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SOS Esclaves have been awarded the 2009 Anti-Slavery Award for
nearly 15 years of fighting slavery in Mauritania, a country where
an estimated 18 per cent of the population, or 600,000 people, are
born and continue to live in slavery.
Receiving the award on Wednesday 27 May 2009 at Chatham House in
London on behalf of the organisation is SOS Esclaves president,
64-year-old Boubacar Messaoud.
Boubacar Messaoud is himself the son of slaves and was one of the
first people to denounce slavery in Mauritania. He has also been
imprisoned three times for fighting against slavery in his country.
As recently as 2 April 2009, Boubacar was targeted as an anti-slavery
activist and narrowly avoided death after being beaten unconscious
by police at a rally in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott.
Boubacar said: “Slavery in Mauritania is a hidden practice
but exists everywhere. Just because people are not in chains or
publicly beaten by their masters does not mean they are free. The
only thing that slaves know in Mauritania is slavery. All they know
is their masters.”
While slavery in Mauritania has existed for centuries, today virtually
all cases involve Hratine (Arabic speaking descendants of black
Africans captured into slavery by Arab-Berber ‘White Maures’
hundreds of years ago) owned by White Maures masters.
Those who are still in slavery are born as slaves, are inherited
as property by their masters and receive no payment for their work.
Slaves are expected to work every day. Men and children care for
their master’s animals, which are usually camels, cows, and
goats. Female slaves generally work from before sunrise to after
sunset, caring for the master’s children, fetching water, gathering
firewood, pounding millet and other domestic tasks.
Female slaves are frequently beaten and raped by their masters.
Their children are also considered the master’s property and,
along with other slaves, can be rented out or loaned or given as
gifts in marriage.
Over the years SOS Esclaves has helped hundreds of former slaves,
while its activists have faced harassment, threats and even imprisonment
for speaking out about slavery and campaigning for its end.
There have been several attempts to end slavery in the country,
including the decree to end slavery in 1981, which made Mauritania
the last country in the world to officially abolish the practice.
In 2007 the same year as Mauritania’s first free and democratic
elections, and after a hard fought campaign by SOS Esclaves, supported
by Anti-Slavery International, slavery was finally criminalised
by the new government.
However, the military coup of August 2008 has brought a halt to
the progress made against slavery and renewed violence against anti-slavery
campaigners. On 6 June, the leader of the coup, General Mohamed
Ould Abdel Aziz is expected to win presidential elections, which
are being boycotted by opposition parties.
Romana Cacchioli, Anti-Slavery International’s Africa Programme
co-ordinator, said: “Despite the hard fought victory to
criminalise slavery in 2007 the new law has not resulted in a single
conviction. We are concerned that the lack of progress since the
coup last August and the targeting of Boubacar Messaoud in April
indicate that the new regime is looking to try and sweep the issue
of slavery once more under the carpet.”
Case study of a former slave in Mauritania
Kheidama Mint Barka, aged 48, said: “I was born a slave.
I would look after the family‘s animals all day long. I would
take the sheep to get water in the morning and in the afternoon
I would take the camels. I never took a break and I was never allowed
to rest.
“I would come back home in the evening completely exhausted.
Sometimes I was so tired I would become clumsy and would make silly
mistakes and I would be beaten by the mistress’s youngest son.
Sometimes to punish and frighten me I would be left down the well.
My mistress’s oldest son would also rape me. I always had to
be at his disposal.
“Since I have been freed I have been earning a living with
small jobs, preparing millet and providing other services for people.
At least now I am paid for the work I do.”
To request a press pack on slavery in Mauritania, to arrange
an interview or to attend the award ceremony, contact: Paul Donohoe,
Anti-Slavery International Press Officer, 020 75018920 p.donohoe@antislavery.org
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