Maatalla 40, has just been freed. He says his case «constitutes an example of how victims of slavery in recent years are today victims of ignorance, unemployment, illness and under-development».
His sister Fatimetou finds herself in the same situation. She is the mother of 10 children. Both former slaves say they benefited from no compensation though it is clearly specified in the road map.
Maatalla claims: «Our children have no access to education since we cannot obtain identity papers».
Maatallah and his sister have been freed thanks to the anti-slavery NGO «SOS Esclaves (SOS slaves)». The NGO provides former slaves with financial and moral support, ensures notably access to education, food, jobs and identity papers.
Mauritania adopted the new road map as part of several reforms aiming at the condemning slavery and its consequences. These reforms have also modified the penal code. Hence, since 2007, the slavery practice is considered a crime. It has been requalified in 2012 as ‘crime against humanity’
But dealing with the crime of slavery creates a divide between those concerned; the authorities negate the existence of slavery. De facto, the State is fighting «the consequences of slavery». The human rights activists are fighting against what they call « traditional slavery».
Dr Saad Ould Louleïd is a leader of the anti-slavery NGO, Initiative de Résurgence du Mouvement antiabolitionniste en Mauritanie (IRA-Mauritanie), which the State does not recognises. He has been charged and prosecuted because he displayed solidarity with several abolitionists who have been sentenced and imprisoned for two years. He denies that the road map actually comes to fight the consequences of slavery. He says «This is a camouflage operation, a deliberate smoke screen set up by the powers in place».
Mauritanian government adopted on March 6, 2014, «a road map to fight the consequences of slavery» instead of fighting slavery itself.
The road map is made of 29 recommendations. It defines more specifically what slavery is. It refers to the right of former slaves to compensation, insertion and help. It covers the period between September 2014 and August 2016.
Though there are some bad criticisms, several experts qualify the road map as «big evolution ». Lawyer Mohamed Ould Laghdhaf, head of Communication of the National Commission for Human rights (CNDH, official) says: «We had to exert huge pressure to otbtain that road map under its current format ».
Boubacar Ould Messaoud, president of «SOS Esclaves», thinks that «the road map is useless as long as it does not refer to the right of civil society organisations defending Human rights to join the plaintiffs in cases linked to slavery practice». According to him, «the low level of education of the victims do not enable the, to lodge complaints , to defend themselves and plead their cases in court».
