NGOs to present activist with award for fighting slavery in Mauritania
Mauritania has an estimated 500,000 slaves in the country – the highest rate of slavery in the world.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFBiram Dah Abeid(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A coalition of 25 NGOs will present Biram Dah Abeid with the Courage Award on Tuesday at the 12th annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy for fighting throughout his life to ending slavery in his country of Mauritania, the summit said in a statement.The award will be presented in Geneva days before Mauritania joins the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.Abeid, a descendant of former slaves who has been dubbed "the Nelson Mandela of Mauritania," is the founder of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), and has mobilized tens of thousands of his countrymen to speak out against the government's failure to end slavery in the country, which has an estimated 500,000 slaves in the country – the highest rate of slavery in the world.These protests included demonstrations, marches, hunger strikes and more, and have served to urge Mauritania to punish slave owners and work to end slavery in the country.For his efforts, Abeid was imprisoned by the government on multiple occasions over the last 10 years.Nonetheless, Abeid has refused to remain quiet, and his efforts resulted in Time Magazine ranking him as one of the top 100 most important people in the world in 2017.After receiving the award, Abeid will address the crowd of activists, journalists and diplomats attending the summit to bring global attention to the rampant slavery and abuses that occur in Mauritania."Over the past decade, my government has become renowned for its persecution, torture, and imprisonment of peaceful people whose only crime is fighting for equality and against discrimination," Abeid said in the statement."It is on their behalf, and in the spirit of their courage, that I am humbled and deeply grateful to receive this prestigious award."
