Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  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; t

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  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

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  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 em

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There is a lot more slavery in Nouakchott because that is where the Arab-Berber ruling class, which needs slaves, lives. There are no regions in particular, but there is slavery where the Arab-Berber populations live. In fact, their way of life and culture are based on slavery. I

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can comment on this subject because I was a candidate in the last presidential election, in 2014, and, to date, I am the only declared candidate for the next election, in 2019. There are two opposition groups in Mauritania. There is the Arab-Berber opposition, which has emerge

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The Canadian government can help us by using its diplomacy to convince its western partners, whether they be European or American, to harden their position toward Mauritania by stating that the military and economic assistance and co-operation they provide to Mauritania are condi

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I explain the difference between those figures as being the result of the fact that foreign organizations do not have the capacity, human resources, expertise, or knowledge of the country and society necessary to achieve an appropriate overview of the situation. We maintain that

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There is the Freedom House organization, which is based in the United States and is working with us. The Front Line Defenders organization, which is based in Dublin, Ireland, is also making efforts. There is Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture, ACAT, as well as Anti

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, that is the case. We at IRA Mauritania have used our resources to establish our own statistics, and we have come up with the figure of 20%. The Walk Free Foundation, an Australian NGO, has prepared statistics and found that the figure was 4%. We have asked the United Nation

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In our country, human trafficking, which is a modern form of slavery, is still rampant. This modern slavery co-exists with traditional slavery, that is to say slavery in which people are born as the property of other persons. The status and condition of slave are transmitted from

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. Of the 21 persons who were sentenced to prison terms of up to 15 years, five are still in prison serving five-year sentences. The others have been released in response to international pressure. Since then, the Mauritanian government has reinforced this system of repressio

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  All western countries maintain good relations with Mauritania. The only sanctions against the Mauritanian government are denunciations by UN special rapporteurs respecting extreme poverty, human rights, racism, xenophobia, slavery, and torture. The rapporteurs prepare strongly wo

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to all members of the committee. I am a descendent of slaves. All around me since I was a child, people have been born as the property of other people. Those persons are not entitled to papers establishing their civil status or to an education. They