Feb 06, 2013

Haratin: Sit In Against Impunity


Hundreds of militants followed IRA’s call for a sit in against the impunity slavery advocates benefit from.

Below is an article published by IRA-Mauritania:

IRA-Mauritania held a great sit in on Saturday, February 2nd, at the Brigade for youth in conflict with law. Hundreds of militants answered our call, and strongly protested against the impunity slavery advocates benefit from. This impunity is encouraged by the Head of State, Mr. Ould Abdel Aziz. He has publicly declared that slavery does not exist, which has led to judges and police officials following the same thought, out of fear of contradicting him. This means judges and police officials refuse to recognize proven cases of slavery, such as current cases of the youth brigade or the four others in Gerrou.

We encourage all Mauritanian politicians, the civil society, the diplomatic missions and the international NGOs to closely monitor the government’s action concerning these proven cases of slavery and of Haratin child trafficking in Mauritania.

As we had announced in our latest declaration yesterday (about 5 cases of slavery in Guerrou and Nouakchott), we organized a sit in today in front of the Brigade of youth in conflict with the law. The aim is to protest against the lack of action on behalf of authorities with respect to the application of anti-slavery laws.

Several hundred activists took part in this sit in that has just ended, only to start again tomorrow at 4pm, and that will take place every day as long as the case is not handled according to the law.