Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1963)

The Committee notes the comments made by the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CLTM) in a communication received on 29 August 2013. The CLTM emphasizes that discrimination based on race, colour and origin is a common practice in the country. According to the CLTM, former slaves, who make up 50 per cent of the population, are excluded, marginalized and deprived of decent work, access to public service and to higher political administrative and military positions. It adds that former slaves are denied basic services (schools, health, water) and excluded from economic income-generating activities. It refutes the Government’s claims, to which the Committee refers in its observation, according to which, in the framework of the Programme for the Eradication of the Remnants of Slavery (PESE), former slaves have benefited from opportunities for employment and commercial activities. According to the CLTM, all the beneficiaries of the PESE belong to the Arab community. The CLTM emphasizes that there is no strategy to combat slavery in the country and that the National Agency to Combat Slavery and Poverty and to Promote Insertion, established at the beginning of 2013, has no programme, resources or strategy. Finally, the CLTM reports that former black Mauritanian managers and public employees are still unable to reassert their rights following their expulsion in 1989–90 due to racial discrimination. The Committee also notes the observations of the CLTM and the General Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CGTM) made in the context of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments on these observations.

Furthermore, the Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous observation, which read as follows:

Article 1 of the Convention. Discrimination on the basis of race, colour, national extraction or social origin. With respect to discriminatory practices in recruitment and occupation to which slaves, former slaves and descendants of slaves are exposed, as raised previously by the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CLTM), the Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the implementation of the Programme for the Eradication of Remnants of Slavery (PESE). It notes in particular that the PESE has carried out more than 1,000 activities, such as establishing businesses, which have benefited 93,000 persons in the target villages, and that 45,000 casual jobs have been created. The Committee also notes that, in her report published in 2010, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, refers to a programme started in 2008 by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training to provide microcredit to ex slaves so that they can set up small businesses (A/HRC/15/20/Add.2, 24 August 2010, paragraph 77). This report also mentions that former slaves find themselves back in slavery as a result of discrimination, lack of education or vocational training and lack of the means to find an alternative livelihood, or end up in service and manual labour positions in urban areas (A/HRC/15/20/Add.2, paragraphs 36 and 51). On the issue of the continuing existence of slavery and slavery-like practices, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the Committee’s 2010 observation under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), in which it highlighted the importance of a global strategy to combat slavery and its vestiges. The Committee considers that, in the context of the global strategy, it is important that measures be taken to address the discriminatory practices, in particular those resulting in former slaves finding themselves back in slavery. The Committee requests the Government to take measures, including in the context of the global strategy, to combat slavery as well as discrimination, especially on the ground of social origin, and the stigmatization to which certain segments of society are exposed, in particular former slaves and descendants of slaves. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of such measures, as well as regarding the measures taken to improve access to education, vocational training, employment and various occupations. The Committee also requests the Government to supply information on all measures to educate and raise awareness on the issue of equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation, in order to overcome prejudices based on race, colour, national extraction or social origin, and to promote tolerance among workers, employers, their respective organizations and the general public.

Follow-up to the recommendations of the tripartite committee (representation made under article 24 of the Constitution of the ILO). With regard to the situation of black Mauritanian workers of Senegalese origin who, in terms of their employment, suffered the consequences of the conflict with Senegal in 1989, the Committee is continuing to examine the action taken on the recommendations adopted in 1991 by the Governing Body with regard to a representation made by the National Confederation of Workers of Senegal (CNTS) under article 24 of the ILO Constitution. In this respect, the Committee noted in its previous comment that on 12 November 2007 the Mauritanian Government, the Senegalese Government and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed an agreement on the voluntary return of Mauritanian refugees to Senegal. In its report, the Government indicates that income-generating programmes, linked particularly to livestock farming, setting up businesses and developing cooperatives, have been implemented to benefit the repatriated families. It also states that the census launched in 2010 on state officials and employees who had been victims of the events in 1989 will enable these persons to recover their rights and be fully involved as Mauritanians in the country’s development process. Taking note of these indications, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of victims of the events of 1989 identified as a result of the ongoing census and on the follow-up to this procedure, particularly on the measures taken to:

• (i) reintegrate the persons concerned into the public service or to compensate them as well as their dependants;
• (ii) improve their chances of training and employment in the private sector; and
• (iii) implement the agreement of 2007, through the National Agency to Assist and Integrate Refugees, with respect to employment and occupation.

The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken to prevent discrimination against these persons in employment and occupation, particularly when they are recruited.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary measures in the near future.