The fight once morest slavery in Mauritania “is a constant and irreversible priority” for the authorities, a senior Mauritanian state official said on Wednesday in Nouakchott, during a rare authorized meeting on this subject in the country.
“The hand of the government is extended to all forums and platforms, in the legality and the rejection of extremism in order to eliminate, as soon as possible, slavery and its sequels”, said the Commissioner for Human Rights. the Man from Mauritania, Cheikh Ahmedou Ould Sidi.
The latter represented the Mauritanian State at the opening of the first meeting on slavery authorized for years in Mauritania where the phenomenon persists, according to NGOs, despite its official ban. Slavery is treated as a crime once morest humanity in the Mauritanian Constitution.
The two-day meeting, opened Wednesday in Nouakchott, is organized at the initiative of NGOs from member countries of the G5 Sahel, which includes five states: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso. It is held under the theme: “making the fight once morest slavery a common and consensual fight” in the G5 Sahel.
“Holding this forum, a first in the country, will mark the beginning of a new era of cooperation with the government to eradicate slavery”, declared in his speech, Biram Dah Abeid, president of the Initiative for the resurgence of the Anti-Slavery Fight (IRA), the main Mauritanian anti-slavery NGO.
“The laws in Mauritania are the most developed and the most efficient in the region, but the justice system still refuses to support the synergy that exists in this area between the legislature, the executive and the NGOs in this area”, said Mr. Ould. Abeid, Member of the National Assembly.
The IRA was legalized in early January by Mauritanian authorities following years of banishment by successive regimes. Mr. Ould Abeid, who belongs to the community of descendants of slavery, was detained several times under the regime of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (2009-2019).
The Nouakchott meeting brings together, in addition to representatives of G5 Sahel NGOs, others from Senegal, Gambia, and European countries including France and Belgium.
President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, who succeeded President Aziz, has made the fight once morest social disparities one of his priorities.