Mauritania: Human rights organization IRA awarded for commitment against slavery

The Dutch Foreign Ministry will be presenting the Mauritanian human rights organization IRA with the Human Rights Award 2015 for its commitment against slavery. This was reported by the Ministry in The Hague. “The award is a significant contribution to the protection of threatened human rights activists in Mauritania. After all, the entire leadership of the anti-slavery organization IRA was detained for political reasons, and more and more members are arrested during protests every week,” said Ulrich Delius, Africa-expert of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), in Göttingen on Wednesday. The Dutch Foreign Minister, Bert Koenders, will present the “Tulip”-Human Rights Award to the IRA during a ceremony in The Hague on December 10, 2015, the Human Rights Day.

“For Mauritania’s President Mohamed Abdel Aziz, who had publicly denounced the imprisoned IRA-chairman Biram Dah Abeid in late November, the award is a slap in the face,” said Delius. In an interview with the French TV channel TV5, Aziz stated that slavery was banned in Mauritania. “Some people,” he stated, were trying to “make a trade” of denouncing slavery, but the imprisoned Biram had not managed to present any clear evidence. “Obviously, the European Parliament does not share this opinion,” said Delius. “Last week, the IRA was able to report on slavery in the West African country in a Parliament hearing.”

The great wave of international recognition for the courageous Mauritanian slavery critics started off in Weimar. There, following a proposal by the STP, Biram Dah Abeid was awarded with the Weimar Human Rights Award in 2011. This was followed by the Irish Frontline Defenders Prize (2013) and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights (2013). The Dutch prize is the fourth major international award for Biram Dah Abeid and the IRA.

“Human Rights prizes can potentially save lives. We hope that this renewed award will contribute to the fact that Biram Dah Abeid and his deputy, Brahim Ramdhane, will soon be freed from prison,” said Delius. They had been convicted in an unfair trial in January 2015, based on charges of membership in an illegal organization and of breaching peace, leading to prison terms of two years. The Mauritanian authorities have been refusing to recognize the human rights organization IRA as a non-governmental organization for four years, despite the international awards.

Header Photo: Paul Williams via Flickr