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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years
of the 21st Century 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 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** 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 ***
ARCHIVES *** 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] 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. 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 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61581.htm [accessed 20 February 2011] 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. 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. www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/local/worthing_care_home_couple_s_trial_for_human_trafficking_1_244508 [accessed 20 February 2011] 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 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 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 Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil
Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/mauritania [accessed 27 June 2012] U.S.
Library of Congress - Country Study Library of Congress Call Number DT554.22
.M385 1990 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mrtoc.html [accessed 20 February 2011] Hushed-up slavery persists in 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. 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. 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 All
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Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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Torture in [Mauritania] [other countries]Human Trafficking in [Mauritania Street Children in [Mauritania] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Mauritania] [other countries]