May 06, 2014

Haratin: Denouncing Repression Facing Repatriates’ Demands


The IRA-Mauritania has strongly denounced the violence with which the repatriates were met when demonstrating for their rights during a march from Boghé to Nouakchott.

Below is a press release published by the IRA-Mauritania:

Having left Boghé in the South of Mauritania and after days of walking, a group of one hundred and fourteen (114) repatriates reached Nouakchott and were blocked at the entrance of the city for a day, then attacked with unprecedented violence at the “Carrefour Madrid”.

 

The repatriates had decided to walk the three hundred (300) kilometres between Boghé and Nouakchott to demand that their rights be respected and guaranteed, as set out in the Tripartite Agreement between Mauritania, Senegal and the UNHCR.

 

Indeed, the repatriates have been waiting for six (6) years to regain their rights despite numerous attempts to engage with the relevant authorities.

-                 Of the twenty four thousand five hundred and thirty six (24536) repatriates, only eight thousand three hundred and thirty six (8336) have been enlisted and are now in possession of their Civil Registration documents.

-                 So far there has been no form of compensation for farmers who lost their cattle during deportation.

-                 Former farmers have not been allowed to access their ancestral farmland which constituted their communities their only means of production and survival.

-                 Only a small number of former civil servants and private sector employees have been reintegrated into their former workplaces and their positions are inferior to those they held before their deportation, more than twenty years ago.

 

Faced with the tragic situation of repatriates, IRA-Mauritania remains true to its humanitarian principles and:

-                 Denounces both police violence against deportees and the general indifference of authorities to their suffering.

-                 Reaffirms its support and solidarity to the repatriate community.

-                 Expresses its strong and unwavering commitment to the repatriates in their struggle for their rights.

-                 Recalls the plight of thousands of Mauritanian deportees living in Mali and those who remained in Senegal, and urges the UNHCR, the Mauritanian authorities and the Senegalese authorities to comply strictly with their commitments in the Tripartite Agreement which served as the legal basis for the return of deportees to Mauritania.

 

Nouakchott, 5 May 2014

The Executive Board