Our Country Commemorates the National Day to Combat Slavery Practices

The Assistant Commissioner for Human Rights, Humanitarian Action and Relations with Civil Society, Rasoul Ould El Khal, oversaw Thursday in Nouakchott the launch of activities commemorating the National Day to Combat Slavery Practices, which falls on the sixth of March of each year.

On this occasion, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Humanitarian Action and Relations with Civil Society organized an awareness-raising workshop in which representatives of civil society organizations active in the field of human rights and trade union bodies, as well as representatives of government bodies working in this field, participated.

Participants in the workshop will follow several presentations, including the contents of the law that includes the establishment of the Specialized Court to Combat Slavery, Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants, starting with its composition, tasks and areas of competence, and the roles it plays to eliminate these phenomena that contradict the principles of human rights and the rule of law, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the rights and duties of workers in the sector not classified in the Labor Law, in addition to a presentation on the measures taken to combat trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.

In a speech on the occasion, the Assistant Commissioner explained that the organization of this forum falls within the framework of the implementation of the National Strategy for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights approved by the Mauritanian government, which embodies a comprehensive Mauritanian vision based on the multiple commitments of our country with regard to social justice and advancement, and the promotion of the concept of citizenship and the rule of law, in line with the directives of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, and his tireless endeavor to preserve human dignity.

He said that the legal framework governing the fight against slavery in our country has witnessed an important development with the promulgation of Law 039-2024, on the establishment of the Specialized Court to Combat Slavery, Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants, which allowed for the introduction of important reforms in the number, composition and activity of specialized anti-slavery courts, with the aim of harmonizing the national judicial treatment of the aforementioned phenomena, expanding the jurisdiction of the Court, bringing criminal justice closer to citizens and victims in particular, and unifying jurisprudence and best practices in the field of human rights and the protection of fragile groups.

He added that in order to enhance efforts to combat various human rights violations, the Office launched a digital platform called “Himayati” to receive and address complaints related to human rights violations, in addition to the toll-free number 1916 dedicated to reporting cases of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, in addition to handing out, through the Fund to Support and Assist Victims of Trafficking, financial grants to finance income-generating activities for victims of trafficking in persons, benefiting 74 people.

He pointed out that this meeting is an opportunity to recall the need to work to change the prevailing mentalities towards the unclassified sector in our country, which is frequented by the overwhelming majority of citizens, in order to develop it and subject it to recognized international standards, in order to ensure that its workers enjoy their full and undiminished rights, which requires large-scale awareness campaigns for the purpose of disseminating international labor standards as well as national labor laws.

The representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at the workshop, Djibo Mamadou, noted that this meeting sheds light on the efforts made by Mauritania to combat slavery and trafficking in persons, praising the measures adopted by our country in this context, which included important legislative and legal reforms.

In a previous speech, the President of the Forum of Non-Governmental Actors in Mauritania, Mr. Mohamedou Ould Sidi, praised the great efforts made by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Humanitarian Action and Relations with Civil Society, whether related to the protection of human rights or related to the formation and rehabilitation of civil society organizations and supporting them to carry out the tasks entrusted to them.

The workshop was inaugurated in the presence of the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Justice, the Secretary-General of t’azur, the Wali of Nouakchott West, the Mayor of the Municipality of Tevragh Zeina, and the Director General of Labor at the Ministry of Public Service and Labour.