Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/mauritan.txt

Text File | 1996-01-05 | 29KB | 583 lines

TITLE:  MAURITANIA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                           MAURITANIA


Mauritania is an Islamic republic.  The 1991 Constitution
provides for a civilian government composed of a dominant
executive branch, a Senate and National Assembly, and a
judiciary.  President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya has governed
since 1984, first as head of a military junta, and since the
1992 election as head of civilian government.  Election
observers concluded that President Taya's 62-percent majority
in a four-way election was fraudulent.  Most opposition parties
boycotted the subsequent parliamentary elections.  The
President and the Government have strong military support.

The Government maintains order with regular armed forces, the
National Guard, the Gendarmerie (a specialized corps of
paramilitary police), and the police.  The Ministry of Defense
directs the armed forces and Gendamerie; the Ministry of
Interior directs the National Guard and police.  There have
been reported instances of these forces engaging in human
rights abuses.

Mauritania, with a population of 2.2 million, has a
market-oriented economy based on subsistence farming, herding
and a small commercial sector.  Drought, desertification,
insect infestation, rapid urbanization, extensive unemployment,
and a burdensome foreign debt handicap the economy.  Inadequate
recent rainfall has contributed to urbanization, further
straining government finances.

The major human rights problem continues to be the Government's
failure to resolve the outstanding abuses of the 1989-92 period
in which approximately 70,000 Mauritanians were expelled or
fled and some 500 members of the military were killed--almost
entirely African Mauritanians.  Hundreds more were tortured and
maimed.  In 1993, the Parliament passed an amnesty bill to
preclude legal pursuit of those responsible.  The Government
has, however, paid pensions and compensation to some survivors
and to some families of those killed.  Democratic institutions
are still rudimentary, and ethnic tensions remain high, with
many non-Hassaniya-speaking citizens continuing to feel
excluded from effective political representation.

Although the Government has instituted some judicial reform, in
practice, the right to a fair trial continues to be
restricted.  Police often used brutal methods, and the
Government continued to restrict political activity, seize
publications, and discriminate on the basis of language.
Prison conditions are harsh and unhealthy.  Societal
discrimination and female genital mutilation remain a serious
concern.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were no confirmed reports of political killings, but two
persons are known to have died while in police custody.  In
April police reportedly apprehended Ibrahima Diallo, a
Senegalese taxi driver in Nouakchott, on suspicion of robbery.
He later died in custody; police claimed he died of a heart
attack.  In September a young African-Mauritanian was arrested
in the town of Nouadhibou for petty theft and died while in
police custody.  Credible observers believe that police
mistreatment was the cause of both deaths.  Authorities have
investigated neither of these incidents.  There were a number
of unexplained and uninvestigated deaths in the border regions
with Senegal and Mali.

Authorities brought a police officer to trial for the 1991
torture and death of a criminal suspect.  The court found the
police officer not guilty, but ordered the Ministry of Interior
to pay a "deya" or blood money to the victim's family.

Extrajudicial killings from past years, primarily of
African-Mauritanians, remained unresolved.  The principal
example of such killing involves the death while in military
custody of approximately 500 largely Halpulaar and Soninke
military and civilian personnel; the military has never
released the results of an internal military investigation into
this matter and has not brought charges against those
responsible.

In June 1993, the Government passed a law granting amnesty to
members of the armed forces and police as well as to private
citizens involved in killings and other abuses during 1990 and
1991.  Lawyers representing victims' families concluded that
the law rendered the case legally closed.  The Government
provided pensions to some victims, as well as pensions and
compensation to approximately 277 widows and families who could
document their relationship to those who were killed.  The
Government has refused the claims of approximately another 123
women who could not prove their relationship to those who were
killed.  Government failure to investigate and bring to justice
officials who commit killings or other abuses has created a
climate of impunity.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reports of disappearances.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

The law prohibits the use of torture and other forms of cruel
or inhuman punishment, but the police continue on occasion to
beat criminal suspects while in custody.  Authorities rarely
tried or punished persons suspected of committing such abuses.
There are credible reports that several of the 60 Islamic
persons detained in September and October were tortured.  There
has been no public investigation of the detainees' claims.

Security forces, assigned to forestall cross-border raids in
the Guidimaka area near the Malian and Senegalese borders, have
reportedly resorted to brutality when questioning people.

Prison conditions do not meet minimum humanitarian standards.
There is severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and
inadequate food and medical treatment.  There were no reports
of suspicious deaths among the prison population.  The only
reports of such deaths were among the detainees in pretrial
status cited (see Section 1.a.).  The prison in Nouakchott,
which was built in 1960 for a projected prison population of
200 men, now houses 700.  Observers report better conditions at
the women's prison and children's detention center in
Nouakchott.  At the Government's request, a French
nongovernmental organization (NGO), Pharmaciens sans Frontieres
(Pharmacists Without Borders) is coordinating international
assistance for a large-scale project to improve overall prison
conditions.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Constitution provides for due process and the presumption
of innocence until proven guilty by an established tribunal.
It stipulates that authorities cannot arrest, detain,
prosecute, or punish anyone except as provided for under the
law.  Actual application of these safeguards continued to vary
widely from case to case.

The law requires that courts review the legality of a person's
detention within 48 hours of arrest.  The police may extend the
period for another 48 hours, and a prosecutor may detain
persons for up to 30 days in national security cases.  Only
after the prosecutor submits charges can a suspect contact an
attorney.  There were credible reports that police detained
persons incommunicado for extended periods without charge.
Pretrial detention is extensive, and approximately 50 percent
of the prison population has not yet been tried.  Some indicted
prisoners continue to be released before trial without
explanation.  Familial, tribal, or political connections may
explain some of these releases.  There is a provision for
granting bail, but it is rarely used.

In January police arrested the President of the Mauritanian
Human Rights Association, Cheik Saad Bouh Kamara, searched his
home, and seized his papers without an arrest or search
warrant.  He was detained just under the 48 hours permissible,
then released without charge.  Police questioned him
extensively concerning his human rights activities and his
contacts with an international human rights mission that had
visited Mauritania just prior to his arrest (see Section 4).

In September and October, the Government detained for 2 weeks
and questioned 60 people in connection with an alleged Islamist
plot.  Although the Government said it had evidence against the
detainees, some of whom confessed to subversive activities, the
Government released them without charge.  Observers reported
that in most cases police failed to obtain warrants.
Occasional reports of arbitrary arrests and intimidation
committed by security forces continued, particularly in
communities along the Senegal River.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The executive branch controls and influences the judiciary,
which is only nominally independent.  The Ministry of Justice
appoints judges and subjects the courts to pressure in reaching
verdicts.  This influence was evident, for example, in the
court's ruling in favor of the governing party when the
opposition parties challenged some results of the
January-February municipal elections.

In addition to government influence over verdicts, the judicial
system's fairness is limited by poorly educated and poorly
trained judges who are susceptible to tribal and social
pressures.

Moreover, Shari'a (Islamic law), tribal regulations and
personal connections continue to dominate some judicial
decisions.

The formal judicial system includes a system of lower, middle,
and upper level courts, each with specific jurisdiction.
Bridging the traditional and modern systems of justice are 43
department-level tribunals staffed by Qadis, traditional
Islamic magistrates trained primarily in Koranic law.
Mauritanians seeking legal redress in civil matters must
address themselves to one of these tribunals, which operate on
the basis of both Shari'a and legal codes.  Three regional
courts of appeal handle challenges to decisions at the
department and regional levels.  Nominally independent, the
Supreme Court is headed by a magistrate named to a 5-year term
by the President.  The Supreme Court reviews decisions and
rulings made by the courts of appeal to determine their
compliance with the law.  Constitutional review is the purview
of a 6-member Constitutional Council, composed of three members
named by the President, two by the National Assembly President,
and one by the Senate President.

In theory, all defendants, regardless of the court or their
ability to pay, have the legal right to representation by
counsel during the proceedings which are open to the public.
The law provides that defendants may confront witnesses,
present evidence, and appeal their sentences, but in practice
these rights are not regularly applied.

Courts do not treat women as equals of men with respect to
legal testimony:  the testimony of two women is considered
equal to that of one man.  In addition, in awarding an
indemnity to the family of a woman who has been killed, the
courts grant only half the amount they would award for a man's
death.  In addition, there are no female magistrates.

There were no reported political prisoners or detainees at
year's end.  The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) has concluded that there are no longer any political
prisoners and discontinued monitoring.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The law requires judicial warrants in order to execute home
searches, but the authorities often ignore this requirement.
During the roundup of some 60 Islamists in September and
October, as well during the detention of human rights monitor
Cheik Saad Bouh Kamara, police searched detainees' homes and
seized papers without a search warrant.

There were fewer reports of government surveillance of
suspected dissidents than in previous years, although the
extent to which the Government used informants is unknown.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press,
but the Government continues to restrict these rights through
prepublication press censorship.  Opposition political leaders
campaigned openly during the municipal and Senate elections in
early 1994, and the government-controlled media provided
access, albeit limited, to opposition candidates.  NGO's and
the privately owned press are openly critical of the Government
and its leaders.  Antigovernment tracts, newsletters, and
petitions circulate widely in Nouakchott and other towns.

The electronic media (radio and television) and the country's
two daily newspapers, Horizon and Chaab, are government owned
and operated.  Radio is the most important medium in reaching
the public, and the official media strongly support government
policies.  All newspapers and political parties must register
with the Ministry of the Interior.  The Government has not
refused to register any journal but has on occasion temporarily
suspended publication of some.  At times there have been as
many as 60 independent, privately owned journals, although only
around 20 have appeared regularly.  For the most part, these
weeklies, published in Arabic or French, reached only a limited
audience.

The Ministry of the Interior reviews all newspaper copy prior
to publication.  The Press Law provides that the Minister of
the Interior can stop publication of material discrediting
Islam or threatening national security.  Although the Ministry
did not excise material from journals or otherwise censor
individual articles, authorities seized upwards of 20
individual issues of many different journals.  One journal, Le
Calame, was suspended for a month.  In some cases, the
Government explained its action, saying certain papers seized
contained false allegations concerning neighboring countries
which could impinge on national security.  In other instances,
the Government provided no specific reason for the seizures.

In September, in protest against the seizures, the seven
affiliated papers of the National Association of the
Independent Press (ANPI) suspended publication and demanded
changes in the Press Law to strengthen press independence.
These journals resumed publication in mid-October, while
continuing to press the Government with their demands for a new
press code.

The country's one university is government funded and
government operated.  Academic freedom is generally respected,
and there were no cases in which the Government prevented
professors from pursuing their research interests, from
publication, or censored their lectures.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly and
association, and for the most part the Government respects this
right, although there have been occasions when it restricted
public gatherings.  The law requires that all political parties
and NGO's must register with the Minister of the Interior and
obtain permission for large meetings or assemblies.  The
Minister of the Interior, citing the need to ensure public
order, denied a permit to the main opposition party, the Union
of Democratic Forces-New Era (UFD-EN), to hold a march and
rally to protest fraud committed during the January-February
municipal elections.

Over 16 political parties and a wide array of NGO's, many of
them highly critical of the Government, met openly, issued
public statements, and chose their own leadership.  The
Government recognized a number of newly formed NGOs, among them
a new labor confederation, the General Confederation of
Mauritanian Workers (CGTM), and the Professional Union of the
Independent Press in Mauritania (UPPIM).  The Government has
not yet granted some NGO's official sanction but allowed them
to operate.  It has not yet recognized the Mauritanian
Association for Human Rights, claiming that it appeals to
specific ethnic groups (i.e., the African-Mauritanian
community), and is a potentially divisive force.  However, the
Government allows the association to function.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

Freedom of religion does not exist.  Mauritania is an Islamic
republic, and the law provides that all citizens are Sunni
Muslim and prohibited from converting to another religion.  The
Government prohibits proselytizing by non-Muslims, and
Mauritanians are not allowed to enter non-Islamic houses of
worship or to possess sacred texts of other religions.

The Government allows the small Lebanese Shi'a community to
practice its religion privately and permits the expatriate
Christian community to hold services that are restricted to
non-Mauritanians.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation.

Historically there were few restrictions on travel in
Mauritania's traditional nomadic society.  With urbanization
and travel by automobile, the Government set up regular
checkpoints on roads at which travelers are stopped and papers
checked by the Gendarmerie.  Following cross-border raids from
Senegal, the Government imposed occasional temporary curfews.
There were no reported cases of persons being denied passports
for political reasons.

Of the approximately 70,000 African-Mauritanians who were
expelled by Mauritania or fled during the 1989-90 crisis, an
estimated 55,000 remained in refugee settlements in Senegal.
While many of the 15,000 Mauritanian Peuhl who took refuge in
Mali during the same crisis have integrated into the
population, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
discontinued at the end of the year the limited assistance they
had been providing to them.

The impasse for the 60,000 refugees still in Senegal remained
centered on their demands that the Government recognize their
Mauritanian citizenship before they return, repatriate them as
a group under international auspices, return their land, and
pay compensation for their losses.  The Government states that
it places no restrictions on the return of those expelled, and
continues to encourage a gradual, case-by-case repatriation;
some refugees have returned in this manner.  However, the
Government has so far failed to set up clear administrative
procedures for expellees wishing to obtain confirmation of
their citizenship and associated rights.

Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change Their Government

The Constitution provides citizens with this right, but the
Government circumscribes it in practice.  The 1992 multiparty
election of a civilian President ended 14 years of military
rule, but both the opposition and international observers
concluded that the elections were fraudulent.  Moreover, the
military continued to provide strong support to the regime, and
some previous Military Council members, in addition to
President Taya, remained in positions of power within the
Government and armed forces.

Because the major opposition parties, including the Union of
Democratic Forces-New Era (UDF-EN), boycotted the 1992 National
Assembly elections, the President's party, the Republican,
Democratic and Social Party (PRDS), dominates the General
Assembly, holding 66 seats of 79.  The PRDS and opposition
political parties, as well as independent candidates,
participated in the 1994 Senatorial elections, and PRDS
candidates won all but 1 of the 18 seats at stake.  Both the
opposition and the government parties committed fraud during
the 1994 elections.  Municipal councils elected the Senators by
indirect vote.

Women have the right to vote, but few are active in political
parties.  There were seven women in senior government
positions, including one Cabinet-level post.  There is one
elected woman senator and one mayor.

Black Mauritanians are underrepresented in senior government
positions.  Of 20 Cabinet ministers, 3 are Black Maurs, 3 are
Pulaars, and 1 is Soninke.  The other ministers are White Maurs.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

There are two human rights organizations in Mauritania, one of
which is the Mauritanian League for Human Rights, an officially
recognized body.  The League has occasionally played a
mediating role between the Government and representatives of
the refugees in Senegal and victims of the 1990-91 military
purge.  A second and as yet unrecognized organization, the
Mauritanian Human Rights Association (AMDH), while not
affiliated with the opposition, has many opposition members.
It has been more critical of the Government than the League,
particularly on the unresolved abuses of the 1989-91 period.
The AMDH called on the Government to be more forthcoming in
addressing the vestiges of slavery (see Section 6.c.).

In January the London-based International League for Human
Rights and the French human rights group, Agir Ensemble,
jointly visited Mauritania.  Government officials met with
representatives of the League, but refused to meet with the
representatives of Agir Ensemble, which had previously issued a
report highly critical of the Government's human rights
record.  Shortly after the group's departure, police
apprehended the President of the AMDH and questioned about his
international contacts, particularly those with Agir Ensemble
(see Section 1.d.).

Although the Government facilitated regular visits by the
International Labor Organization and the ICRC, it remained
selective in its approach to NGO's and international
organizations.  The Government asked Pharmaciens sans
Frontieres to coordinate international assistance to improve
prison conditions (see Section 1.c.).  As in previous years,
the Government and the U.S.-based Africa Watch, which has
published articles strongly critical of the Government's human
rights record, could not agree on the terms for a visit to
Mauritania.  Africa Watch sought written government guarantees
concerning freedom of movemen, and unimpeded access to
Mauritanians; the Government would only give oral assurances.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

The Constitution provides for equality before the law for all
citizens, regardless of race, national origin, sex, or social
status, and prohibits racially or ethnically based propaganda.
In practice, the Government often accords these rights on the
basis of ethnic and tribal affiliation, social status, and
political ties.

     Women

Women have legal rights to property and child custody and,
among the more modern and urbanized population, these rights
are recognized.  In theory, marriage and divorce do not require
the woman's consent.  Polygyny exists and, as sanctioned by the
teachings of Islam, a woman does not have the right to refuse
her husband's wish to marry additional wives.  In practice,
polygyny and arranged marriages are increasingly rare,
particularly among the Maur population.  Women also frequently
initiate a divorce.

Traditional forms of mistreatment of women continue, mostly in
isolated rural communities, but these practices appear to be on
the decline.  Such mistreatment includes forced feeding of
adolescent girls (Gavage) and female genital mutilation (see
below).

Resort to abuses such as wife beating appears limited.  The
police and judiciary occasionally intervene in domestic
disputes, but women in traditional society usually do not seek
legal redress, preferring to turn to family and ethnic group
members to resolve domestic disputes.

There are no restrictions on the education of women.  Few women
attend university and while the overall literacy rate is
approximately 34 percent, for women it is 21 percent.  The
Government has a policy of opening new employment opportunities
for women in areas traditionally reserved for men, such as
health care, communications, police, and customs services.
Women are well represented in government-owned radio and
television, and many news broadcasters are women.  The law
provides that men and women receive equal pay for equal work.
While not universally applied in practice, the two largest
employers, the civil service and the state mining company,
respect this law.  In the modern wage sector, women also
receive generous family benefits, including 3 months of
maternity leave.

     Children

The law does not provide any special protection for children's
rights.  There are programs to care for abandoned children, but
resources are inadequate.  The Government does not enforce
existing child labor laws; children often perform significant
labor in support of their families' activities.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), most often performed on young
girls, continues to be practiced widely among all ethnic groups
except the Wolof.  For the most part, the least severe form of
excision is practiced, although some groups practice
infibulation, the most severe form of FGM.  Evidence indicates
that the incidence is diminishing in the modern urban sector.
The Government, however, does not attempt to interfere with
these practices although government health workers try to
educate women to the dangers of the practice and of the fact
that it is not a requirement of Islam.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Ethnic and cultural tension and alleged discrimination arise
from the geographic and cultural line between traditionally
nomadic Arabic-speaking (Hassaniya) Maurs of the North and
black African herders and sedentary cultivators along the
Senegal River in the South.  Though culturally homogeneous, the
Maurs are divided among numerous tribal groups and are racially
distinguished as White Maurs (Beydane) and Black Maurs.  The
majority of the Black Maurs are Haratine, literally "one who
has been freed," although some Black Maur families were never
enslaved.  The southern African-Mauritanians are the Halpulaar
(the largest group), the Wolof, and the Soninke.  White Maurs
dominate positions in government, business, and the clergy.
African-Mauritanians are underrepresented in the military and
security sectors.  They, like human rights groups, contend that
this is based on ethnic and linguistic discrimination.

Ethnic tensions surfaced dramatically in the mass expulsions of
African-Mauritanians in 1989-90 and the settlement in the
Senegal River area by both White and Black Maurs.

Black Africans charge that the Government is misusing the 1983
land reform law to allow Maurs to encroach on fertile land in
the Senegal River valley which traditionally has been the
preserve of black Africans.  The Government claims the land was
underutilized and used by traditional landowners to maintain a
feudal system of serfdom.

Language has been a divisive issue since Mauritania's
independence and the establishment of Arabic as the national
language in 1973.  Successive government regimes--both civil
and military--which pursued a policy of "Arabization" in the
schools and in the workplace have exacerbated interethnic
tensions, putting non-Arabic-speaking African-Mauritanians at a
disadvantage.

The Government has attempted to institute a flexible
educational program permitting primary education in multiple
languages:  Arabic, French, or one of the three African
languages.  One result, however, is that in seeking admission
to the university, students not having elected Arabic are at a
disadvantage.  The linguistic debate and ethnic tension extend
even to the language used in law school diplomas.

Overt tensions between ethnic groups have lessened since the
explosive ethnic violence of 1989 to 1991, when the
Government's extrajudicial expulsions and reprisals by the
security forces were clearly based on ethnicity.  Nevertheless,
hostility and bitterness persist among the Black Maur and
African majority.  However, there is little cultural identity
or political cohesion within them.

     People with Disabilities

The Government does not mandate preference in employment or
education or public accessibility for disabled persons, but
provides some rehabilitation and other assistance for the
disabled.