Countries: Mauritania
Variables: AOM-LAW-1

"Based on our review of national legislation, Mauritania establishes a minimum age of marriage of 18 years for women and men" (3). "Based on our review of national legislation, the Personal Status Law of Mauritania establishes a minimum age of marriage of 18 years for all women and men" (5). "Loi Portant Code du Statut Personnel CHAPITRE III : LES ELEMENTS CONSTITUTIFS DU MARIAGE Article 5 : Les éléments constitutifs du mariage sont: les deux époux, le tuteur « weli », la dot et le consentement. SECTION 1 : LES EPOUX Article 6 : La capacité de se marier est accomplie pour toute personne douée de raison et âgée de...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: TRAFF-PRACTICE-1

"The government routinely denies or otherwise downplays the existence of slavery in Mauritania" (5).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: TRAFF-DATA-1

"Mauritania abolished slavery in 1981 and criminalized it in 2007. However, adults and children from traditional slave castes in the Haratine and Afro-Mauritanian communities remain exposed to hereditary slavery practices such as forced labor without pay as domestic servants or farm laborers; the OECD reports women and girls from these communities are vulnerable to sexual violence and rape" (5)

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: MARR-LAW-1

"[T]hough article 9 requires a woman’s consent in marriage, 'the silence of a minor is [considered] her consent'" (1).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: LRW-LAW-1

"A draft law on gender-based violence, supported by the Ministry of Justice, has been twice rejected by parliament and remains pending at time of writing. The law would define and punish rape and sexual harassment, create special criminal court chambers to hear sexual violence cases, and allow nongovernmental groups to bring cases on behalf of survivors. While a step in the right direction, the current draft falls short in several respects, including by maintaining criminal charges for consensual sexual relations outside marriage and restrictions on abortion. Moreover, rape and sexual assault are defined too narrowly, and the Penal Code maintains references to forms of punishments degrading treatment, such as death...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: INFIB-LAW-1

"Female genital mutilation (FGM) is practiced despite the fact that the country’s General Code on Children’s Protection, adopted in 2017, unconditionally criminalizes it" (3).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: DV-PRACTICE-2

"The lack of shelters in Nouakchott and lack of government support left Rouhiya with no alternative to living in her abusive home, taking care of her newborn, with a father who continues to be physically violent. The gender-based violence law pending before parliament would oblige the government to create shelters with short and long-term accommodation options for survivors" (2).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: DTCP-PRACTICE-1

"A draft law on gender-based violence, supported by the Ministry of Justice, has been twice rejected by parliament and remains pending at time of writing.... [T]he Penal Code maintains references to forms of punishments degrading treatment, such as death by stoning or flogging" (2).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-1

"The alarming lack of medical services for survivors of sexual violence is compounded by a general shortage of doctors across the country. In 2018, Human Rights Watch found that conventional obstetrician-gynecologists performed non-standardized forensic examinations of sexual violence survivors, and that there was only one practicing forensic doctor in the country. The state does not permit midwives to perform forensic examinations, despite calls for them to be allowed to do so by nongovernmental organizations because there are more female midwives than female doctors. According to representatives of Médicos del Mundo in Mauritania, in most public hospitals and health centers, the doctor who examines and performs forensic testing on sexual violence...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: AFE-DATA-1

"School completion rates at the primary and lower secondary levels evince inequities between boys and girls. According to UNICEF, between 2012 and 2018, only 56 percent of girls completed primary school, compared to 64 percent of boys. Within the same timeframe, only 34 percent of girls completed lower secondary school, compared to 42 percent of boys. At the upper secondary level, boys and girls completed school at similar rates" (6). "The male completion rate was 14 percent, and 15 percent for females" (6). This refers to the completion of upper secondary school (ELW - CODER COMMENT).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: AFE-PRACTICE-1

"Mauritania’s national civil registration process, which began in 2011, is preventing some children from attending public school and taking mandatory national examinations. To complete the registration process, citizens and non-citizen residents are required to produce a range of official paperwork, but many people lack the necessary documents and have found the process of obtaining them arduous. Families told Human Rights Watch that some schools have rejected pupils who lack civil registration, even though school attendance is compulsory from ages 6 to 14. Despite attempts to standardize the civil registration procedures, local rules governing registration are often passed on orally, and rules are not applied consistently across civil registration centers. Some...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: AOM-LAW-1

"Though the legal age of marriage is 18, article 6 of the Personal Status Law allows guardians to contract some girls into marriage if their guardian deems the marriage in their 'best interest.' Moreover, though article 9 requires a woman’s consent in marriage, 'the silence of a minor is [considered] her consent.' The General Code of Children’s Protection provides sentences from five to 10 years of prison and a fine for a guardian who marries a child 'in the exclusive interest of the guardian,' without defining what that phrase means" (1).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: ATC-DATA-5

"As recognized by this Committee in its General Recommendation No. 30, attacks on students and schools, and the use of schools for military purposes, disproportionately affect girls…. . As of January 2021, 106 countries have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration—including all fellow G5 Sahel countries. However, Mauritania has yet to do so" (7).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: ATC-DATA-3

"To date, Mauritania has not lifted some CEDAW reservations related to eliminating discrimination in family benefits and requiring equality in marriage and family matters" (1).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: CLCW-PRACTICE-1, CLCC-PRACTICE-1

"Mauritania’s national civil registration process, which began in 2011, is preventing some children from attending public school and taking mandatory national examinations. To complete the registration process, citizens and non-citizen residents are required to produce a range of official paperwork, but many people lack the necessary documents and have found the process of obtaining them arduous. Families told Human Rights Watch that some schools have rejected pupils who lack civil registration, even though school attendance is compulsory from ages 6 to 14. Despite attempts to standardize the civil registration procedures, local rules governing registration are often passed on orally, and rules are not applied consistently across civil registration centers" (6).more