| Total
Child Labour |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
* For the year 2000,
the ILO projects that there will be 68,000 economically active children,
34,000 girls and 34,000 boys. Between the ages of 10-14, representing 22.10%
of this age group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
*
In 1995, there were 71,000 economically active children, 35,000 girls and
36,000 boys between the ages of 10-14, representing 23.97% of this age
group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* There is no child labour in the modern industrial sector, but children
perform a significant amount of labour in the informal sector. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Young children in
the countryside commonly pursue herding, cultivation, fishing, and other
significant labour in support of their families' activities. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
|
| Child
Slavery |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* There are an estimated
1,000,000 haretine (black African) slaves. A large percentage of these
are children. (American
Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing
Moctar Teyeb of El Hor, testimony to the US Senate, 28 September 2000)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Mauritanian slaves
are sometimes exported to Sheiks in Qatar and the UAE. (American
Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing
Moctar Teyeb, Tikkun Magazine)
* The government prohibits forced and bonded labour, including by children,
but does not enforce this prohibition effectively. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* The traditional practice of slavery continues to exist, caste distinctions
including the traditional existence of a slave castes is prevalent in both
Moor and southern communities. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* There continues to be unconfirmed reports that slavery in the form of
forced and involuntary servitude may persist in some isolated areas. Unofficial
voluntary servitude persists, with some former slaves continuing to work
for former masters in exchange for monetary or non-monetary benefits such
as lodging, food, or medical care. Many persons, including some from all
ethnic groups, still use the designation of slave in referring to themselves
or others. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* SOS-Esclaves in an April 1997 report characterised slavery as a persistent
social reality, whose occurrence among disadvantaged classes is far from
negligible. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* According to a 1993
US State Department Report, Mauritania has the world's largest concentration
of chattel slaves. (American
Anti-Slavery Group, Charles Jacobs, Slavery: Worldwide Evil, April 1996)
|
| Child
Trafficking |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Mauritanian slaves
are sometimes exported to Sheiks in Qatar and the UAE.
(American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000,
citing Moctar Teyeb, Tikkun Magazine)
* Suspected
child trafficking activities have also been identified in Benin,
Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. These networks
feed the domestic labour market in the main urban centres of countries
like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo.
(UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic
Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)
*
In addition to the previously known South Asian trafficking routes,
coming from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Anti-Slavery International
has evidence of children being trafficked from Mauritania to the
Gulf to be used as camel jockeys. In October 1997, police intercepted
traffickers in neighbouring Mali taking young Mauritanian children
to the Gulf. (CWA,
Anti-Slavery International – Urgent Action
on Child Labour, "Child Camel Jockeys in the Gulf States",
Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 13, Nos. 2 & 3, April - September
1997)
|
| Child
Prostitution and
Pornography |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* There are reports
of foreign paedophiles at work and an increase in the boy victims of prostitution.
(US Dept of Labor, Prostitution of Children,
1996)
|
| Children
in Crime |
-
|
| Child
Soldiers |
RECRUITMENT LAWS AND REGULATIONS
*
Volunteers are taken from 16 years of age. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database)
* Official sources
claimed recently that recruitment into the armed forces is done
on a voluntary basis and the minimum age of recruitment is actually
18. (CSUCS,
Africa Report, April 1999, citing the military attaché at the Embassy
of Mauritania in Paris, 10 February 1999)
NOTES ON GOVERNMENT FORCES
*
There are indications of under-18s in government armed forces given
that recruitment is possible from the age of 16. However, numbers
of such recruits are not known. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
|
| Domestic
Child Servants |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Suspected
child trafficking activities have been identified in Mali, Mauritania
and Burkina Faso. These networks feed the domestic labour market
in the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon,
Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo.
(UNICEF,
The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central
Africa, July 1998)
|
Other
Hazardous
Child Labour |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Many children serve
apprenticeships in small industries and in the informal sector.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
SPECIFIC SECTORS
* Street Children
- Local NGOs estimate that there are over 150 street children.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
|
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