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The Committee notes the Government’s report, received in September 2004. It also notes the comments submitted by the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CLTM) received in February 2003 and sent to the Government in March 2003, which relate in part to issues covered by Convention No. 111, notably discriminatory practices in recruitment, occupation and classification and the unequal treatment of certain groups of Mauritanians. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) also submitted comments, on 9 September 2002, concerning participation of women, and these are being addressed in a direct request. The Committee refers also to its observation on the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), following the direct contacts mission to the country focusing on that Convention, in May 2004.

Article 1 of the Convention. Discrimination on the basis of race,
colour, national extraction, and social origin

1. The Committee notes the allegations by the CLTM that the State has established an arbitrary political and legal system according to which certain Mauritanians, in particular slaves, former slaves and descendant of slaves are excluded from active life and deprived of certain economic and social rights. The CLTM states that they are unpaid or underpaid, and that they do not have equal opportunities in employment due to discriminatory practices in recruitment, occupation and classification. The CLTM further alleges that the labour inspectorate is preventing workers from denouncing discriminatory practices and from bringing legal proceedings against their employers. The system is said to allow public and private establishments to violate the laws on a daily basis without being prosecuted and to discriminate in recruitment on the basis of social origin and political belonging. The Committee notes that these allegations relate closely to the concerns expressed in its previous observation regarding the treatment of former slaves and their descendents and the alleged exclusion and discrimination against some groups of the population, including black communities, in respect to access to employment. In this context, the Committee had requested information, including statistics, on measures taken by the Government to promote equal access of disadvantaged social and ethnic groups to training employment and occupation irrespective of their race, colour, or social origin.

2. The Committee notes that the Government’s report replies to some of the issues raised by the ICFTU and CLTM. It notes the Government’s statement that, in Mauritania, there are no disadvantaged ethnic groups because, in the past, the same social stratification (nobles, professionals or caste groups, tributaries and those held in slavery) existed amongst all of the four main ethnic groups composing Mauritanian society (Moors, Pulaar, Soninké and Wolof), and slavery used to exist within all of these groups. The Government adds that it is taking efforts to improve the conditions of all those living in poverty, who include others in addition to former slaves. The Committee also notes the adoption of the Labour Code of 2004, section 395(2), of which contains the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of race, national extraction, colour, sex, political opinion, religion and social origin, and section 104 of which requires the employer to respect the principle of non-discrimination with respect to recruitment. The Committee recalls that under Convention No. 111, "social origin" is a prohibited ground of discrimination and refers to situations in which an individual’s membership of a class, socio-occupational category or caste determines his or her occupational future. It points out that prejudices and preferences based on social origin may still persist even when rigid stratification in society have disappeared, and that former slaves and their descendents may continue to face discrimination in employment and occupation due to their social origin - as they are said to do by the CLTM. Noting that the Strategic Framework on the Fight against Poverty aims to reduce inequalities and to respond to the basic needs of the most deprived, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken or contemplated under this Framework to improve the levels of training and employment as well as the social mobility of the most disadvantaged men and women of all ethnic groups, and in particular the former slaves and their descendants, and to reduce discriminatory practices against them with respect to employment and occupation, and especially recruitment. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure effective and impartial supervision by the labour inspectorate of discriminatory practices and to guarantee the right of workers to institute legal proceedings when they consider they are being discriminated. It refers in this connection to the comments being made under Convention No. 29 on the strengthening of labour inspection.

3. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that it cannot supply any statistics on the impact of its actions targeting the most advantaged layers of society as these concern all citizens irrespective of their ethnic origin. The Committee recalls that in order to assess the impact of any government national non-discrimination policy and to determine the need for taking special measures to promote equality, some indication is needed, be it overall trends in employment and training, on the labour market situation of all groups in society. The Committee urges the Government to provide such information in its next report, to the extent it is available; and to indicate whether assistance is needed in the construction of an adequate statistical system.

Discrimination on the basis of national extraction

4. The Committee continues its follow-up to the recommendations made in 1991 by a committee established by the Governing Body to examine a representation made by the National Confederation of Workers of Senegal (CNTS), under article 24 of the ILO Constitution, alleging failure to apply the Convention, in particular to black Mauritanian workers of Senegalese origin whose employment was adversely affected as a consequence of the conflict with Senegal in 1989. In this context, the Committee is monitoring whether appropriate measures are implemented to compensate for the harm done to Mauritanian nationals who were subjected to discrimination, by reintegrating such persons into their employment and re-establishing their related rights. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that appropriate measures have been taken to reinsert these workers in professional life and to offer retirement pensions to those entitled to them. The Committee is bound to urge the Government once more to provide specific details on the measures taken and the number of affected workers that have been effectively inserted in government employment or alternatively provided with compensation, and those who received retirement pensions after the events of 1989, and on any administrative and legal appeals lodged by those who consider that they have suffered prejudice in these areas.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.