Mauritania has made progress in the fight against slavery, in particular thanks to the efforts of the government, but this practice persists in the country, underlined Friday May 13 in Nouakchott the UN special rapporteur on modern forms of slavery. slavery, which met several challenges.
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Tomoya Obokata, UN special rapporteur on forms of slavery, completed a two-week mission to Mauritania on Friday, where this practice still exists, according to NGOs, despite its official ban.
Slavery is treated as a crime against humanity in the Mauritanian Constitution.
Tomoya Obokata said he met during his stay with President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, diplomats and members of his government, anti-slavery NGOs, human rights defenders, victims of slavery and parliamentarians.
"
The main purpose of the mission was to observe the implementation of actions against slavery (...) which have been adopted in Mauritanian law
", he said during a press conference in Nouakchott.
"
As far as the government's efforts are concerned, I am delighted to see that Mauritania has made progress in implementing the anti-slavery strategy and working on the elimination of this practice
," he said. said, also welcoming the legislative reforms carried out by Mauritania in this area.
The "
denial of slavery
", which was a "
huge problem in the past
", is "
something that is evolving
", he stressed.
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“Important progress”
According to its findings, the country “
has made significant progress
” but “
slavery, as well as forced labor and child labor persist in Mauritania
”.
"
As in other parts of the world, these practices have both ethnic and gender dimensions
."
Among the challenges that the rapporteur has identified: the fact that there are “
very good laws in Mauritania, but they are not implemented effectively on a daily basis
”.
The UN diplomat pointed to "
a persistent reluctance and sometimes a refusal of certain authorities to investigate and prosecute (in court) cases of slavery and similar practices
".
He also considered that the "
lack of resources
" of the courts, "
long delays, sentences that are too light in relation to the seriousness of the facts
" and the fact that too many cases are "
settled amicably
" rather than before justice, remained problematic.
Government spokesman Mohamed Melainine Ould Eyih told AFP this week that "
the human rights issue, including slavery, is now being dealt with objectively and without taboos, far from tensions and tensions that have characterized it in the past
".
“
Laws have been revised and courts criminalizing slavery created and functionalized to achieve a total eradication of the phenomenon
,” he added.
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