Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1963)

Article 1 of the Convention. Discrimination on the basis of race, colour, national extraction or social origin. The Committee recalls that the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CLTM) previously reported the existence of discriminatory practices in employment and occupation to which slaves, former slaves and descendants of slaves are exposed. It notes that the roadmap adopted in March 2014 to eradicate the remnants of slavery recommends incorporating provisions on discrimination in the relevant legislation. The Committee takes due note of the adoption of Act No. 2015-031 of 10 September 2015 repealing and replacing Act No. 2007-048 of 3 September 2007 to criminalize slavery and punish slavery-like practices, which continues to prohibit all forms of discrimination against a person deemed to be a slave (section 2). It notes that in its report the Government again provides information on the activities of the TADAMOUN agency, created in 2013 to eliminate the vestiges of slavery through integration and poverty reduction, and mentions the implementation of the triennial action plan (2015–17) targeting 604 villages and groups of persons suffering from the vestiges of slavery and extreme poverty. The Government specifies that the agency finances income-generating activities to combat extreme poverty, in particular in the adwabas (villages inhabited by victims of the vestiges of slavery), and has enabled education infrastructure (schools, etc.) to be built. The Committee takes note of the information gathered by the ILO direct contacts mission that visited Mauritania from 3 to 7 October 2016 following the examination by the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2016 of the application of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). The Committee notes in particular the adoption of an education action plan providing for the creation of priority education areas, in which training centres have been established for children who have never been to school. The mission report indicates that progress has been observed in the legislation, the judiciary and development in terms of reducing poverty, but that the need to produce a shift in mentality was raised by many participants as an important factor in combating such a complex phenomenon. As the Committee has previously pointed out, it considers that in the context of the global strategy to combat slavery and its vestiges, it is important to take specific measures against the discriminatory practices faced by victims, in particular those which, in the absence of equality of opportunity, result in former slaves finding themselves back in slavery. While noting the efforts made by the Government to reduce poverty, the Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary steps to combat discrimination, including discrimination based on social origin, and the stigmatization suffered by certain segments of the population, particularly former slaves and descendants of slaves, in terms of access to education, training and employment, and to ensure the effective promotion of real equality and tolerance among the population.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.