The Continuing Struggle to End Slavery in Mauritania

Sean Tenner earned his bachelor’s degree cum laude in American government from Georgetown University in 1998, following which he embarked on a career in progressive activism. Since 2008, he has served as president of KNI Communications, a Chicago-based firm that that works with businesses, nonprofits, and political figures. In 2013, together with Bakary Tandia, an African human rights leader living in the United States, Sean Tenner co-founded the Abolition Institute, an organization dedicated to ending slavery in the West African nation of Mauritania.

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania gained its independence from France in 1960. Although French law and policies outlawed slavery, French officials in the early 20th century were convinced that slavery was a cultural phenomenon, and that to attempt to end it would result in widespread disruption and unrest. As a result, the French did not strenuously enforce anti-slavery policies. The practice of chattel slavery was outlawed in the republic’s 1960 constitution, and was again abolished in 1981 by presidential decree. It wasn’t until 2007, though, and again in 2015, that criminal penalties for violating the law were passed, although few slave-holders have been prosecuted.

Despite anti-slavery legislation, slavery remains a very real phenomenon in Mauritania. Various organizations estimate that from 43,000 to 800,000 Mauritanians are currently enslaved, out of a total population of about 4.4 million. Enslaved people are considered property, and the status of slave is hereditary — a baby born to an enslaved person becomes a slave. Mauritania’s system of slavery is also race-based — the enslaved generally belong to the darker-skinned Arab-Islamic group, while their owners belong to a lighter-skinned Arab-Berber elite. This group comprises about 30 percent of Mauritania’s population, but controls its economy and government.

The elimination of slavery in Mauritania remains an elusive goal in part because the government insists it has already been achieved. What progress has been made has largely been the result of international pressure. More information about slavery in Mauritania and the Abolition Institute’s efforts to combat it is available online at stoppingslavery.org.