Protesters
gathered in front of a police station located in Boutilimit, Mauritania to
demand the end of slavery. They specifically wanted the arrest of a family who
was accused of holding a slave since childhood. The girl, now 18, was forced to work menial
tasks and sometimes even beaten by the family that enslaved her since the age
of 4. Her mother had also worked for the same family but was replaced by her
daughter. The authorities briefly detained several members of the family accused
of enslaving the girl but the prosecutor released them saying there was no
evidence of the crime. As the protests continued for weeks, demonstrators were
arrested and beaten while the slave masters remained undistributed by authorities.
According to the 2013 Global Slavery Index, Mauritania has the highest
prevalence of slavery with as many as 140,000 or more of the nation’s 3.8 million
enslaved.
Slavery
is a sociological created problem because people are the creators of slavery, and
they are the ones who can also destroy it. Because slavery is socially
constructed, it also has social side effects that negatively impact the group
of people who are being enslaved. For example, slavery creates a social imbalance
in any society because there is always a superior group and an inferior group.
In the case with Mauritania, Moors (light-skinned elites that are often a
mixture of Berber and Arab) belong to the superior group and the dark skinned
people living in poverty belong to the inferior group.
This
also leads to injustice and continued cruelty, bigotry, racism, and denial of
human rights for all. This was also the case with Mauritania who denies that
there is a slavery problem and does nothing to people who enslave others
because of the social standing in society. In the article it says that in 2007,
a law criminalizing slavery was passed but three years later, nobody had been
prosecuted under it. This is what caused uproar in demanding more attention towards
ending slavery in Africa which has already existed for centuries. This is
mostly affecting those families who are living in poverty because they are more
likely to become enslaved than those who are living in the upper class. Slavery
impacts families in various ways but by making it very difficult for families
in poverty to move out of that state. It is especially difficult for females
who are raped by their masters and become pregnant with his child. They are not
guaranteed food or shelter if they leave and by staying they are continuing the
cycle of slavery with their child.
Karina
Velazquez
12/15/13
1:55
pm
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