Articles for Mauritania

On 3 November 2015, Alkarama attended the second cycle of Mauritania's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. Mauritania's Minister of Justice, Brahim Ould Daddah, defended their second national report before the United Nations' Member States and discussed major human rights advancements undertaken by the authorities since 2010.

On 15 October 2015, Alkarama attended a pre-session briefing organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, in view of the Mauritania's Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which will take place between 2 and 13 November 2015. Alkarama expressed its main concerns and recommendations, focusing on the practice of torture and the poor detention conditions, the authorities' failure to obtain transitional justice as well as their persecution of human rights defenders.

On 23 July 2015, Alkarama submitted a communication to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence (SR Truth) concerning the case of Abderrahmane Ould Ahmed, an activist still threatened and persecuted by the Mauritanian authorities for his fight against the impunity of the perpetrators of the Inal massacre of black Mauritanians in the early 1990s.

The background

On 23 March 2015, Alkarama submitted its report on Mauritania's human rights record to the United Nations Human Right Council (HCR) in view of Mauritania's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 3 November 2015.

On 1 December 2014, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, following the arrest of Biram Dah, President and Founder of The Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA - Mauritania), an organisation founded in 2008 to fight against slavery.

Maarouf Ould Al Hiba, 33, was secretly detained in Salah Eddine military base, North Mauritania. He died on 12 May 2014 in dubious circumstances. The little information available on the nature and legal status of this centre of detention comes in addition to Alkarama's concern over this death.

Two weeks after the incident on 8 June, the personal effects of the forteen detainnes-books, mattresses, and blankets-were returned to their families without further explanation by the penitentiary administration.

The Human Rights Council meets on 9 November 2010 to proceed with the Universal Periodic Review of Libya. Alkarama has presented a report in this context.
- Mauritania's National Report
- Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Mauritania