Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1961)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Mauritania (Ratification: 2016)

Follow-up to the conclusions of the Committee on the Application of Standards (International Labour Conference, 104th Session, May–June 2015)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Slavery and the vestiges of slavery. In its previous comments, the Committee urged the Government to take all the necessary measures to continue to combat slavery and its vestiges and to ensure that victims of slavery are effectively able to assert their rights. The Committee referred in this respect to the establishment of the Tadamoun Agency (the National Agency to Combat the Vestiges of Slavery) and the adoption in March 2014 of the roadmap to combat the vestiges of slavery. The Committee notes the discussion in June 2015 in the Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labour Conference, the observations made by the General Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CGTM), received on 28 August 2015, the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), received on 1 and 29 September 2015, and the Government’s report and its reply to the observations of the CGTM and the ITUC, received on 9, 12 and 31 October 2015, respectively.

(a) Effective application of the legislation. The Committee previously emphasized that, despite the adoption of Act No. 2007/48 of 9 August 2007 criminalizing and punishing slavery-like practices, victims continue to face problems in asserting their rights with regard to both the administrative and the judicial authorities. Only one court ruling has been issued under this Act. In its report, the Government indicates that the 2007 Act was repealed by Act No. 2015 031 of 10 September 2015 criminalizing slavery and punishing slavery like practices. The Committee observes that this new Act reproduces the main provisions of the previous Act, but defines in greater detail the elements that constitute slavery, the cession of persons, serfdom and debt bondage, while increasing the related penalties. In addition to empowering associations for the defence of human rights to denounce violations and assist victims, the Act henceforth provides for the possibility for those which have benefited from legal personality for at least five years to take legal action and be a party to civil proceedings (section 23). Section 20 provides for the establishment of collegial courts to hear cases of offences relating to slavery and slavery-like practices. Finally, section 25 provides that the courts are bound to maintain the compensation rights of victims. The Committee also notes the adoption on the same date of Act No. 2015–032 establishing legal aid, which sets up a system of legal aid to cover the costs normally borne by the parties for persons who are poor or with low incomes.

With regard to court cases, the Government indicates that 31 cases of slavery-like practices have been heard by the courts, which have resulted in one case of imprisonment (for two years), judicial review, fines, civil compensation for the victims and acquittals. The Tadamoun Agency has also been a party in civil proceedings in a number of cases relating to the exploitation of slavery. In its observations, the ITUC refers to reticence by the administrative and police authorities to investigate cases of slavery brought to their knowledge by associations. Similarly, the investigatory authorities have a tendency to shelve cases without follow up, and the judicial authorities to re-classify the facts to avoid the application of provisions criminalizing slavery.

The Committee observes that, although more cases are being brought to court, difficulties persist in obtaining the conviction of those responsible with the imposition of really dissuasive penal sanctions. The Committee recalls that, under the terms of Article 25 of the Convention, States are under the obligation to ensure that the penal sanctions established by law for the exaction of forced labour are really adequate and are strictly enforced. It emphasizes in this regard that the victims of slavery are in a situation of great economic and psychological vulnerability which requires specific action by the State. The Committee therefore trusts that the adoption of Act No. 2015–031 will be accompanied by specific measures demonstrating the Government’s will to ensure its effective enforcement and that, for this purpose, the police, prosecutors and judges will be trained, their awareness raised and that they will be provided with adequate means to conduct investigations, gather proof and initiate judicial proceedings rapidly, effectively and impartially throughout the national territory. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken for the establishment of specialized collegial courts to hear cases of offences relating to slavery. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of cases of slavery denounced to the authorities, the number for which an investigation has been conducted, the number which resulted in judicial action and the number and nature of the sentences imposed. Please also indicate the manner in which, in practice, victims of slavery are compensated for the damages suffered, in accordance with section 25 of the Act.

(b) Strategic and institutional framework to combat slavery. The Committee previously welcomed the adoption in March 2014 of the roadmap to combat the vestiges of slavery, which contains 29 recommendations covering the legal, economic and social fields, as well as awareness raising, and it requested the Government to take appropriate measures for their implementation. In its report, the Government refers to the establishment of an Interministerial Technical Committee to follow up the implementation of the roadmap, under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister, as well as a technical follow up commission. The Interministerial Technical Committee adopted a plan of action for the implementation of the recommendations. In this regard, the Government provides information on the progress made in the implementation of certain recommendations, and particularly on the awareness-raising campaigns conducted among target groups, civil society and religious leaders. Finally, the Government refers to a number of social and economic programmes developed by the Tadamoun Agency for the construction of school infrastructure in remote areas, the provision of drinking water, the construction of sanitary infrastructure and the building of social housing. According to the Government, these programmes, which benefit the most underprivileged categories of the population, generate employment and enable families to send their children to school. In this regard, the Committee notes that the ITUC regrets the focus by the Tadamoun Agency on poverty reduction to the detriment of other aspects of its mandate, and that trade unions and associations engaged in combating slavery are excluded from its activities.

The Committee notes all of this information and encourages the Government to continue implementing the recommendations of the roadmap and to provide detailed information on the activities undertaken in this respect by the Interministerial Technical Committee. The Committee also hopes that the Government will ensure that the necessary means are provided to the Tadamoun Agency in order to adopt the more immediate measures needed to combat forced labour such as awareness raising, as well as to combat the deep-rooted causes and factors which maintain persons in a situation of dependency, in which it is impossible for them to give free and informed consent to the work imposed upon them.

(c) Assessment of the real situation with regard to slavery and awareness raising for society as a whole. The Committee notes that both the CGTM and the ITUC emphasize in their observations that there still persist substantial and lasting practices of slavery which are anchored in traditions and culture. In the view of the CGTM, it is time for egalitarian and just social transformations to be introduced for all categories of society, and for the social partners, and society in general to be engaged in genuine promotional, awareness-raising and educational campaigns for citizens to combat systematically any form of forced labour. The ITUC considers that the refusal of certain authorities to recognize fully the existence of slavery by only referring to its vestiges is an obstacle to the eradication of slavery in Mauritania. It also describes the obstacles placed by the Government in the way of action by trade unions or associations combating slavery with reference to the intervention of the authorities to prevent the organization by the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CLTM) of an awareness-raising campaign, and the arrest of activists during another awareness-raising campaign.

The Committee recalls that, in view of the complexity of the phenomenon of slavery and its vestiges, the Government should take action in the framework of a global strategy covering the fields of awareness raising and prevention, cooperation with civil society, the protection and reintegration of victims, particularly through specific programmes enabling them to escape from their situation of economic and psychological dependence, and the reinforcement of the capacities of the investigatory and judicial authorities with a view to the effective and dissuasive enforcement of the law. The Committee urges the Government to continue taking all the necessary measures to mobilize all of the competent authorities and the whole of society to combat slavery and to provide information on this subject. It also encourages the Government to undertake research as a basis for making an assessment of the nature and prevalence of slavery in Mauritania in order to improve the planning of public interventions.

Finally, the Committee hopes that, in line with the interest expressed by the Prime Minister in a communication to the Director-General of the ILO in February 2015, and as reiterated by the Government representative to the Conference, the Government will be able to benefit from ILO technical assistance.