Human Trafficking in [Mauritania Street Children in [Mauritania] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Mauritania] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years of the 21st
Century - 2000 to 2010 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/template.cfm?page=22&year=2009&country=7659 [accessed 20 February 2011] 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 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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Human Trafficking in [Mauritania Street Children in [Mauritania] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Mauritania] [other countries]