The Origins of the Haratine:

Mauritania has, for centuries, been ruled over by the “white” Bidan (an Arab-Berber/Imazighen population), who composed the top of Mauritania’s caste system. This Bidan minority ruled over a “black African” majority, henceforth referred to as Afro-Mauritanians, and imposed a system of brutal familial slavery; the descendants of these slaves, as well as Afro-Mauritanians who have been assimilated into Arab culture and speak Hassaniya Arabic, are known as the Haratines.

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The Haratine Today:

Centuries later, following independence in 1960, little has changed for the Haratine people. Despite the 1959 constitution’s claim of equality, countless Haratine people remained in chains, and slavery remained legal. It wasn’t until 1981 that slavery was abolished, and even still, slavery was not criminalized until 2007. Since 2007, the official stance of the Mauritanian government is that slavery simply doesn’t exist in the country. Due to this, slave masters have gone largely unprosecuted. Even after the creation of anti-slavery courts in 2015, slaves in Mauritania have little to no access to legal support. The government continues to deny the existence of slavery. Anti-slavery activists and organizations, such as SOS-Esclaves and the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), are faced with severe repression and subjugation. In 2016, thirteen IRA members were given three- to fifteen-year prison sentences, and in 2025, activist Ahmed Ould Samba was arrested and sentenced to one year in prison, although he was released following an appeal. It is largely unknown how many slaves exist in Mauritania today, as reporting on slavery within the country is virtually impossible; however, estimates range between 90,000 and 149,000 people at least. 

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Haratine Outside of Slavery:

Life for free Haratines is, however, not much better than that of enslaved Haratines. Even today, the Haratine people are de facto second-class citizens and constitute Mauritania’s underclass. Over 80% of the poorest people in Mauritania are Haratine, 90% of manual laborers are Haratines, less than 0.1% of economic operators are Haratine, less than 2% of senior civil servants are Haratine, until 1984 Haratines were systematically excluded from government, only a few dozen out of thousands of Imams are Haratine, 80% of Haratine people do not complete primary school, only 5% advance to secondary school, and today many Haratine people are stateless as the population registration system’s requirements often make it impossible for haratines to become citizens. In other words, the Haratine community experiences exclusion and discrimination in all aspects of society: economic, social, political, and cultural.

The lack of opportunity that Haratine people face has led to the all too common tragedy of people returning to their masters even after being freed. With no ability to support themselves and no support from the government, many Haratine people are forced to return to their masters as sharecroppers to be granted, at the very least, food and housing. Those who try to make their own life are typically forced to live in slums where they live in cramped and extremely impoverished conditions. Rural Haratine communities are typically found in Adwabas, which are impoverished agricultural ghettos composed of former slaves.

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*The statistics given here come from Manifeste Haratines  

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