Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1991
MAURITANIA
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has been governed since 1984
by the Military Committee for National Salvation (CMSN) under
the chairmanship of Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid 'Ahmed Taya, who is
also Chief of State. The Military Committee functions
nominally as a legislative body under the direction of
President Taya, while the President, assisted by his Council of
Ministers and a few close advisors, wields executive power.
In the latter half of 1991, the Government, in response to
mounting public criticism and international isolation, took
steps to encourage the development of multiparty democracy in
Mauritania. In July a new Constitution was adopted by
referendum, and subsequently ordinances were promulgated
permitting political parties, establishing freedom of the
press, and granting amnesty to all political prisoners. The
President announced that legislative and presidential elections
would be held before April 1992 and promulgated new electoral
laws. Several newly formed opposition parties intend to
contest the elections while challenging the fairness of the
electoral procedures announced to date.
Mauritanian security forces number between 16,000 and 18,000
and include the regular armed forces, the National Guard, the
Gendarmerie (a specialized corps of paramilitary police), and
the police. The Gendarmerie is directed by the Ministry of
Defense, while the National Guard and police come under the
Ministry of Interior. As in previous years, the security
forces continued to be responsible for widespread human rights
violations. The significant difference in 1991 was that, for
the first time, abuses perpetrated by the security forces were
directed in the main at a purge of their own ranks.
Most of Mauritania's 1.9 million inhabitants, either nomadic
herders or settled farmers, live within a subsistence economy.
Mauritania is burdened with numerous long-term economic and
social problems: drought, desertification, insect infestation,
extensive unemployment, rapid inflation, one of the highest per
capita foreign debts in Africa, minimal infrastructure,
inadecjuate health and education systems, and growing
urbanization. Low rainfall levels over the past years have
forced large numbers of nomads into towns, with a consequent
weakening of traditional Maur nomadic culture and a severe
strain on government resources.
Although the military leadership has tried carefully to
maintain control, the reform process shows some promise of
enabling Mauritanians to deal with their economic problems and
ethnic tensions in the future within the framework of a more
open political system. Meanwhile, the actual human rights
situation in Mauritania did not improve in 1991. In fact, the
arbitrary arrest, detention, and torture by the armed forces of
up to 3,000 persons represented a serious human rights
regression. Those arrested (almost exclusively from the black
Mauritanian Halpulaar ethnic groups) were accused of plotting
to overthrow the Government, but none of them was ever charged
with any crime. There is credible evidence that many, if not
all, of the detainees were subjected to harsh interrogation
technicpies and brutal torture, in some cases over a period of 7
months, in order to extract self-incriminating confessions.
Although the Government announced that all detainees were
released by mid-April 1991, approximately 500 remain
unaccounted for and are presumed dead. Of those who survived
the detention and torture, very few have been reintegrated into
the military (or, in the case of civilians, into their former
jobs). On the other hand, the niimber of human rights abuses in
the riverine area bordering Senegal decreased markedly since
late 1990 as a result of a gradually improving political
atmosphere between the two Governments.
Some restrictions on freedom of the press were eased. The
right to a fair public trial, the right of citizens to change
their government, and worker rights remained restricted.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There continued to be a number of extrajudicial killings of
persons, particularly non-Arabic (Hassaniya)-speaking black
Mauritanians . Whereas most of the riverine violence in 1989
and 1990 stemmed from mass expulsions and suppression of
resulting cross-border raiding, the nature of violence changed
substantially in 1991. Most disputes in the riverine area in
1991 arose from arguments over land and property, including
cases of Mauritanian expellees who returned home to find their
belongings had been expropriated.
Also in 1991, security forces continued their occasional
practice of arbitrarily killing non-Hassaniya-speaking blacks,
who make up the majority of the population living along the
Senegal river. For example, in September Mamadou Amadou Watt
was shot to death in his own home, reportedly by a national
guardsman. The victim and the perpetrator reportedly had
earlier disagreed over a bribe that the victim had refused to
pay. No one has yet been charged or arrested in this incident,
which took place in the town of Olologo in the Brakna region.
Although the frecjuency of these types of killings substantially
diminished in 1991, they continued to occur. As in previous
years, there were no reports of government inquiries into the
incidents or any efforts to punish those responsible.
The principal example of extrajudicial killing was the presumed
deaths of approximately 500 largely Halpulaar and Soninke
military and civilian personnel alleged to have attempted to
overthrow the Government. These persons were part of a larger
group—possibly as many as 3,000—who were rounded up,
detained, and tortured in prison (see Section I.e.). To date
the Taya Government has not provided credible evidence of such
a plot, and critics claim the Government used this charge to
mask a purge of blacks from the military and civil service.
The results of an internal military investigation have not been
made public, and no one has been charged with or faced trial
for the tortures and deaths. It appears that the highest
levels of the military hierarchy—including several members of
the ruling CMSN--were involved and may personally have taken
part in torture or execution. Although two CMSN members were
placed on probation and removed from their commands for 6
months, presumably for their role in the events, they have now
been reintegrated, promoted to full colonels, and given new
responsibilities. Two other high-ranking officials said to be
implicated also received promotions during the year.
Furthermore, some of the officials named to the investigative
board may themselves have been involved in the incidents.
A local press investigation implicated the police in four
suspicious homicides in 1991. The Government has neither
acknowledged these allegations nor taken any measures to
investigate them.
b. Disappearance
It is impossible either to enumerate or confirm instances of
disappearances in Mauritania for the past year. Of the many
(up to 3,000) Halpulaar and Soninke military officers, enlisted
men and civilians who were arrested and tortured in military
custody for involvement in an alleged coup attempt,
approximately 500 never returned to their homes. They are
presumed to have died, although the Government has refused to
confirm this.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Despite the Government's stated opposition to torture and the
legal prohibition against its use, the security forces—^
routinely mistreated persons in custody, particularly political
dissidents and black Mauritanians. Many of the detainees
arrested in the fall of 1990 in connection with the alleged
coup plot were subjected to particularly brutal interrogation
techniques, as security forces attempted to extract
self-incriminating confessions of involvement. According to
those who survived, scores of officers and enlisted men
participated in the mistreatment of prisoners. These incidents
took place in at least a dozen military bases, prisons, and
installations throughout the country.
The forms of torture included beatings, forced feeding of sand,
electrocution, anal rape, burning of genitals, denial of water
and food, and the so-called jaguar technique, in which victims
are bound and suspended upside down while the soles of their
feet are beaten. Prisoners detained at military installations
at Jreida and at Inal, for example, were held in cramped and
unsanitary quarters, denied adequate food and water, chained
for prolonged periods, frequently beaten, and forced to sign
confessions. One survivor from Jreida said that he had been
held in a single large room with roughly 100 other persons.
All prisoners were forced to sit in fixed positions, with
wrists chained to ankles. They were fed small portions of rice
and water twice daily. They had no separate access to toilets,
and as sanitary conditions rapidly deteriorated, many became
ill with beri-beri and other gastrointestinal disorders. This
witness estimated that 15 to 20 of the prisoners with whom he
was confined were taken away and never returned, so he presumed
that they had been killed. Another Jreida survivor stated that
he was held in solitary confinement for many days in a one-room
cell measuring one square meter, so that he was forced to sleep
diagonally with his legs propped against one wall. He received
one piece of bread daily, along with a bowl of rice mixed with
sand.
Survivors from the military facility at Inal, where up to 200
prisoners reportedly died, have said that some of the detainees
there were tied by their testicles to the rear of
four-wheel-drive vehicles and dragged at high speeds through
the desert. Several detainees, including Captain Lome
Abdoulaye, a former senior officer in the Mauritanian Navy,
died as a result of this particular treatment. It was also at
Inal that 28 prisoners were hung simultaneously on November 28,
1990, ostensibly "in celebration" of Independence Day. A
survivor of military custody at Nema stated that his accusers
tied him to a tree, removed his trousers, and tied ropes to his
genitals. They then pulled the ropes tightly each time the
victim refused their demands to confess to involvement in the
alleged coup plot. The same witness said that a senior officer
at Nema tortured another victim by setting him afire. A
survivor of the military installation at N'Beika stated that he
had been buried alive in the sand, threatened with a pistol to
his head, and kicked in the face. This survivor is now blind
in one eye.
In June police officers in Nouakchott used nightsticks to
disperse a peaceful protest by female relatives of those who
had been tortured and killed in prison. Police singled out
Halpulaar women in the crowd, beating and kicking them. As a
result, 10 protesters were hospitalized, 5 with serious head
injuries.
In late June and early July, four members of the Union of
Mauritanian Workers (the national trade union) were tortured
while in police custody. The four had been arrested in the
aftermath of a street fight that broke out on June 28 between
union members and police officers. All four were severely
beaten and subjected to the "jaguar" treatment. One victim
also suffered cigarette burns on his lips and nostrils.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Although Mauritanian law requires expeditious arraignment and
trial, access to legal counsel, and the right of appeal, these
rights are frecjuently not observed, particularly in cases of
political dissidents or persons suspected on national security
grounds. They are somewhat more often observed in ordinary
criminal cases. The courts are required to review the legality
of a person's detention no more than 72 hours after his or her
arrest. Until recently, however, it was common practice to
detain prisoners incommunicado for prolonged periods without
charging them for any crime and without judicial review.
In late June and early July, security officers arrested several
opposition leaders, including seven prominent members of the
United Democratic Front, a dissident (and then illegal)
organization. These persons were sent into internal exile at
various locations around the country, where they remained in
incommunicado detention for several weeks. They were released
in a general amnesty at the end of July and were never charged
with any crime.
As stated elsewhere, the Government in late 1990 began
arresting non-Hassaniya-speaking black Mauritanians in the
military as well as civilian sectors. By the end of the year,
between 1,500 and 3,000 persons had been arrested and held
incommunicado. More than 300 of the former detainees have been
dishonorably discharged from the military without explanation.
Some also apparently have been denied back pay and other
benefits due them.
In addition to the incidents described above, there continued
to be credible reports in 1991 of arrests, intimidation,
prolonged detention, and expulsion committed by security forces
in communities along the Senegal river.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
There are three types of courts: the Shari'a, the special
courts, and the State Security Court. The legal system
functions primarily under the Shari'a (Islamic law). While the
judiciary is nominally independent, many observers believe that
judges take their cues from the Government when sentencing
opponents of the regime. The Ministry of Justice administers
the Shari'a and selects judicial personnel. The use by Islamic
judges of extreme physical punishments, such as amputations, is
no longer practiced in Mauritania. The Government also is
slowly eliminating a number of unqualified Shari'a judges.
Judges cannot be tenured until they have completed 7 years of
service.
Commercial and banking offenses, traffic violations that cause
bodily harm, and offenses against the security of the state
fall under the jurisdiction of the special courts, which
supposedly render judgments on the basis of laws modeled after
the French example. The effective implementation of justice in
these courts is particularly problematic because the majority
of Mauritanian judges have been trained neither at the
university level nor in the French juridical tradition.
In theory, all defendants, regardless of the court or their
ability to pay, have the legal right to be present with legal
counsel during the proceedings. Defendants may confront
witnesses and present evidence. They may appeal the sentences
of the ordinary courts but not those of the State Security
Court.
Mauritanian law specifies that all persons, including
foreigners, have the right to their property and possessions,
and may be deprived of them only by a court decision. In 1991,
as in previous years, the practice of justice in Mauritania
continued to differ substantially from its theory, particularly
as a result of the wide discretionary powers allowed in
practice to the forces of order in rural jurisdictions and to
the lack of trained public defenders. The right to a fair
public trial was often abused, particularly in the riverine
area.
While it is true that large-scale confiscations and expulsions,
such as those that occurred in the previous 2 years, were not
repeated in 1991, there were nevertheless occasional reports of
extrajudicial deportations by security forces in the riverine
area. None of those expelled had recourse to the courts. In
many cases, the homes and property of deportees were
subsequently expropriated by the Government. The Government
has always maintained that many, if not all, of the persons who
fled or were expelled were in fact Senegalese nationals, and
that their Mauritanian identity documents were fraudulent. As
of late 1991, the Government had failed to set up procedures to
permit access to the courts by expellees who wished to obtain
confirmation of their citizenship and the right to return to
Mauritania. However, in the general context of improving
relations with Senegal, informal arrangements with security
forces resulted in a number of expellees returning home.
f . Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Under Mauritanian law, judicial warrants are recpaired to
perform home searches. This requirement is often ignored in
practice in "national security" cases. There were in 1991
repeated reports of government surveillance of suspected
dissidents. Intimidation and harassment of
non-Hassaniya-speaking black Mauritanians in the Senegal river
valley also continued on a regular basis.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
Mauritanians in the latter half of 1991 experienced for the
first time limited freedom of speech and press. Ironically,
the new climate of liberalization was an indirect result of the
mass detention, torture, and execution of those alleged to have
plotted to overthrow the Government . As evidence of the
arrests and deaths came to light in early 1991, the Mauritanian
public began to demand an explanation from the authorities.
Wien no such explanation was forthcoming, the public reacted in
a way it had not before: in print. Ant igovernment tracts,
newsletters, and petitions began circulating in Nouakchott and
other major cities. These were followed by articles in
international magazines and newspapers, as those who had
survived the incidents reported them from abroad. By early
summer, public outrage over the tortures and executions had
reached a fever pitch, and opposition leaders were for the
first time calling for Taya's ouster and a complete reworking
of the political system. In the face of these demands.
President Taya on July 25 promulgated ordinances permitting the
creation of political parties and a free press.
Since that time a lively competition has developed among more
than a dozen weekly papers, all of which have become
increasingly bold at criticizing the Government, particularly
for its perceived insensitivity to, and condonation of, human
rights abuses. The papers have formed an independent press
association, which was successful at heading off censorship of
at least one publication. However, both the press and the
parties operate within tightly circumscribed limits. All
newspapers and political parties must register with the
Ministry of Interior, for example. There is still only one
daily paper, which is published and controlled by the Ministry
of Information. Furthermore, the independent weeklies reach
only a limited audience, not only due to financial constraints
but also because the majority of Mauritanians cannot read.
Access to television and radio, to which large numbers of the
population presumably listen, remains the unique preserve of
the Ministry of Information. However, the Government has
stated it will give the opposition parties radio and television
air time during the electoral campaign.
The regime continued to sanction publishers for any public
conments it considered a threat to state security, particularly
those criticizing the Government's ethnic policies. For
example, the Government halted publication of the August 1991
issue of the magazine Mauritanie Demain, which contained
first-hand accounts of Halpulaars who had survived torture
while in military confinement. In practice, freedom of
expression continues to be restricted. Most Mauritanians
criticize government policies only in conversations with
friends and relatives. Military personnel are under tight
surveillance, and views expressed to military colleagues in
private that could be construed as even mildly critical of the
Government are likely to cause intense interrogation by
military security officers.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Although Mauritanian law guarantees the rights of assembly and
association, all political movements and activities had been
prohibited until just recently, and most groups operated
clandestinely or from outside the country. Even under the new
ordinances legalizing political parties, all groups must be
registered with the Minister of Interior and obtain permission
for large meetings or assemblies. By year's end, the Interior
Ministry had recognized 12 political parties, all of which held
open, regular meetings. Despite some government harassment,
several of the parties also organized large rallies, drawing
thousands of participants. In late November, the Government
was criticized for denying a party permit to a group of
self-proclaimed radical Islamists. The Government justified
its action by citing the new Constitution, which forbids the
establishment of parties based on religion.
c. Freedom of Religion
Islam is the official religion of Mauritania. Virtually all
citizens are Muslim. Mauritanian Muslims are prohibited from
entering non-Islamic houses of worship and from converting to
another religion. Proselytizing by non-Muslims and the
construction of Christian churches and other non-Islamic houses
of worship are prohibited. The Roman Catholic community in
Mauritania has five churches, which operate freely as long as
they restrict their services to resident foreigners.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Traditionally, there have been few restrictions on movement
within Mauritania, where nomadism has long been a way of life.
However, following the rupture of relations with Senegal in
1989 and the attendant violence in the riverine area, local
authorities imposed and enforced at their own initiative
dusk-to-dawn curfews in some villages. This practice continued
in 1991, though on a much-diminished level. Although
Mauritanians since 1985 have not needed exit visas to travel
abroad, there are recurrent reports that some
persons—primarily antiregime activists and
non-Hassaniya-speaking blacks—were- denied passports for
unexplained, and possibly political, reasons.
The 100,000 or more Mauritanian nationals expelled from Senegal
and Mali in 1990 and earlier were largely reabsorbed into
Mauritania through govermnent and private means by the end of
1991. However, as some of them were settled on land belonging
to expelled Mauritanian residents, the seed of future trouble
has been planted if those expelled eventually return.
Approximately 55,000 expelled Mauritanian residents are still
resident in camps in Senegal, awaiting a political settlement
between the two countries which could include terms for
repatriation or indemnification. These refugees, plus an
additional 13,000 Halpulaar refugees in Mali, were expelled
from or fled Mauritania beginning in 1989.
Mauritania has become the refuge for some 18,000 Tuareg and
Maur refugees fleeing from ethnic strife in Mali's northern
regions. They live in camps largely supported by an
international effort led by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) . Finally, as a result of the
ongoing conflict in neighboring Western Sahara between Morocco
and the Polisario Front, a small number of refugees from the
Western Sahara have settled in Nouadhibou and other northern
towns and have been successfully absorbed into Mauritanian
society.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
In 1991 citizens did not have this right. However, the Taya
Government in the latter part of 1991 took steps in the
direction of a multiparty system, scheduling presidential
elections for January 24, 1992. Legislative elections are to
be held before April 1992. At year's end, all political power
continued to rest in the hands of the military regime.
The Military Committee for National Salvation (CMSN) continued
to wield all executive and legislative functions. Membership
is limited to military officers, who occupy ministerial
positions or important military and security posts. The CMSN
is comprised predominantly of Maurs. Non-Maur membership on
the CMSN and in other senior civilian and military positions
has decreased in the wake of ethnic tensions.
The Government uses a quasi-political organization, the
Structure for the Education of the Masses (SEM), to mobilize
people to carry out local improvement projects, to relay policy
initiatives, and to serve as a channel to discuss grievances.
SEM's are found at all governmental levels down to villages and
neighborhoods. In practice, most significant grievances,
including violence, are discussed at the family, clan, or
tribal level first and passed along to influential governmental
figures of the saune family or tribe. In late 1991, there was
rising public sentiment against the SEM's, which according to
many were a conduit for patronage and election fraud in the
municipal elections held in previous years. Opposition parties
were demanding that the SEM's be dismantled.
The parties criticized the Government for the way it
implemented the new Constitution and for its control of
election planning. The parties also demanded that Taya step
down in favor of a transitional government. Taya made several
unilateral concessions but did not accede to the opposition's
principal demands for a delay of the elections and the
installation of a neutral transition government.
The opposition argued that the new Constitution was neither
drafted in consultation with opposition leaders nor approved by
a majority of the population. The Constitution was adopted in
a controversial July referendum; the opposition disputes the
Government's claims that 85 percent of the population went to
the polls and that 96 percent of those voting favored adoption
of the document. Notwithstanding the complaints about the
electoral process, four persons, including President Taya, are
candidates for the Presidency.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The only officially recognized human rights organization within
the country is the Mauritanian Human Rights League. Many
Mauritanians and international observers no longer consider the
League a viable or independent organization. Not since July
1989 has it publicly commented on or questioned the
Government's human rights excesses. A new human rights
organization is in gestation but had not been legally
recognized by the Ministry of Interior by the end of the year.
In the wake of the 1989 dispute with Senegal and the 1990/early
1991 detentions and deaths, the Taya regime took a defensive
posture toward h\inian rights investigations. It refused to
appoint an independent commission to investigate the incidents,
despite continued pressure from foreign countries and
international nongovernmental organizations. It objected to
the activities of Amnesty International and Africa Watch, both
of which published reports on human rights abuses in
Mauritania. "It also objected to actions by the United States
Government, including the suspension of military assistance and
congressional hearings into the human rights situation in
Mauritania. However, in December, a visiting Mauritanian
presidential counselor invited Amnesty International and Africa
Watch to visit Mauritania to observe the human rights situation
first hand.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Language, or Social Status
Mauritania is situated geographically and culturally on the
divide between traditionally nomadic Arabic (Hassaniya)-
speaking Maurs of the north and the sedentary black cultivators
of the African south. The interaction of these two groups
produces complex cultural diversity as well as ethnic tensions
in Mauritanian society. Historically, the Hassaniya-speaking
white Maurs have dominated the political and economic system.
Taken together, the Hassaniya-speaking black Maurs and
Mauritania's non-Hassaniya-speaking blacks outnumber the white
Maurs by a considerable majority. This racial majority is by
no means cohesive, however, because black Maurs identify in
many ways more closely with the white Maur population. White
Maurs hold the dominant positions in government, state
enterprises, business, and religious institutions, and many
non-Hassaniya-speaking black Mauritanians have long contended
that this situation is a result of ethnic and linguistic
discrimination.
It has been a longstanding policy of the Government to promote
Arabization and the use of Arabic as the country's principal
language. Although French is still widely used as well,
particularly among black Mauritanians, the new Constitution
enacted in July 1991 eliminates French as an official
language. Non-Hassaniya-speaking black Mauritanians also
charge that the Government's 1983 land reform law is
increasingly being misused to allow white and black Maurs to
encroach on fertile land in the Senegal river valley that had
been traditionally their preserve. Mauritania's dry and
inhospitable climate has contributed to the hostile feelings
between livestock raising Maurs and farming blacks. A
decade-long drought has increased the traditional flow of
nomads from the north into the more fertile southern regions,
further exacerbating tensions.
The longstanding ethnic divisions within Mauritanian society
came dramatically to the fore in April 1989. The events of
that period resulted more from an eruption of underlying ethnic
hostilities than from officially sanctioned government policy.
However, the extrajudicial expulsions that followed were
clearly based on ethnicity. Only non-Hassaniya-speaking blacks
were deprived of citizenship and deported. The resulting
cross-border raids were thus carried out by non-Hassaniyaspeakers,
and security force reprisals were therefore directed
solely against these groups.
Theoretically, women have legal rights to property, divorce,
and child custody. In practice, both marriage and divorce can
take place without the woman's consent. Although there is a
somewhat lower percentage of women than men educated at the
university level, there are no legal restrictions on education
for women. Women do not wear the veil, may operate
automobiles, and may own and manage their own businesses. The
Government is encouraging the entry of women into the
professions, government, and business, and a number of women
have moved into senior or midlevel government positions in
recent years. In late 1991, there were two women at the
highest levels of government: the Assistant Director of the
President's Cabinet and an Advisor to the President. However,
many Mauritanian women feel that these positions are more
symbolic than substantive.
The Government has been instrumental in opening up new
employment opportunities for women in areas traditionally
reserved for men, such as hospital work. According to
Mauritanian law, men and women must receive equal pay for equal
work; Mauritania's two largest employers, the Civil Service and
the State Mining Company, SNIM, respect this law.
Violence against women occurs, but no data exist to indicate
its extent. The police and judiciary have been known to
intervene in domestic disputes, but only recently has the
Mauritanian media begun to investigate this. The Government
has taken no position nor issued any statements on violence
against women or on female genital mutilation (circumcision), a
tradition in some areas of southern Mauritania where the most
dangerous form, inf ibulation, is practiced. This custom is
seldom, if ever, practiced in the north, and some evidence
indicates that the incidence of female circumcision is
diminishing in the modern, urbanized sector.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Workers are free to establish unions at the local and national
level. There are currently 36 trade unions in the country.
All, however, must be affiliates of the Union of Mauritanian
Workers (UTM) , by law the country's only central labor body.
The UTM's traditional independence from the Government was
broken in 1991 when its leadership, responding to members'
anger at the continued detention of military prisoners, called
an unsuccessful general strike. Through a combination of
strong-arm tactics, co-optation, and successful inside
maneuvering, the Government undercut the union leadership,
discredited the strikers, and installed a tame replacement UTM
leadership. UTM members arrested after street fighting in June
were tortured (see Section I.e.).
Although Mauritanian law grants workers the right to strike, in
practice strikes rarely occur, due to government pressure.
Under Mauritanian law, tripartite arbitration committees,
composed of union, business, and government representatives,
may impose binding arbitration that automatically terminates
any strike.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Unions are free to organize workers without government or
employer interference. According to the UTM, close to 90
percent of industrial and commercial workers in Mauritania are
members of unions. The laws providing workers' protection
against antiunion discrimination are regularly enforced. True
collective bargaining is limited by the Government ' s leadership
role. Wages and other benefits are decided informally between
individual unions, employers, the Government, and the UTM. In
addition, employees or employers may bring labor disputes to
three-person labor courts that are overseen jointly by the
Ministries of Justice and Labor. Labor leaders regard these
courts as unbiased and effective. There are no export
processing zones in Mauritania.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Slavery was officially abolished in Mauritania several times,
most recently in 1980, but many persons whose ancestors were
slaves still occupied positions of servitude in 1991. This was
due in part to the economic hardships they would have
encountered if they had left. However, in some areas persons
were sometimes held against their will and forced to perform
unpaid labor. Human rights organizations claim that slavery
persists and charge that the Government has taken no
significant practical steps to eradicate the practice. Several
reports indicated that some instances of forced labor involved
young children.
d. Minimxim Age for Employment of Children
Education is not compulsory in Mauritania, but Mauritanian law
specifies that no child may be employed before the age of 13 in
the agricultural sector without the permission of the Minister
of Labor, nor before the age of 15 in the nonagricultural
sector. The law provides that employed children aged 14 to 16
should receive 7 percent of the minimum wage, and those from
17 to 18 should receive 90 percent of the minimum wage. There
is limited enforcement of child labor laws by the few
inspectors in the Ministry of Labor. In practice, much younger
children in the countryside pursue herding, cultivation, and
other significant labor in support of their families'
traditional activities. In accordance with longstanding
tradition, some children serve apprenticeships in small
industries, but overall, child labor in the nonagricultural
sector does not appear to be widespread.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The guaranteed minimum wage for adults was raised at the end of
1991 but even so it barely enabled the average family to meet
its minimum needs. The standard, legal nonagricultural
workweek in Mauritania cannot exceed either 40 hours or 6 days
without overtime compensation, which is paid at rates that are
graduated according to the number of supplemental hours
worked. Reliable data on actual wage levels is scarce.
Enforcement of the labor laws is the responsibility of the
Labor Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labor but in practice is
limited by the shortage of qualified personnel.
In April 1990, the Senegalese Confederation of Workers (CNTS)
submitted a representation to the International Labor
Organization (ILO) , charging the Government of Mauritania with
violating several ILO conventions. The CNTS detailed the
Government's "deportation and banishment of its own black
African citizens" and specified numerous sectors in which
significant numbers of non-Hassaniya-speaking blacks were
dismissed without cause and, in many cases, deprived of basic
rights.
