Countries: Mauritania
Variables: TRAFF-PRACTICE-2

"[D]iscrimination in employment is also deeply rooted in social status and ethnicity. Women and girls of Haratine descent are subjected to slavery and forced labour where there are exposed to violence and mistreatment" (6).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: TRAFF-DATA-1

"Thousands of people from minority Haratine and Afro-Mauritanian groups live as domestic servants and child bridesth subjected to violence and abuse" (3).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-1

"Leblouh or gavage also known as forced fattening is the practice of force-feeding young girls to fatten them up for marriage. It is closely linked with childhood marriage because forced fattening accelerates puberty and makes younger girls appear more womanly and ready for marriage. The girls are put on high calorie diets, animal growth hormones and other dangerous drugs to help pile on weight, as obesity is typically regarded as a sign of beauty in Mauritania. Leblouh seriously endangers the health of young girls and there have been cases of deaths of young girls who were force fed" (3).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: MMR-PRACTICE-1

"In a progressive move, Mauritania approved the country’s first ever Reproductive Health and Family Planning law in 2017. Later that same year, the Ministry of Health gave the go ahead to all public and private health centers to offer choices of contraceptive methods to patients. However, despite these strides, women and girls, particularly in rural areas, lack access to adequate health care services, especially with respect to prenatal and postnatal care and family planning. Hence, the rate of teenage pregnancies remains very high, as well as the infant and maternal mortality rates. In addition, there is the criminalization of abortion except when the mother's health puts women and girls at...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: MARR-LAW-1

"Although the Personal Status Code in Mauritania sets the minimum age for marriage at 18; it also provides that a woman who has reached 'age of majority' cannot be married without her consent and the approval of her male guardian ('weli'). There is a lack of clarity in the code as to whether the 'age of majority' is the minimum age as set by Mauritanian laws or refers, to the age of puberty as under traditional Islamic jurisprudence. In addition, the article also provides that 'the silence of a young girl implies consent'" (3).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Unfortunately, the government’s prosecution for zina and its failure to ensure access to justice, effective remedies, and care facilities for sexual violence survivors violates several human right laws and conventions including Article 2 of the CEDAW Convention, which obliges states to remove all national penal provisions that discriminate against women. As a response to this, in its reply to the List of issues raised by the committee in 2014, the government of Mauritania has enacted various awareness-raising campaigns to encourage women and girls who were victims of rape to file a formal complaint, and it has provided in-service training for judges and law officers to ensure there is a clear...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: LRW-LAW-1

"Domestic violence, rape (as well as marital rape), and other forms of harmful practices against women remain highly prevalent and there are still no specific laws nor policies in Mauritania which to combat this scourge" (1). "The government of Mauritania in the last few years has made several progressive moves towards improving the policies and regulations for the safety and security of women and girls. In March 2016, the government approved a draft law on gender-based violence, which would define and punish rape and sexual harassment, create specific sections in criminal courts of first degree to hear sexual violence cases, consolidate criminal and civil court proceedings to favor prompt compensation...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"[D]omestic law provisions... criminalize abortion" (2). "In addition, there is the criminalization of abortion except when the mother's health puts women and girls at risk. This is because victims and survivors of rape who become pregnant and are not legally allowed to obtain an abortion and may resort to clandestine measures which exposes them to risks of infection and even death" (4).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: AFE-PRACTICE-1

"[T]ransition to lower secondary school remains a challenge, especially for girls. Secondary schools are typically located in district towns, not in villages. While parents are likely to feel comfortable sending their adolescent sons to stay with a friend or relative who lives near the school, they are far less likely to agree to similar arrangements for their daughters. Hence there are fewer girls than boys in secondary school" (5).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: AOM-LAW-1

"Mauritania’s ambiguous domestic laws allow the practice to persist today as the laws promote rather than prohibit child marriages. Although the Personal Status Code in Mauritania sets the minimum age for marriage at 18; it also provides that a woman who has reached 'age of majority' cannot be married without her consent and the approval of her male guardian ('weli'). There is a lack of clarity in the code as to whether the 'age of majority' is the minimum age as set by Mauritanian laws or refers, to the age of puberty as under traditional Islamic jurisprudence. In addition, the article also provides that 'the silence of a young girl...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: CRPLB-PRACTICE-1

"[W]omen and girls, particularly in rural areas, lack access to adequate health care services, especially with respect to prenatal and postnatal care and family planning" (4).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: DACH-LAW-1

"In a progressive move, Mauritania approved the country’s first ever Reproductive Health and Family Planning law in 2017" (4).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: DSFMF-LAW-1

"[T]he draft... explicitly provides criminalization of consensual sexual relations outside marriage… [T]he draft law presented to the parliament has been rejected on two occasions" (1-2). "Furthermore, charges of Zina (adultery punishable by a prison sentence of 2 to 5 years under Sharia Law and the Criminal Code) are applied on a basis of gender discrimination. An unmarried woman or girl who is pregnant is considered guilty of adultery because pregnancy is evidence of the offense, even when the pregnancy occurs due to rape. According to Aichetou Salma El Moustapha, a Mauritanian lawyer, who represents women and girls told Human Rights Watch: 'For rape cases where the complainant is a minor,...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: INFIB-PRACTICE-1

"The continuous practice of FGM has reportedly made it possible for girls under the age of 10 to be put up for marriage as FGM is commonly seen as a sign of adulthood and readiness for marriage" (3).

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: INFIB-LAW-1

"The Mauritanian regulations which provide legal protection for the child, punishes perpetrators of FGM only when it 'causes harm'. In addition, the law does not protect adult women from FGM" (3).