Anti-slavery groups hail Mauritania breakthrough

Human rights campaigners on Aug. 9 hailed a "historic" vote by members of Parliament in the west African desert nation of Mauritania to criminalize slavery. Members of the country's national assembly voted unanimously to pass a law to penalize slavery with up to 10 years in jail. It is estimated that about 20 percent of the country's 3 million-strong population are slaves, and non-governmental organizations believe the challenges in implementing the new law will be huge. A further 15 percent of people who are descended from slaves suffer systematic discrimination. "Up until very recently the government denied slavery even existed, so this is an amazing step forward. It's a historic day," said Romana Cacchioli from the campaign group Anti-Slavery. "But just because we have it in law does not mean we have it in practice." The new law also makes any "cultural or artistic work defending slavery" punishable by two years in prison, and makes it an offense for the authorities not to pursue slave masters. Slavery was banned in Mauritania, an impoverished country that has historically been on the dividing line between black African and Arab cultures, by presidential decree in 1981 but no accompanying criminal laws were passed to enforce the ruling. Cacchioli said NGOs were now pushing for economic and social reforms to distribute land to former slaves and educational measures to allow children of former slaves to go to school. She added: "The national assembly agreed to work with imams to state that slavery is incompatible with Islam. Up until now the religious authorities have justified its existence." In a small population it has historically been difficult for slaves, who often use their master's name, to escape and integrate into society. Steps towards the new vote began with a 2005 military coup and the country's first democratic presidential election this year. The head of the military government, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, publicly declared slavery was a problem in May 2006, marking a sharp break from years of denials by the deposed president, Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya, that it even existed. The newly elected president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, backed the law and made the abolition of slavery a priority. According to the pressure group SOS Slavery, chattel slavery, where one person is the property of another, has existed in Mauritania for more than 800 years, since Arab-Berber raiders swept across the Sahara to subjugate black African tribes. Traditionally, members of the haratin slave caste must marry whomever their masters say and can be given as gifts, bought and sold, or presented to the poor as charity. Children are often separated from their mothers and sent to work in other homes. Girls frequently suffer sexual abuse. "Westerners think of slaves as people in chains," said Boubacar Messaoud, the head of SOS Slavery. "Slaves here have no need to be chained up because they are educated in submission.... They are chained in their heads."