Organizing a Seminar on Combating Trafficking in Persons From a Legal Perspective

The National Authority to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling, which is part of the Commission for Human Rights, Humanitarian Action and Relations with Civil Society, organized on Tuesday morning in Nouakchott a seminar entitled: “Combating Trafficking in Persons from a Legal Perspective.”

The seminar, organized in cooperation with the Sharia Club for the Preservation of Social Cohesion, will present several lectures related to the fight against trafficking in persons from the Sharia perspective, the legal framework to fight trafficking in persons, and the social dimension of this phenomenon.

In a speech on the occasion, the head of the National Authority to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling, Sheikh EL Tourad Ould Abdel Malick, said that Islamic law, which honored man and made him preferred over many other creatures, fought against slavery and all kinds of exploitation of man by man, and called for respecting his humanity and not compromising it in any way.

He pointed out that the keenness of the President of the Republic, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazwani, to promote human rights in general and the fight against trafficking in persons in particular, was reflected at the beginning of his first term in office by taking several important measures, including the ratification of the law on the prevention and punishment of trafficking in persons, the protection of victims, the establishment and operationalization of the Fund for Support and Assistance to Victims of Trafficking in Persons, the Central Office for the Suppression of Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons within the General Directorate of National Security, and the Court specialized in slavery cases, human trafficking and smuggling of migrants, which is one of the first of its kind in the sub-region, he pointed out.

In a previous speech, the President of the Sharia Club for the Preservation of Social Cohesion, Mr. Alhassan Andida, praised the great role played by the National Authority for Combating Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Offenders, noting that it has a grave responsibility in confronting one of the most serious crimes that threaten human dignity and societal peace.

The seminar was attended by a number of UNHCR staff, scholars and intellectuals, and some leaders of civil society organizations in Mauritania.