Dr Marie Rodet interviewed by BBC Afrique for the National Day against Slavery in Mauritania

On 6 March 2023, for the National Day against Slavery in Mauritania, Dr Marie Rodet gave an interview about descent-based slavery in West Africa to BBC Afrique. You can listen to it here (in French), or read the English translation of the interview transcript.

Interview transcript:

Presenter:
Mauritanians celebrated the national day against descent-based slavery yesterday. In this country, despite a law criminalising the practice, some international NGOs believe that the evil has not been totally eradicated. Dr. Rodet, a specialist in the history of slavery in Africa, is the guest of BBC Morning. She answers Souleymane Issa Maiga.

Interviewer:
Dr. Rodet, thank you for agreeing to answer BBC Africa’s questions. What is descent-based slavery?

Dr. Rodet:
Slavery by descent is a status that is inherited, a hereditary status that is there in West African communities because an ancestor or a person was supposedly taken into slavery. And so all the people who come from that ancestor are considered in these communities as ‘slaves’ and are called ‘slaves’. They in turn pass on the status to their children. And they are categorised as “slaves” and unfortunately suffer a range of discrimination and even violence. Everything is done to belittle them, to discriminate against them because of this inherited status in their own societies, they cannot accede to certain functions, in particular village chiefs, even political functions, such as mayor, and they are sometimes buried in separate cemeteries. In Muslim villages, men are also denied access to the imamate or to leading the prayer.

Interviewer:
So in which countries does this practice still exist?

Dr. Rodet:
Descent-based slavery concerns almost all African communities in West Africa, and persists to this day in the form of fixed social categories, which cannot be changed, which are experienced as inevitable, and which even prevent marriages between the different social categories.

Interviewer:
So Dr. Rodet, yet many countries have passed laws criminalising this practice, what is blocking their implementation?

Dr. Rodet:
Well, often these laws are passed to, for example, meet international treaties that have been signed. But there is not always a real commitment from the states and a law is not enough, it has to be applied and for that to happen, these laws have to be accompanied. So before such a law is passed, awareness-raising must begin. And once it is passed, it must be continued. And in fact, what states like Mauritania or even Niger do, Mali has not yet adopted a law criminalising descent-based slavery, is that they put measures in place but do not accompany them. States are very timid. In fact, for many decades, they said that it didn’t exist, that what was taken for slavery was not slavery, it was customs, it was their traditions.

Interviewer:
Dr. Rodet, tomorrow is International Women’s Day. Are they more victims of this practice?

Dr. Rodet:
In West Africa, women and children are the majority of victims of slavery. Why ? Because children are easier to keep under this domination and women have children in the community so it is thought that they can be held by this means and that they will not rebel. It’s women who are mainly victims of specific violence. They are victims of sexual violence, the children who are born of rape and remain in the community are not considered full citizens and continue to be considered as “slaves” and “descendants of slaves”.

Interviewer:
So how do we stop this practice in Africa?

Dr. Rodet:
First of all, we need to change mentalities. It’s a long process but it’s a process that can be done, especially by targeting the new generation. Where there is a huge amount of work to be done, and this is what we are working on with my action research programme, is to really raise awareness among young people by saying that this is a cause that must concern everyone. These are causes that must become national causes. When it comes to human rights, you have to fight for all human rights, you don’t pick and choose which human rights you want to defend. And descent-based slavery is a crime against which the younger generation must become involved, and a whole arsenal of awareness-raising measures must be made available. This can be done through activities in secondary schools, as we have done: slam competitions on this issue, brochures, debates, concerts. Personalities in these countries must also get involved and no longer be ashamed to talk about these issues, because at present, if nothing is done, in states that are increasingly confronted with security problems, terrorists and others take advantage of the loopholes and social conflicts to better occupy the ground. It’s a problem of national and international security, it’s a problem of development, it takes time, so we really need political will.

Interviewer:
Dr. Rodet, thank you.

Dr. Rodet:
Thank you very much.

One Comment

  1. Boubacar Traoré-Reply
    12/04/2023 at 13:41

    Vraiment l’esclavage existe à100% en Mauritanie favorisée par le gouvernement,ses députés ses maires

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