television and newspaper
to publicize provisions in the new Labor Code and Law Against Human
Trafficking. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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