Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

‘We were not equal to the rest of the family, that was made obvious. They
would beat us for any reason, sometimes we didn’t even know the reason.’
The brothers managed to escape five years ago, aged just eight and 11,
with the help of an aunt and a local anti-slavery group. A few months
after their escape, the criminal court of Nouakchott found Ahmed Ould El
Hassine guilty of holding them captive and denying them education.
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In the first – and only – successful prosecution under Mauritania’s
2007 anti-slavery legislation, El Hassine was sentenced to two years’
imprisonment and ordered to pay $4,700 (£3,866) in compensation.
Although the boys’ lawyer appealed the sentence, arguing it was far too
lenient, the supreme court released El Hassine on bail a few months later,
in clear breach of the verdict.
Five years on, with the help of lawyers and activists, the boys have taken
their case to the regional court of the African Committee of Experts on
the Rights and Welfare of the Child, a body of the African Union. Rights
groups representing the brothers are arguing that Mauritania has failed
to prosecute those responsible for enslaving them effectively. They point
out that the boys have been denied an education and physically abused,
in breach of Mauritania’s obligations under the African charter on
children’s rights and welfare.
Minority Rights Group International (MRG), which along with Mauritanian
human rights group SOS Esclaves is acting on behalf of the brothers, said
it was a good sign the regional court had declared the case admissible
nine months after it was opened.
SHEEP IN THE ROAD : NUMBER 17