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Summary: General overview of Mauritania's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights Status of the CRC in national law Constitution: Articles 1 through 22 of the national Constitution contain a number of rights provisions that apply to children, but the Constitution does not contain any provisions that make explicit reference to the rights of children. Legislation: Mauritanian law does not contains a consolidated Children's Act, but there is a considerable amount of domestic law that relates to the rights of children in the form of Government ordinances and Parliamentary legislation. Relevant laws include, but are by no means limited to: Note on the Legal system: the Preamble of the national Constitution identifies Islam as the "sole source of law", but there has been substantial dispute as to what this means in practice. The prevailing view appears to be that this is a direction to legislators rather than judges, and that legislation takes precedence over Islamic law. However, it should be noted that Sharia law is cited in courts alongside legislation. Legal Research: An English translation of the Constitution is available through the website of the University of Bern (http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/mr__indx.html), and the International Labour Organisation's NATLEX database provides links to various laws, including the Constitution, in various languages (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=MRT). The Mauritanian Government maintains a website in English, French and Arabic, but it contains limited information on legal matters (http://www.mauritania.mr/fr/index.php). The GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Mauritania (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Mauritania.htm), and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/mauritania.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/mr/) have assembled a selection of links to legal and government resources. In addition, a number of legal texts and articles are available in French on Droit Afrique (http://www.droit-afrique.com/index.php/content/view/76/124/). Case Law Case Law Research Compliance with the CRC In depth analysis The Committee raised the issue of violence and sexual abuse against children as further areas of national law that did not meet the requirements of the CRC. The Committee expressed particular concern that the Penal Code allowed for whipping and amputation to be imposed as penalties for children. The law also lacked a clear definition for rape, and allowed for the criminalisation of girl victims of sexual abuse. The Committee recommended that the State conduct a review of legislation to ensure that children are not subjected to corporal punishment in any setting, that victims of sexual crimes are never punished and that sexual offences are clearly defined in domestic law. The Committee has also highlighted several aspects of the juvenile justice system as falling short of the requirements of the Convention. The Committee recommended that the minimum age of criminal responsibility be raised from 7 years to a minimum of 12 years, with the aim of further raising the age. The Committee also noted the absence of a system of specialised courts to deal with children in conflict with the law, and that children are detained with adults. Current legal reform projects
Article 80 of the Constitution of Mauritania provides that properly ratified treaties have superior authority to national laws. This provision means that citizens are able to invoke treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, before national courts, though it is not clear whether the Convention has been cited in a domestic court.
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Decisions of the Supreme Court of Mauritania and the Constitutional Council are published in the Official Gazette, but this is not available online. Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any online resources that provide access to the case law of Mauritania.
In its 2009 Concluding Observations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed a number of legal reforms in Mauritania, but nevertheless expressed concern that a number of areas of national law remained incompatible with the CRC. In broad terms, the Committee highlighted child labour, juvenile justice, harmful traditional practices, sexual abuse and violence as areas in which the law fell short of the principles and provisions of the Convention.
In its 2009 Concluding Observations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed legislation prohibiting slavery, prohibiting female genital mutilation and addressing trafficking but expressed concern that even in these areas, the law still fell short of the principles and provisions of the CRC. The Committee noted that the 2007 law on slavery and the law on the judicial protection of minors had criminalised slavery and FGM respectively, but that neither Act had been adequately enforced.
Please contact CRIN if you aware of any current legal reform projects.