Feb 28, 2013

Haratin Anti-Slavery Activist Speaks At Geneva Human Rights Summit


Abidine Merzough's speech (in French)

 

On 19 February 2013, Abidine Merzough, an anti-slavery activist in Mauritania and European Coordinator for the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement in Mauritania (IRA-Mauritania), spoke at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democacy on the issue of contemporary slavery. The Summit, sponsored by a coalition of 20 human rights NGOs took place on the eve of the United Nations Human Rights Council's annual summit to raise awareness of urgent human rights issues around the world. Mr Merzough took part in a panel titled "Crimes Against Humanity: Slavery, Genocide and Concentration Camps — In Our Own Time?" along with two survivors of North Korean concentration camps.

 

Following the speech, Mr Merzough answered some questions in English