page_title: Slavery in Mauritania
section_title: Government position
hierarchical_section_title: Slavery in Mauritania / Government position
caption_attribution_description: English: [Mohamed Wedoud] Marie-José Domestici-Met (L) with anti-slavery activist Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid (R) who was sentenced to six months in prison for allegedly taking part in unauthorised rally. العربية: الحكم على ناشط الانعتاق بيرام ولد الداه ولد أعبيدي (يمين) بالسجن ستة أشهر بدعوى المشاركة في مظاهرة غير مرخصة Français&#160;: Le militant anti-esclavagiste Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid (à droite) a été condamné à six mois de prison pour avoir participé à un rassemblement non autorisé.
context_page_description: Slavery has been called "deeply rooted" in the structure of the northwestern African country of Mauritania, and "closely tied" to the ethnic composition of the country.
  In 1905, an end of slavery in Mauritania was declared by the colonial French administration but the vastness of Mauritania mostly gave the law very few successes. In 1981, Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery, when a presidential decree abolished the practice. However, no criminal laws were passed to enforce the ban. In 2007, "under international pressure", the government passed a law allowing slaveholders to be prosecuted.
  Despite this, in 2018 Global Slavery Index estimated the number living in slavery in the country to be 90,000, which is a reduction from the 140,000 in slavery figure which the same organisation reported in 2013, while in 2017 the BBC reported a figure of 600,000 living in bondage.
  Sociologist Kevin Bales and Global Slavery Index estimate that Mauritania has the highest proportion of people in slavery of any country in the world.
context_section_description: The government of Mauritania (which is dominated by Beydanes) denies that slavery exists in the country. According to Abdel Nasser Ould Ethmane, a political adviser to the African Union and a cofounder of the abolitionist group SOS Slaves, the Mauritanian government's "line" on slavery is: "Slavery no longer exists, and talk of it suggests manipulation by the West, an act of enmity toward Islam, or influence from the worldwide Jewish conspiracy."
  Responding to accusations of human rights abuse, in 2012 the Mauritanian Minister of rural development, Brahim Ould M'Bareck Ould Med El Moctar, stated:
  I must tell you that in Mauritania, freedom is total: freedom of thought, equality—of all men and women of Mauritania... in all cases, especially with this government, this is in the past. There are probably former relationships—slavery relationships and familial relationships from old days and of the older generations, maybe, or descendants who wish to continue to be in relationships with descendants of their old masters, for familial reasons, or out of affinity, and maybe also for economic interests. But (slavery) is something that is totally finished. All people are free in Mauritania and this phenomenon no longer exists. And I believe that I can tell you that no one profits from this commerce.
  In March 2013, the President established an agency to "combat slavery", known as the "National Agency to Fight against the Vestiges of Slavery, Integration, and Fight against Poverty". The director, Hamdi Ould Mahjoub, a Beydane, told The New Yorker author Alexis Okeowo, "Slavery as an institution, as something accepted by society, does not exist" in Mauritania, and that his agency was working on a program to help farmers and others to build clinics and improve access to water.
caption: Marie-José Domestici-Met (CNCDH) and Biram Dah Abeid who in 2009 was sentenced to six months in prison for allegedly taking part in unauthorised rally.
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