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Mauritania - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Nouakchott

 

CLIMATE

Desert climate; constantly hot, dry, and dusty.

 

LANGUAGES

Hasaniya Arabic (official), Pular, Soninke, Wolof (official), and French.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Mauritania’s legal system is a combination of Shari'a (Islamic law) and French civil law.

 

CURRENCY

Mauritania Ouguiya (1 USD = 289.450 MRO as of May 15, 2002).

 

MAURITANIA - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

MAURITANIA - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Nouakchott

Rue Abdallaye

Nouakchott, Mauritania

B.P. 222

Nouakchott, Mauritania

Telephone: [222] 25-26-60

Fax: [222] 25-15-92

 

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania at Washington D.C.

2129 Leroy Place N.W.

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 232-5700

Fax: (202) 319-2623

Email: info@mauritaniembassy-usa.org

http://www.mauritaniembassy-usa.org

 

MAURITANIA - HOLIDAYS

MAURITANIA - LEAVE

Maternity Leave: 14 weeks – 100% of pay (paid by social security).

 

MAURITANIA - MINIMUM AGE

The law provides that children must not be employed before the age of 14 in the nonagricultural sector unless the Minister of Labor grants an exception due to local circumstances. The law specifies that no child under the age of 13 may be employed in the agricultural sector without the permission of the Minister of Labor or under the age of 14 in the nonagricultural sector.

 

The law states that employed children between the ages of 14 and 16 should receive 70 percent of the minimum wage, and that those between the ages of 17 and 18 should receive 90 percent of the minimum wage.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Mauritania – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

MAURITANIA - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The minimum monthly wage for adults is 9,872 ouguiya (approximately $38.71).

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Mauritania – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

MAURITANIA - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

MAURITANIA - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides for freedom of association and the right of citizens to join any political or labor organization. All workers except members of the military and police are free to associate in and establish unions at the local and national levels. The bulk of the labor force is in the informal sector, with most workers engaged in subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry; only 25 percent are employed in the wage sector. However, nearly 90 percent of industrial and commercial workers are organized.

 

The Labor Code, does not restrict trade union pluralism, and there are three labor confederations: The Union of Mauritanian Workers (UTM), the General Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CGTM), and the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CLTM). There also are four unaffiliated professionally based labor unions. The oldest of the three confederations, UTM, still is viewed by many workers as closely allied with the Government and the ruling PRDS. It has lost ground to the CGTM, which was recognized in 1994 with 23 member unions, and the CLTM, which was founded in 1995 and recognized in 1998. The CGTM is not affiliated with any party, although most of its members tend to favor the opposition. The CLTM is associated with the Action for Change (AC) opposition party.

 

The Government provides funds to the confederations in proportion to their memberships. All three confederations supplied representatives to the country's four labor tribunals and were included in most government deliberative or consultative bodies. Several independent trade unions, in particular three for teachers at the elementary, secondary, and university levels, also were active.

 

The law provides workers with the right to strike. It also provides for tripartite arbitration committees composed of union, business, and government representatives. Once all parties agree to arbitration, the committee may impose binding arbitration that automatically terminates any strike. Strikes in the private sector must be preceded by submission of a nonconciliation or negotiation-breakdown report. There were no strikes or work stoppages during the year.

 

The International Labor Organization (ILO) Committee of Experts has noted that compulsory arbitration effectively prohibits strikes and has asked the Government to bring its legislation into compliance with the requirements of ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize; however, there was no government action by year's end.

 

International trade union activity continued. The Government included CGTM, UTM, and CLTM representatives in its delegation to the ILO in June 2000. The national federations continued to organize training workshops for their memberships throughout the country.

 

Unions are free to affiliate internationally. The UTM participates in regional labor organizations. The CGTM and UTM are both members of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The UTM is a member of the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), but the CGTM's application was not accepted, as the OATUU only accepts one member federation from each country.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The law provides that unions may organize workers freely without government or employer interference. General or sectoral agreements on wages, working conditions, and social and medical benefits are negotiated in tripartite discussion and formalized by government decree. Wages and other benefits also may be negotiated bilaterally between employer and union and the results of such negotiations are filed with the Directorate of Labor. Although the Directorate has the ability to change the negotiated settlement between labor and business, there were no known cases of such action.

 

Laws provide workers with protection against antiunion discrimination and employees or employers may bring labor disputes to three-person labor tribunals administered jointly by the Ministries of Justice and Labor with the participation of union and employer representatives. The Government in theory can dissolve a union for what it considers an "illegal" or "politically motivated" strike; however, there were no instances in which the Government did this. No unions were disbanded during the year.

 

There are no export processing zones (EPZ's); however, the Investment Code approved by the National Assembly in December provides for the creation of EPZ's.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor; however, the law only applies to the relations between employers and workers and there were reports that such practices occurred. The ILO Committee of Experts has requested that the Government take measures to extend the prohibition to any form of forced labor and vestiges. Citizens continued to suffer the effects and consequences of the practice of slavery and of caste distinctions over generations including the traditional existence of a slave caste in both Moor and southern (black African) communities. Slavery was abolished officially three times in the country, most recently by the post-independence government in 1980. Even before 1980, the practice of slavery among the traditionally pastoralist Moors had been reduced greatly by the accelerated desertification of the 1970's; many White Moors dismissed their former Black Moor slaves because the depletion of their herds left them unable either to employ or to feed slaves. However, widespread slavery also was traditional among ethnic groups of the largely nonpastoralist south, where it had no racial origins or overtones; masters and slaves both were black. The south has suffered less from desertification, and some reports identify it as the region in which vestiges and consequences of slavery persist most strongly.

 

A system of officially sanctioned slavery in which government and society join to force individuals to serve masters does not exist. There has been no open trading in slaves for many years; however, there continued to be unconfirmed reports that slavery in the form of forced and involuntary servitude persisted in some isolated areas. Unofficial voluntary servitude persists, with some former slaves continuing to work for former masters in exchange for monetary or nonmonetary benefits such as lodging, food, or medical care. Many persons, including some from all ethnic groups, still use the designation of slave in referring to themselves or others. The reasons for the persistence of such practices appear to be economic, psychological, and religious, although they vary widely between the different ethnic groups. Poverty, persistent drought, and a weak economy provided few economic alternatives for many and left some former slaves vulnerable to exploitation by former masters. There were reports that some former slaves in some sedentary communities have continued to work for their former masters or others without renumeration in order to retain access to the land they traditionally farmed, although the law provides for distribution of land to the landless, including to former slaves, and this law has been enforced in many cases (see Section 1.f.). Anecdotal evidence suggests that no more than 20 percent have received land. Deeply embedded psychological and tribal bonds also make it difficult for many individuals who have generations of forebears who were slaves to break their bonds with former masters or their tribes. Some persons continue to link themselves to former masters, because of the belief that their slave status had been ordained religiously, and due to fear of religious sanction if that bond is broken.

 

Adults cannot be obliged by law to remain with former masters nor can they be returned if they leave. However, adult females with children have greater difficulties and may be compelled to remain in a condition of servitude. For example, in some cases, especially where the former master claims to be the father, former masters refuse to allow children to accompany their mothers when the mother leaves the master. In other cases, the greater economic responsibility of supporting a family may be the principal impediment to a woman seeking a new life. Children's legal status is more tenuous than that of adults. There have been no reports of sales or the "transfer" of children or other individuals from one employer or master to another since 1996, when there were occasional confirmed cases of transfers; reports of sales are rare, cannot be confirmed, and appear to be confined to past years.

 

Problems related to the vestiges and consequences of slavery usually entered the public domain in judicial cases, most often in the form of child custody and inheritance disputes between former masters and former slaves or their descendants. In most cases involving custody disputes between former masters and former female slaves, the courts have been instructed by the Minister of Justice to rule in favor of the women, and in virtually all custody cases that were tried were decided in favor of the women; however, court adjudication of such cases is rare. The determination of such cases is problematic in a country where there is polygyny, "secret" marriages, no written records, and divorce by repudiation (see Section 5). The courts are prepared to pursue the concept of genetic testing to determine paternity, but no such cases have yet been brought. Several inheritance disputes between Haratines and the descendants of their former master were adjudicated in court in recent years. Most such disputes were decided in accordance with the law, as the courts ruled that the descendants of the former slaves should inherit their property; however, in some cases involving land tenure, courts reportedly did not uphold the property rights of former slaves. In 2000 the land of several Black Moor families, some of whom were former slaves, in the Dar El Barka and Boghe communes was confiscated by the Wali (Governor) for redistribution to his relatives and supporters. The Government punished the Governor by removing him from his post. The new Governor was considering returning the land to the Haratine communes, but had not done so by year's end (see Section 1.f.).

 

The legacy of caste distinctions continued to affect the status and opportunities available to various groups. For example, in some groups, individuals of a higher caste who seek to marry someone of a lower caste may be barred by their families or by the community, and in Soninke communities members of the slave caste cannot be buried in the same cemetery as other castes.

 

NGO positions on the existence of slavery are not uniform. For example, SOS-Esclaves in an 1997 report characterized slavery as a persistent social reality, whose occurrence among disadvantaged classes is far from negligible (see Section 4). The Organization of African Unity's (OAU) African Commission on Human and People's Rights issued a report in 1997 that disputed the conclusions of the SOS-Esclaves report. While allowing for the possibility of isolated cases of slavery in the remote countryside, the Commission concluded that slavery does not exist as an institution and that the persistence of vestiges of slavery was the more convincing explanation of social relations. Anti-Slavery International has stated that there is insufficient evidence to conclude whether or not slavery exists, and that an in-depth, long-term study was required to determine whether the practice continues.

 

Three NGO's--SOS-Esclaves, the National Committee for the Struggle Against the Vestiges of Slavery in Mauritania, and the Initiative for the Support of the Activities of the President--focused on issues related to the history of slavery in the country. SOS-Esclaves particularly was active in bringing to public attention cases in which it found the rights of former slaves to have been abridged and in assisting former slaves in their difficulties with former masters. Other human rights and civic action NGO's also follow this issue closely. The independent press, which includes journals that are published by Haratines and southern-based ethnic groups who emphasize issues of importance to these ethnic groups, also is quick to report any incident that comes to its attention in which the rights of former slaves have not been respected.

 

The Government focuses on education, literacy, and agrarian reform as the main means to eradicate the vestiges of slavery and address its consequences. Classes are integrated fully, including boys and girls from all social and ethnic groups. In recent years, the Government's record in cases in which an individual's civil rights were affected adversely because of status as a former slave was poor. When complaints were filed with the Government to remedy cases involving detention of individuals against their will, the Government intervened in accordance with the law, although sometimes only after considerable prompting and passage of time. In 1999 the Government created a new cabinet post, the Commissariat for Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Integration. A major focus of the commissariat is to address the vestiges and consequences of slavery.

 

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children, and there were reports that children in families affected by the vestiges of slavery also performed labor; however, such labor was not forced.

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The law provides that children must not be employed before the age of 14 in the nonagricultural sector unless the Minister of Labor grants an exception due to local circumstances. The Government has a functional labor inspectorate empowered to refer violations directly to the appropriate judicial authorities. The Government lacked sufficient resources to enforce existing child labor laws (see Section 5).

 

The law specifies that no child under the age of 13 may be employed in the agricultural sector without the permission of the Minister of Labor or under the age of 14 in the nonagricultural sector. The law states that employed children between the ages of 14 and 16 should receive 70 percent of the minimum wage, and that those between the ages of 17 and 18 should receive 90 percent of the minimum wage. Young children in the countryside commonly pursue herding, cultivation, fishing, and other significant labor in support of their families' activities. In keeping with longstanding tradition, many children serve apprenticeships in small industries and in the informal sector. There is no child labor in the modern industrial sector.

 

Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not conduct any efforts such as the 2000 campaign to publicize the rights of children, including pertinent labor regulations and the objective of universal education.

 

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children, and there were reports that children in families affected by the vestiges of slavery also performed labor; however, such labor was not forced (see Section 6.c.). Children of slave families are allowed to attend school.

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The minimum monthly wage for adults is $38.71 (9,872 ouguiya). The national minimum monthly wage does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.

 

The standard, legal, nonagricultural workweek may not exceed either 40 hours or 6 days without overtime compensation, which is paid at rates that are graduated according to the number of supplemental hours worked. Domestic workers and certain other categories work 56 hours. The Labor Directorate of the Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcement of the labor laws, but in practice inadequate funding limited the effectiveness of the Directorate's enforcement.

 

The Ministry of Labor also is responsible for enforcing safety standards but did so inconsistently, due to inadequate funding. In principle workers can remove themselves from hazardous conditions without risking loss of employment; however, in practice they cannot.

 

The law protects legal but not illegal foreign workers, and foreign workers may join unions.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

The law prohibits trafficking in persons, and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

 

MARITANIA - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

MAURITANIA - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The standard, legal, nonagricultural workweek may not exceed either 40 hours or 6 days without overtime compensation, which is paid at rates that are graduated according to the number of supplemental hours worked. Domestic workers and certain other categories work 56 hours.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Mauritania – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)