In Mauritania, the oppression of people does not stop with the slaves. It is incredibly difficult to solve a problem that the government refuses to acknowledge. Unfortunately, for Mauritanian abolitionists, their government denies the existence of slavery in the country. When asked by foreigners about the existence of slavery there, Mauritanian leaders skirt around the subject and act as if the topic was never brought up. No laws are passed or reinforced in regards to banning slavery. For instance, slavery was not “considered” a crime in Mauritania until 2007, and since then, only one slave owner has been prosecuted. Not only is the problem not acknowledged, but the people trying to eradicate slavery are oppressed as well. All meetings …show more content…
For example, Abdel Nasser Ould Ethmane, is one of many people trying to improve the lives of slaves and former-slaves. Abdel is a former slave owner. Although he and his family never beat their slaves, they still forced them to work with no pay. As he grew up, owning slaves was normal. He, himself, received his first slave as a gift for his circumcision ceremony. It was not until he studied the French Revolution in detail that he became familiar with the concept of human rights and the idea that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” Through his studies, Abdel realized the immorality of slavery and decided to free his slaves. In his early twenties, he organized a community of young activists to debate the merits of slavery. The fear of the government’s repercussions, if it were to find out about the meetings, required the meetings to secretly take place in sand dunes in the middle of the night. Although the government was somewhat controlling these men through fear, the men were brave and rebelled in their own way against the government’s crimes against their fellow Mauritanians. At the meetings, Abdel met Boubacar Messaoud, a former slave, whose family was granted some freedoms, even though they still worked