Mauritania

• Revise the policy framework against forced labour and child labour. The impact of conflict and violence, as well as the forced return of migrants, must be better reflected in the national policy framework. Children of migrants should be granted access to education. Adults and youth above the minimum age should be provided with legal remedies in cases of non-payment of wages. The governance and oversight of the informal sector must be improved.

• Establish a list of hazardous work. A list of hazardous work is required as a basis for an integrated strategy to remove youth from intrinsically hazardous jobs or, where appropriate measures can be taken, toward eliminating the hazardous conditions.
• Disseminate existing legislation on child labour. A media campaign for the propagation of the Labour Code and the General Code on Child Protection should be implemented.
• Provide capacity building for child protection system actors on mainstreaming child labour issues. A wide range of child protection services such as psychosocial support, family tracing, reunification, and reintegration supported through case management might be needed.
• Train labour inspectors and workers’ representatives on child labour. Both labour inspectors and workers’ representatives have important roles and should be offered training on the prevention and identification child labour, especially in its worst forms.
• Carry out a pilot intervention in a specific sector or supply chain for the reintegration of children removed from the worst forms of child labour. Child labour-free communities should be created in the areas where their supply chains operate, particularly in dairy farming and artisanal fishing.

• Empower refugees and build the resilience of local populations. The resilience of host communities and refugees must be improved. Particular attention should be given to the Bassiknou Region (Moughataa), where new activities related to supply chains in dairy farming and livestock should be undertaken to boost employment and livelihoods.
• Develop an appropriate legal framework for the protection of refugees. An adequate legal framework against exploitation in child labour or forced labour is currently missing in Mauritania, and must be developed.
• Seek additional financial resources. Additional resources for policies and programmes protecting refugees against forced labour and child labour are required.

• Mainstream child labour and forced labour in the National Access to Justice Strategy. Relevant measures include the implementation of Law No. 2015-030, the operationalization of legal aid offices, the national mobilization of all key actors, and fiscal foresight for the public financing of aid.
• Adopt an appropriate legal framework. The scope of the law must be broadened to include legal aid, and the procedural safeguards against forced labour, trafficking, and child labour must be harmonized. In addition, the legal framework for the overall protection of children needs to be strengthened.

Child Labour

• List of Hazardous work for children was finalized

Human Trafficking

• National Action Plan against Human Trafficking was adopted.
• Two draft laws were submitted to parliament:
  • “Draft law on the prevention and suppression of trafficking in persons and the protection of victims”
  • “Draft law for the modification of certain provisions of Law No. 2010- 021 of February 10, 2010 relating to the fight against the smuggling of migrants”.

Child Labour in supply chains

• Elimination of child labour in the dairy and artisanal fisheries sectors: Since May 2020 two of the Mauritania’s regions (Wilayas) have been targeted, Guidimakha and Trarza.  The Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MFPT), Ministry of Livestock (MEL), Ministry of Social Affairs, Childhood and Family (MASEF) coordinated tripartite missions and two regional workshops were organised, in connection with strategic axes N°2 and 3 of the National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour in Mauritania (PANETE -RIM 2015-2020).

Migration

• Protection of migrant workers in Mauritania and elsewhere: The safe management of migration is the current priority of the government and its main development partners. Mauritania has a national migration management strategy, but it is under review to take into account new contexts in its governance, including the Marrakech Pact on Migration, adopted at the end of 2018, and Mauritania’s ratification of Convention No. 143 on 23 September 2019

Human Trafficking

• Rule of law and governance: Legal and policy frameworks, including access to justice and the right to effective remedies. Establishment of accountability institutions at national level: To combat human trafficking, the Government has adopted the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons (PANTP). This action plan addresses all aspects related to the issue of trafficking. It provides the Government with an integrated planning instrument to fight effectively and sustainably against this scourge. The government adopted a decree n°01197, the law 2015 -031 on the criminalisation of slavery and the law 2004-17 on the Labour Code. Mauritania has adopted a strategy for the protection of the child, the general code for the protection of the child