State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2015 - Mauritania

In Mauritania the Haratine minority, known as 'Black Moors', were enslaved by the dominant Arab Berber population over centuries in a system of hereditary slavery. Though slavery has been banned in Mauritania several times, most recently in 2007, the law has not been enforced and in reality the practice persists. In 2014, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, Mutuma Ruteere, reported that an estimated 50 per cent of Haratines face de facto slavery, including as domestic servants and bonded labourers. In November, the Walk Free Foundation also reported that Mauritania had the highest proportion of slaves to population in the world.

In 2013 the government set up an agency ('Tadamoun') to fight poverty and the legacy of slavery. However, its functionality and effectiveness to date have been questioned by some observers, who have expressed doubts about its credibility and efficiency. NGOs in particular continue to press for the ability to bring complaints themselves on behalf of victims, arguing that this presents a more credible option for those who have suffered slavery. In March 2014, the government formally adopted a road map for the implementation of UN anti-slavery recommendations. Critics expressed concern at the lack of civil society involvement in the road map framework, which they say places the process solely under state control. They point to the role of the authorities in maintaining the practice of slavery in the past, as well as to more recent reports of official complicity in these abuses, such as a December 2014 complaint against family members of Lemina Mint El Ghotob Ould Momma, the serving government minister for social affairs concerning children and the family.

Haratines, whether slaves or free, face ongoing discrimination and marginalization across Mauritanian society. In April 2014, anti-discrimination activists held a march in the capital Nouakchott to mark the first anniversary of the 2013 Haratine Manifesto, which called for equality and fulfilment of a broad spectrum of political, economic and social rights. In presidential elections in June, eventually won by the incumbent, slavery was also highlighted as an issue. The second-running candidate, with 8.9 per cent of the vote, was long-standing anti-slavery activist and head of the civil society group Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), Biram Dah Abeid. However, Abeid was arrested in November 2014 with at least seven others, including IRA members, in the context of a peaceful campaign against slavery and in favour of agrarian reform. International legal experts expressed grave concerns about their access to due process. In January 2015 Abeid and two others were tried on charges of belonging to an illegal organization, leading an unauthorized rally and violence against the police. They were convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Police used tear gas and batons to disperse protesters against the verdict.

Mauritania faces perennial drought and food insecurity, exacerbated by climate change and depletion of natural resources. The World Food Programme estimates that between 20 and 30 per cent of the population suffers from high food insecurity. These factors have contributed to increasing urbanization, with around three-fifths of the country's population now living in towns and cities, particularly the capital of Nouakchott. In times of drought, even nomadic groups have tended to congregate outside urban centres. In some families, men migrate to urban centres alone in search of work, sending remittances back to women and children left behind to farm increasingly unproductive land. The separation has a detrimental effect on family well-being and cohesion, with reports suggesting that divorce and abandonment rates have risen in some communities.

For Haratine slaves, urban migration has long offered the possibility of anonymity and a new start away from the master and his family. Urban areas have provided a relatively safe space for escaped slaves, where they face less risk of recapture, and Nouakchott in particular now hosts a number of NGOs that are able to provide social, moral and legal support for former slaves. However, Haratines are disproportionately concentrated in the city's most deprived areas, with little access to sanitation or basic services. Residents do not have title to the land, and their existence is precarious. Furthermore, they still face ongoing social discrimination. Newly freed slaves, with little education or life skills training, most often end up in low-paid, unskilled and vulnerable positions. For women this includes, for instance, work as market sellers, domestic workers for relatives of their former masters or sex workers. Access to education for Haratine children is also limited, with the city mayor reportedly informing the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism during his visit in September 2013 that around 80 per cent of Haratine children were not in school, partly because of issues surrounding their lack of legal registration. As a result, their marginalization is being replicated among the younger generation.