Nouakchott – Fighting slavery in Mauritania is “a constant and irreversible” priority for the authorities, one of the country’s top rights officials said on Wednesday, in a rare public comment on the issue there.
The government was willing to work with all groups working within the law and rejecting extremism “to eliminate slavery and its consequences, as soon as possible” said human rights commissioner Cheikh Ahmedou Ould Sidi.
Ould Sidi was speaking at the first official event on the subject to be authorised in Mauritania in years.
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Slavery remains a sensitive subject because even though officially banned in 1981 and classified as a crime against humanity in Mauritania, campaigners say it still exists there.
The two-day event, organised by campaigning groups from the five member states of the G5 Sahel Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Mali and Niger opened on Wednesday in Nouakchott.
“The holding of this forum, a first in the country, represents the start of a new era of cooperation with the government to wipe out slavery,” said Biram Dah Abeid, head of Mauritania’s main anti-slavery group (IRA) in his speech.
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The IRA group was legalised in early January after years of having been banned under successive regimes.
The two-day forum has also attracted delegates from Senegal, The Gambia and European countries including Belgium and France.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Unsplash
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