Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on June 12th, 2017

[Biram Dah Abeid]

The caste system is not far from being a slave system. Slavery is a compartment, a stairway in the caste system, except that slaves are at the bottom of the ladder and castes slightly above.

I have descended from slaves. I am emancipated, but I belong to a caste: the caste of emancipated slaves. There is a basic difference between a man who has always been free and a former slave who has been emancipated. These are two different castes.

Back home in Mauritania, one remains emancipated even after several generations. For example, regardless of whether someone was emancipated in 1800, 1900, or 1950, all his or her children will always be emancipated. They will not be free men. Emancipation is a stigma.

Thus, an emancipated individual may not marry an Arab-Berber. That is always a result of the sociological relationship that provides that those who take women are always superior to those who give them. Arab-Berbers may take our women and marry them, but we may not marry their women. That is prohibited by the religious code. We have to stay within the caste.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Is the caste system structured along ethnic lines, then, with the Arab-Berber minority at the top and the Haratin ethnic group below? In general terms, is that the hierarchy?

[Biram Dah Abeid]

Yes, the Arab-Berber community is at the top and all the others are below.

There is also a caste system within the black Fulani community. For example, when we talk about the Fulani and Soninke, there are Soninke nobles, Soninke slaves, Soninke blacksmiths, and Soninke griots; there are many categories.

The problem is that, among the Moors, the Arab-Berbers, that is accompanied by actual oppression. For example, an Arab-Berber may take a black, reduce him to slavery, deprive him of freedom, and condemn him to forced labour. However, a Fulani or Soninke noble, for example, cannot do that. He can only exercise matrimonial discrimination against the slave, but he may not deprive him of freedom or exploit him physically or economically.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

Whatever remaining time there is I'll pass along to Mr. Tabbara.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you all for sharing your testimony with us.

My colleague Ms. Khalid mentioned education and opportunity. I just want you to elaborate on that. Anyone on the panel who wants to can answer.

That's something we see a lot in this committee. If there is a lack of education in certain communities and certain countries, and if the opportunity is not there, we tend to see a lot of instability and a lot of human rights abuses, so are there some individuals or some community members—I shouldn't say “community members”—or some ethnic groups within Mauritania who do not have that education and the opportunity? What's hindering their advancement? Obviously there are certain regulations. What can we do to overcome that?

[Biram Dah Abeid]

The slave and former slave populations are deprived of education because slave children may only work. They are thus condemned to forced labour from childhood and required to work. They may not go to school. They do not even have civil documentation so that they can register for school.

Furthermore, there are slave villages where slaves no longer live with their masters but are placed in landed slavery, agricultural slavery, which is different from domestic slavery. They do not work directly with their masters, but their Arab-Berber masters have placed them on arable land. They therefore cultivate the land and their masters come and take the harvest. This is what is called agricultural slavery or landed slavery. These villages generally do not have schools, and, if they do, they are abandoned schools where a school teacher comes once or twice a week. This is a facade. The Mauritanian government totally neglects public schools. There are no longer any schools where slaves and blacks live.

Mauritanian Arab-Berber groups have established schools: a large French school, a Lebanese school, a Turkish school, and an American school, all of which have several branch schools, but only the Arab-Berber elite may send their children to those schools. They are very expensive and inaccessible.

The Mauritanian government has also established schools of excellence where children's studies are funded by the government, high-level studies, but only Arab-Berbers have access to those schools, not us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Levitt]

Thank you very much, Mr. Dah Abeid.

I thank all members today for approving and supporting the addition of this extra session.

Our committee does not normally meet on a Monday, but we felt it was absolutely important, Mr. Dah Abeid, to hear from you on this issue, and we greatly appreciate all of the testimony you have provided us here today. I want to thank you sincerely for coming with your group to provide us with that information.

Thank you very much to all members.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.