Mauritania, slave market

Mauritania abolished slavery in 1981, becoming the last country in the world to do so, but the practice of descent-based slavery persists due to a deeply entrenched system of racial hierarchy and the influence of a powerful, enslaved-owning minority. While anti-slavery laws were passed in 2007 and revised in 2015 to criminalize slavery and increase penalties, government inaction and suppression of activists have hindered their enforcement. Consequently, organizations like SOS-Esclaves continue to provide critical support, legal aid, and resources to victims of slavery

Slavery has been called "deeply rooted" in the structure of the northwest African country of Mauritania and estimated to be "closely tied" to the ethnic composition of the country, although it has also been estimated that "Widespread slavery was traditional among ethnic groups of the largely nonpastoralist south, where it had no racial origins or overtones; masters and slaves alike were black",despite the cessation of slavery across other African countries and an official ban on the practice since 1905.

In 1981, Mauritania became the last country in the world to officially abolish slavery, when a presidential decree abolished the practice. However, no criminal laws were passed to enforce the ban. In 2007, under international pressure, the government passed a law allowing slaveholders to be prosecuted. Despite the official abolition of slavery, the 2018 Global Slavery Index estimated the number of slaves as 90,000 (or 2.1% of the population),a reduction from the 155,600 reported in the 2014 index in which Mauritania ranked 31st of 167 countries by total number of slaves and first by prevalence, with 4% of the population. The Mauritanian government ranks 121st of 167 in its response to all forms of modern slavery. In 2017, the BBC claimed that a total of 600,000 were living in slavery.