Kun en enkelt slaveejer er blevet dømt og fænglset siden slaveri endelig blev ulovliggjort i Mauritanien i 2007. Han fik fire måneders fængsel og en bøde på 3900 kroner.
NOUAKCHOTT, 11 December 2012 (IRIN): Non-profit SOS Esclaves which has been following slavery cases and supporting ex-slaves for years, said they are presented with between one and five cases per month.
“We have parents coming to search for their children, or other family members looking for their brothers, their cousins,” said the organization’s president, Boubacar Messaoud.
Since 2007 seven or eight cases have involved some kind of legal ramification, while dozens remain pending before the courts, according to SOS Esclaves and the Initiative for the Resurgence of Abolitionism (IRA), another rights group based in the capital Nouakchott.
“More popular pressure is needed to follow up on these cases and to make sure justice is served,” said Messaoud.
Sons and daughters kept in slavery
Many cases brought to SOS involve parents who escaped slavery and are now trying to free their children.
It is easier to track down child slaves as labour laws ban children under age 14 from working, so there is more ballast to use to free them, said a Western diplomat in the capital, Nouakchott.
But children rely on their parents’ testimony as they are unable, as minors, to bring a case forward themselves.
The law also disallows civil society groups from bringing forward cases or attending trials. As such, rights groups must wait for slave cases to be reported to them.
“You have to flee yourself – it is the only way to escape,” said SOS national coordinator Salimata Lam.
Most cases emerge from Adrar which spans central Mauritania, and Hodh Ech Chargui and Hodh El Gharbi in the east.
Since 2006 some 16 cases have come to light in Bassikounou in the east, 220km from Nema where 55,000 Malian refugees are currently sheltering having fled northern Mali.
Hard to track slaves of nomads
Tracking down slaves of nomadic families is hardest as they are often on the move across borders, mainly to Mali.
A recent case presented to SOS Esclaves came from an ex-slave who had escaped her master, but spotted him again in Mbéra, where he was posing as a Malian refugee.
Having left all her children with him, she denounced him, hoping to free them. The case went all the way up to the prime minister, but no official charges were applied and the alleged perpetrator paid a fine of 50,000 ouguiya ($169) and was left alone.
The woman says she has never seen her children since.
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