3. Mauritania is a multi-ethnic and multicultural country. Its population is predominantly Arab and includes the Pulaar, Soninké and Wolof minority groups.
There were 3,537,628 inhabitants in 2013, 27.1 per cent of whom live in Nouakchott, the country’s administrative capital.1
4. Owing to its geopolitical and strategic position, the country faces multiple security and humanitarian challenges.
5. It has been battling recurring drought, which has an impact on its natural resources and poses a serious problem of food security, particularly in the wilayas (provinces) of Hodh Charghi, Hodh El Gharbi, Assaba, Gorgol, Brakna, Tagant and Guidimagha.
6. As a transit and destination country for many migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and other regions, it also has to cope with a large influx of refugees, mostly Malians, who number 52,355 and have settled in the east of the country.
7. Despite these burdens, the country is making every effort to fulfil its international human rights obligations.
8. It has a decentralized and devolved administrative structure. This comprises several levels: wilayas (15), moughataas (sub-provinces) (55), districts (31) and municipalities (218).2 These various entities contribute to the economic, social and political development of the country.
9. The judicial system is based on the principle of a double degree of jurisdiction (the same offence can be adjudicated both by a court of original jurisdiction and by an appellate court).
10. The Government has improved the efficiency of the justice system by making justice more accessible through the establishment of courts, including a court of appeal, in Aleg, two regional courts in Nouakchott North and South and a labour court in Zouerate. This new initiative also includes an anti-slavery court created in May 2015 by the Supreme Council of Justice and whose establishment is in the process of being approved by Parliament.
11. Moreover, improvements in the human, material and financial conditions of judicial personnel have led to a more efficient justice system.
12. The legal protection of human rights is guaranteed by the Constitutional Council and the national courts.
13. The Constitutional Council helps protect human rights by ensuring the constitutionality of laws. The Constitution gives the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate, and one third of deputies or senators the power to appeal to the Constitutional Council to have a law declared unconstitutional. For example, the Council declared unconstitutional certain provisions of Act No. 2010-035 of 21 July 2010 on combating terrorism.
14. Defendants have the right to the presumption of innocence, to the principle of legality with regard to offences and punishment, and to prepare their legal defence.
Article 4 of the bill criminalizing torture provides that all persons deprived of their liberty have the right to legal counsel from the time they are taken into custody and not at the last moment, as previously provided in the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the right to contact their family. Persons who are indigent have the right to be assisted by a court-appointed attorney.
15. The 2012 constitutional review led to significant improvements in the regulatory and institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights, including:
Formal recognition of the cultural and linguistic diversity of the country;
Definition of slavery and torture as crimes against humanity;
According constitutional status to the National Human Rights Commission.
16. With a view to giving full effect to international human rights conventions, the country has a monistic constitutional system, which provides that such conventions, once ratified and published, have primacy over national law.
17. Since the 2010 review, Mauritania acceded, in 2012, to the:
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;
Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol.
18. In 2015, it also acceded to the human rights instruments of the African Union to which it was not already a party.
The institutional framework for human rights
19. The promotion and protection of human rights has been enhanced since 2010 through the establishment of new institutions.
1. The High Council for Fatwa and Administrative Appeals
20. Established by decree No. 2012-134 of 24 May 2012, the Council reports to the Office of the President and enjoys financial autonomy. It gives advice on legal matters relating to sharia (Islamic law) that are of general interest, which are referred to it or taken up on the initiative of its president. It has the power to issue fatwas (opinions of Muslim jurists) and to revise, correct and publish them.
21. It examines complaints submitted by citizens, and may refer them directly to the public authorities and sectors concerned. It helps resolve conflicts between members of the public and local governments.
2. TADAMOUN
22. TADAMOUN, a national agency established in March 2013, is responsible for:
Identifying the consequences of slavery and proposing programmes to eradicate them and to ensure the implementation of such programmes, in consultation wi th other stakeholders concerned with the issue;
Ensuring the design, coordination, implementation and monitoring of programmes to integrate returnees into active life;
Promoting and implementing programmes to combat poverty.
23. The Agency may exercise the rights granted to civil parties relating to any acts constituting an offence prosecuted and punished under Act No. 2007 -048 of 3 September 2007 criminalizing slavery and punishing slavery-like practices. It has brought civil actions in the following cases, which are still pending:
Choueiba case RP 18/2014 in Zouerate;
Vreikine case RP 72/2015 in Zouerate;
Issa ould Hemed case RP 35/2015 in Nema;
Lalla and Knatha mint Mahmoud case RP 67/2015 in Nema;
Mabrouka mint Mahmoud case RP 33/2015 in Nema.
3. National Preventive Mechanism on torture
24. The mission of the National Preventive Mechanism is to prevent torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in places of detention. It enjoys administrative and financial autonomy and does not receive instructions from any authority. Its composition reflects a de facto pluralism that ensures the involvement of all stakeholders (Bar Association, Medical Association, human rights organizations, universities, and private individuals). The bill on the National Preventive Mechanism is before Parliament awaiting adoption.
4. National case law: cases of slavery, torture and rape3
25. With regard to slavery, 31 cases of slavery-like practices have been dealt with by the courts, including 8 in Nouakchott and 23 in the wilayas of Hodh El Gharbi, Hodh Charghi, Tiris Zemour, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, Trarza, Gorgol and Adrar. The sentences imposed in these cases included imprisonment (2-year term), probation, a fine (200,000 ouguiyas (UM)) and civil damages for victims (UM 600,000).
26. As for torture, in its decision No. 108 of 7 March 2012, the criminal court of Nouakchott sentenced eight members of the National Guard to prison terms of 1 to 4 years for having tortured two detainees.
27. The statistics on rape recorded by the prosecutor ’s office at the court in the wilaya of Nouakchott are: 45 cases in 2013; 39 cases in 2014; and 15 cases in 2015.
The sentences handed down ranged between 10 and 20 years’ imprisonment.
5. National human rights institutions
28. These comprise the National Human Rights Commission, which was granted A status accreditation for national human rights institutions in 2011, and the Ombudsman.
6. Scope of international obligations
29. The Government published in a special edition of the Official Gazette, No. 1326 bis of 9 December 2014, the main international human rights legal instruments that Mauritania has ratified, with the support of the OHCHR Country Office. The instruments published are:
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;
Convention on the Rights of the Child;
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families;
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
30. The purpose of this measure is to foster compliance with the international instruments ratified by Mauritania and make it easier for parties to invoke these instruments before the national courts.