External links
- Anti-slavery International: Slavery in Niger
- Ligulas Weill's acceptance speech for the 2014 AntiSlavery Award
- Traditional slavery in Niger
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Ilguilas Weila is an anti-slavery human rights activist in Niger. He is president of the anti-slavery organization Timidria.
Ilguilas Weila and five other people were arrested on 28 April 2005 accused of trying to falsely elicit money, two billion CFA francs, from foreign donors. Four were released shortly afterwards but Weila and Alassane Biga were freed on bail by a Niger court on 17 June. He denies any wrongdoing. A demonstration was held on 19 May through the capital Niamey in protest at his arrest.
The charges came after a ceremony, in March, to release 7,000 slaves in the northern part of Tillabéri Region was cancelled at the last minute by the government who maintains slavery does not exist. At least 43,000 people are thought to live in subjugation across Niger, which officially banned slavery in May 2004. The matter is liable to embarrass the Nigerien president Tandja Mamadou who currently heads the Economic Community of West African States.
Much of Weila's work is devoted to informing people of their rights under the new law which are unknown in much of Niger owing to poverty, low literacy and the inaccessibility of many areas. Timidria gives literacy classes to freed slaves and also money so they can start a new life. It is these funds, provided partly by London-based Anti-Slavery International, that Weila is alleged to have stolen. Anti-Slavery International has written an open letter denying these claims. The organization has attempted to highlight Ilguilas Weila's work outside of Niger and he received their Anti-Slavery Award in November 2004.
Weila has criticised the ingrained nature of slavery in the region and questioned the role of religion "Islam assisted in the indoctrination of slaves through the use of religion, by saying for example if you disobey your master, you will not access paradise, hence your paradise is in the hands of your master," though Islam says no muslim can be a slave.
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Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery and liberate slaves around the world.
French Sudan was a French colonial territory in the Federation of French West Africa from around 1880 until 1959, when it joined the Mali Federation, and then in 1960, when it became the independent state of Mali. The colony was formally called French Sudan from 1890 until 1899 and then again from 1921 until 1958, and had a variety of different names over the course of its existence. The colony was initially established largely as a military project led by French troops, but in the mid-1890s it came under civilian administration.
Anti-Slavery International, founded as the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1839, is an international non-governmental organisation, registered charity and advocacy group, based in the United Kingdom. It is the world's oldest international human rights organisation, and works exclusively against slavery and related abuses.
Timidria is the name of an NGO for human rights in Niger, founded by Ilguilas Weila. Timidria is dedicated to the eradication of slavery in Niger.
Historically, slavery has been regulated, supported, or opposed on religious grounds.
Islamic views on slavery represent a complex and multifaceted body of Islamic thought, with various Islamic groups or thinkers espousing views on the matter which have been radically different throughout history. The Quran and the hadith are the sources used for Sharia ,where the legislation concerning slaves is derived from.
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.
The continent of Africa is one of the regions most rife with contemporary slavery. Slavery in Africa has a long history, within Africa since before historical records, but intensifying with the trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean slave trade and again with the trans-Atlantic slave trade; the demand for slaves created an entire series of kingdoms which existed in a state of perpetual warfare in order to generate the prisoners of war necessary for the lucrative export of slaves. These patterns persisted into the colonial period during the late 19th and early 20th century. Although the colonial authorities attempted to suppress slavery from about 1900, this had very limited success, and after decolonization, slavery continues in many parts of Africa despite being technically illegal.
According to the Republic of Niger's Constitution of 1999, most human rights, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are upheld and protected. Despite these protections, concerns of both domestic and international human rights organizations have been raised over the behavior of the government, military, police forces, and over the continuation of traditional practices which contravene the 1999 constitution. Under French colonial rule (1900–1960) and from independence until 1992, citizens of Niger had few political rights, and lived under arbitrary government power. Although the situation has improved since the return to civilian rule, criticisms remain over the state of human rights in the country.
The Ikelan are a caste within Tuareg society, who were at one time slaves or servile communities in their natives lands like Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
Hadizatou Mani is a Nigerien human rights activist who fought a legal battle to free herself from slavery, and who since her emancipation has acted as an anti-slavery advocate.
Garba Lompo is a Nigerien politician who was Minister of Justice in the government of Niger from May 2009 to February 2010. He was previously the President of the National Commission on Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties.
The National Commission on Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties in the West African state of Niger is a national human rights institution charged with investigating breaches of human rights law and advising the Government of Niger on human rights issues. It is a member of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions and is accredited at the United Nations through the International Co-ordinating Committee of NHRIs.
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is a Christian human rights NGO that is "committed to defending religious liberty, helping victims of religious repression, victimized children, and victims of disaster." It is based in Switzerland, with affiliates in the United States, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, and South Korea.
Charles Turner Torrey was a leading American abolitionist. Although largely lost to historians until recently, Torrey pushed the abolitionist movement to more political and aggressive strategies, including setting up one of the first highly organized lines for the Underground Railroad and personally freeing approximately 400 slaves. Torrey also worked closely with free blacks, thus becoming one of the first to consider them partners. John Brown cited Torrey as one of the three abolitionists he looked to as models for his own efforts.
Slavery in Mali exists today, with as many as 200,000 people held in direct servitude to a master. Since 2006, a movement called Temedt has been active in Mali struggling against the persistence of slavery and the discrimination associated with ex-slaves. There were reports that in the Tuareg Rebellion of 2012, ex-slaves were recaptured by their former masters. Moreover, the phenomenon of descent-based slavery still persist in different ethnic groups.
Slavery in Niger involves different practices which have been practiced in the Sahel region for many centuries and which persist to this day. The Bornu Empire in the eastern part of Niger was an active part of the trans-Saharan slave trade for hundreds of years. Other ethnic groups in the country similarly had a history of slavery, although this varied and in some places slavery was largely limited to the political and economic elite.
Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid is a Mauritanian politician and advocate for the abolition of slavery. He was listed as one of "10 People Who Changed the World You Might Not Have Heard Of" by PeaceLinkLive in 2014, and by Time magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People". He has also been called the "Mauritanian Nelson Mandela" by online news organisation Middle East Eye.
Quasi-state-level jihadist groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, have captured and enslaved women and children, often for sexual slavery. In 2014 in particular, both groups organised mass kidnappings of large numbers of girls and younger women.
Descent-based slavery is a form of slavery based on the assignment of a so-called hereditary "slave status". Although slavery has been officially abolished by law, stigmatisation and discrimination based on genealogy persist locally.