Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan : joint hearing before the Subcommitteess on International Operations and Human Rights and Africa of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, second session, March 13, PDF
Preview Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan : joint hearing before the Subcommitteess on International Operations and Human Rights and Africa of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, second session, March 13,
SLAVERY IN MAURITANIA AND SUDAN Y 4. IN 8/16:SL 1 Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan; 10... JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEES ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND AFRICA OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MARCH 13, 1996 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations OU Vtlflfj DEP 2pc^. 0Sl°T0Ry ents SEP o 4 1996 Gc *SS4te U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 25-249CC WASHINGTON : 1996 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington.DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-052817-8 9S.94Q Qfi-1 SLAVERY IN MAURITANIA AND SUDAN Y 4. IN 8/16:SL 1 Slavery in flauritania and Sudan* 10... JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEES ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND AFRICA OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MARCH 13, 1996 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations ifrim D ^0s,Tn°^nts ORY SEP °4 199S '^ESPUbn U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 25-249CC WASHINGTON : 1996 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice.Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-052817-8 0^,-OAQ QR- 1 COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS BENJAMIN A. OILMAN. New York, Chairman WILLIAM F. GOODLING, Pennsylvania LEE H. HAMILTON, Indiana JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut TOBY ROTH, Wisconsin TOM LANTOS, California HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska HOWARD L. BERMAN, California CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana HARRY JOHNSTON, Florida JAN MEYERS, Kansas ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York ELTON GALLEGLY, California ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida Samoa CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois ROBERT E. ANDREWS, New Jersey EDWARD R. ROYCE, California ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey PETERT. KING, New York SHERROD BROWN, Ohio JAY KIM, California CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida DAVID FUNDERBURK, North Carolina ALBERT RUSSELL WYNN, Maryland STEVEN J. CHABOT, Ohio JAMES P. MORAN, Virginia MARSHALL "MARK" SANFORD, South VICTOR O. FRAZER, Virgin Islands (Ind.) Carolina CHARLIE ROSE, North Carolina MATT SALMON, Arizona PAT DANNER, Missouri AMO HOUGHTON, New York TOM CAMPBELL, California Richard J. Garon, ChiefofStaff MICHAEL H. Van DUSEN, Democratic ChiefofStaff (II) Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York TOM LANTOS, California WHPIEELTNLERIRYATMJ.FKH.IYGNDOGEO,DNLIelIlwiNnGoYio,srkPennsylvania JCHAYONMWTEAHSRIDPA.ALM..OBMREcAKRNIM,NANVNiE,rYgiC,nailGaiefoorrgniiaa DAVID FUNDERBURK, North Carolina ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American MATT SALMON, Arizona Samoa EDWARD R. ROYCE, California DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey GROVERJOSEPH REES, Subcommittee StaffDirector and ChiefCounsel ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Professional StaffMember Stephanie E. Schmidt, StaffAssociate Subcommittee on Africa ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairperson TOBY ROTH Wisconsin GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas HARRY JOHNSTON, Florida SMTAERVSEHNALJ.LC"HMAABROKT",SOAhNiFoORD, South EDLOINOATLLD. ME.NGPEALY,NEN,ewNeYworJkersey MACTarTolSinAaLMON, Arizona VAILCCTEOERL.O.HFARSATZIINEGRS,,VFilrogriindaIslands AMO HOUGHTON, New York MAURICIO J. TaMARGO, Subcommittee StaffDirector PHILIP CHRISTENSON, Deputy StaffDirector DAVID ADAMS, Democratic Professional StaffMember (III) CONTENTS WITNESSES Page Mr. Willliam H. Twaddell, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. DepartmentofState 3 Mr. Samuel Cotton, Executive Director, Coalition Against Slavery in Mauri- tania andSudan 22 Dr. Charles Jacobs, Research Director, American Anti-Slavery Group 24 Mr. Mohamed Nacir Athie, Executive Director, International Coalition Against Chattel Slavery 26 Mr. Mervyn M. Dymally, MemberofCongress, retired 28 BDra.roGnaesspsaCrarBiorloi,neSpCeocxi,alDHepuumtaynSpReiagkhetrs,RHaopupsoretoefurLotrodtshe UnitedNatio..n.s...........". 4469 Dr. Kevin Vigilante, Clinical Associate Professor ofMedicine, Brown Univer- sitySchool ofMedicine 51 Mr. Augustine Lado, President, Pax Sudani """!!!"!"". 53 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 69 Mr. William H. Twaddell ....!!™"ZZ!'.!!!!!Z" 71 Mr. Samuel Cotton 79 Dr. Charles Jacobs 83 Mr. Mohamed NacirAthie 97 Mr. Mervyn M. Dymally ' 99 Baroness Caroline Cox 103 Dr. GasparBiro ' 117 Dr. Kevin Vigilante 119 Mr. Augustine Lado 125 Statement submitted for the record by Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement/ Arn ^Questi?oyns suvbmitted for the record to Mr. William H. Twaddell and responses 130 thereto 132 (V) SLAVERY IN MAURITANIA AND SUDAN WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1996 House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, Joint with Subcommittee on Africa, Washington, DC. The subcommittees met, pursuant to notice at 2 p.m. in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC, Hon. Christopher H. Smith, (chairman of the Subcommittee on Inter- national Operations and Human Rights), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, (chair ofthe Subcommittee on Africa) presiding. Mr. Smith. This hearing of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights and the Subcommittee on Africa will come to order. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The testimony we will hear today is about the practice of human chattel slavery. Most of us had believed that to a large extent this horrible practice belonged only in the past. But several of our wit- nesses today will tell us ofhaving seen it firsthand, having spoken with slaves as well as with their slave masters. According to accounts by anti-slavery activists, including some of our witnesses today, chattel slavery in Mauritania and Sudan is substantially identical to slavery as it was practiced in other cen- turies. It represents the subjugation of one race by another, or often of members of one religious group by members of the other. It frequently includes the grossest forms of degradation of women and children. Slavery is not to be confused with similar institutions such as serfdom or indentured servitude; however wrong these in- stitutions are. They involve only the ownership of one person's labor by another. In true slavery, the heinous practice of slavery, as we will hear is being practiced today, the master owns the slave's body. He owns the right to decide whom the slave will marry. When babies are born, the master owns the babies and can buy and can sell them. True slavery is about treating people as though they were not people, as though they were things without souls. We will also hear today from former Congressman Mervyn Dym- ally, who represents the Government of Mauritania. I understand that Congressman Dymally will testify that slavery no longer exists in Mauritania, at least officially, and that the government is doing We its best to eliminate the so-called vestiges of slavery. will clear- ly give him a respectful hearing, but we will also ask him how he (l) responds to the specific charges of people who say that they have seen slavery firsthand. The civilized world owes a debt of gratitude to the modern anti- slavery movement, some ofwhose leaders are here today. I would also like to personally thank Barbara Ledeen ofthe Inde- pendent Women's Forum who has been tireless in bringing this issue to the attention ofofficial Washington. In the modern world we often speak of fundamental human rights. Sometimes we say these words without thinking about what they mean. I believe that the idea of human rights has meaning only if rights are God-given, inalienable, and indivisible. Slavery is the ultimate denial ofall ofthese rights. Toleration of slavery, even when it is far away and in another country, is the ultimate state- ment of radical cultural relativism. We must do whatever it takes to abolish slavery. Not only because its victims are our brothers and sisters, but also because as long as there is anybody in the world who is a slave, none ofus is truly free. I would like to ask the distinguished chairwoman of the Sub- committee on Africa, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, if she would have any opening remarks. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Chris. I am glad that our two subcommittees have been able to work together to bring public attention to the persistent reports that slavery does indeed continue to exist in Mauritania and in Sudan. Slavery, what a shocking topic for a congressional hearing in 1996. We think about slavery as something that we read about in history class. Something that existed back in the distant past, something that belongs to a different era. The topic is one that you would think of as a subject for a historian's society meeting rather than as a human rights issue of the 1990's. And yet there are cred- ible reports that slavery still exists and that human beings are still being bought and sold in Sudan and Mauritania. If slavery does indeed exist in these countries, then we must do everything in our power to bring it to an end. There can be no tol- erance for slavery anywhere in the world. The United Nations re- ported over a year ago that there is information that shows a mas- sive increase in the number of cases of slavery, forced servitude, slave trading and forced labor in Sudan. If there is slavery in Sudan, then there ought to be international action, effective inter- national action, to impose severe and universal sanctions against Sudan. We should impose a broad range of sanctions against Sudan or against any other country that tolerates slavery or that engages in slave trading. With regard to Mauritania, the State Department Human Rights Report seems to have changed dramatically from last year. For in- stance, last year's Human Rights Report on Mauritania reported that with regard to the camp for refugees in that country, "In- formed estimates are that 10 percent ofthe 80,000 refugees in cam- paigns are slaves." This year's report says nothing whatsoever about those slaves, as if they simply disappeared. Similarly, the report of the State De- partment states that, "Tens of thousands of persons whose ances- tors were slaves still occupy positions ofservitude."
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