Mauritania Welcomes UN Declaration Recognizing Slave Trade as Crime Against Humanity

The Commission for Human Rights, Humanitarian Action and Relations with Civil Society has welcomed the declaration issued by the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, which recognized the slave trade in Africa as “the gravest crime against humanity.”

In a press release issued the same evening and received by the Mauritanian News Agency, the Commission described this official recognition as a major moral victory for collective memory and a decisive step toward achieving comprehensive international justice. It stressed that slavery, in all its forms, remains a blatant violation of human conscience and demands firm and unwavering international condemnation.

The Commission further noted that this recognition carries particular significance for Mauritania, which has made substantial progress in safeguarding fundamental rights and promoting human dignity, in line with the high-level directives of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.

It also recalled that, well before this declaration, Mauritania had placed the fight against slavery at the core of its legal and sovereign framework. The Constitution explicitly defines slavery as a crime against humanity, while national legislation ensures that such crimes are not subject to any statute of limitations. In addition, specialized institutional and judicial mechanisms have been established to combat contemporary forms of slavery and to promote the principles of full and equal citizenship.

The Commission reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening a culture of human rights founded on social justice, equality, and equal opportunity. It emphasized that this UN declaration further reinforces its determination to make the fight against slavery an ongoing priority—not only at the national level, but also as a meaningful contribution to advancing peace, justice, and human dignity within the international community.