In November, Ilguilas Weila, President of Timidria, came to London to accept the 2004 Anti-Slavery Award on behalf of his organisation. Timidria received the Award for its pioneering work against slavery in Niger and successful campaign for amendments to Niger law which now defines, prohibits and punishes slavery.

For the first time, Anti-Slavery International held two Award ceremonies -- the first in London, followed a few days later by one in Paris.

On 3 November, Weila was presented with the Award at London's Chatham House, home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Over 140 members of Anti-Slavery International, journalists, representatives of other human rights organisations, and UK and other government officials gathered to celebrate Timidria's achievements. Internationally renowned Sierra Leonean filmmaker Sorious Samura presented the Award, making an impassioned plea for the media to take more notice of slavery. In accepting the Award, Weila described the challenges Timidria faces in combating slavery in one of the world's poorest countries, and urged the international community to assist them in their fight.

The second ceremony in Paris, took advantage of France's links with Niger, and enabled representatives of the French and Niger Governments to attend. Held on 10 November, it was jointly organised with our partner, the Comité Contre l'Esclavage Moderne. The Award was presented by Joël Thoraval, President of the Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l'Homme (CNCDH) and General Secretary of the Francophone Association of CNCDH. In addition to government representatives, members of the human rights community and the media attended, forging important links for Timidria with influential institutions in France.

You can read Ilguilas Weila's acceptance speech and Award presenter Sorious Samura's speech. Weila's speech is also available in French.

An interview with Ilguilas Weila

©Anti-Slavery International
Receiving the Award from Joël Thoraval in Paris

While in London, Clare Rudebeck, of the UK newspaper The Independent,
met Ilguilas Weila to find out more about his work, what inspired him to take up the fight against slavery -- and the challenges that lie ahead.

Q: Why did you start Timidria?
A: I founded Timidria with 11 others. We were students and civil servants. None of us was from the slave class, but we were brought together by a sense of outrage about the slavery we had witnessed. The opportunity to start the organisation came in 1991 with the advent of democracy in Niger.

Q: What was your personal experience of slavery?
A: I consider myself a direct victim of slavery. Although my family were not slaves, we were treated as such. All decisions had to pass through our village chief; such as we weren't allowed to go to school unless he decided we should.

Q: So, how did you receive an education?
A: I was forced to go. In 1965, the village chief was told by the Government to send his son to school, but he didn't want to because he saw education as a Western imposition. So, instead he ordered that a boy from his encampment should go. I was that boy. I remember one day, as I was walking to school with boys from the slave owning class, I heard people saying, "Who is that boy? Who does he belong to?" They had assumed I was a slave. That experience marked me: the idea that I was nothing, identified only by whom I belonged to.

Q: How many slaves are there in Niger?
A: In 2003, we did a joint study with Anti-Slavery International. We interviewed over 11,000 people, most of whom were identified as slaves. As a result of that study, we know that there are at least 43,000 slaves in Niger. But we estimate that some 870,000 people are living in slavery and the Government of Niger has not contested that figure.

Q: Who practises slavery?
A: All 10 ethnic groups have practised slavery in the past and the following still do: the Touareg, Arabs, Toubous, Djerma and to a lesser extent, the Hausa. Everyone who is a slave today has inherited that status. There are no slave markets any more.

Q: What is the attitude of Nigeriens towards slavery?
A: Most Nigeriens who own slaves consider it normal. They think that slaves are a different type of human being. That that is their status, their God-given place. Tradition, as well as the misinterpretation of religion, allows them to sanction this belief.

Q: How many slaves has Timidria freed?
A: Since 1995, we have secured the release of 210 slaves. All of them
ran away from their masters and we then helped them to become independent. However, last year we secured a change in the law: slavery is now a criminal offence in Niger. We then produced a guide to the new law and disseminated it throughout the country. As a result of reading this guide, a nomadic chief from the Tillaberi region of central Niger contacted Timidria, eager to avoid a 30-year prison sentence for owning slaves. We agreed that, since he had come to us, if he released his slaves, we would not prosecute him. He has 7,000 slaves in his encampment and we are organising an official handover ceremony, which should happen early in 2005.

Q: What happens when a slave arrives at one of Timidria's offices?
A: One former slave called Assibit ran away from her master on 28 June 2004. She is around 50 years old and when she arrived at Timidria's office in Abalak, northern Niger, she was practically naked, wearing just rags. Timidria immediately called the villagers together. The women gave her clothes. Then they took her and washed her. The local Timidria office then contacted the national office which sent funds to enable Assibit to buy bedding, a tent, pots and pans. Then, we provided her with psychological and emotional support. It's a process of listening to her, educating her. Slaves often don't have a sense of self. When Assibit was asked if she was happy to be free, she didn't understand the question. She had to be taught how to live. How to be a person. That is how it is with most victims of slavery.

Q: What difference will receiving the Award from Anti-Slavery International make?
A: Everyone at Timidria is delighted that their work has been recognised internationally. It will also now be much harder for the Government to attack or discredit us.

Q: What hostility has Timidria encountered?
A: Since 1991, almost every new minister of the interior in Niger has received a visit from traditional chiefs asking him to suspend Timidria's activities. I haven't been threatened personally, but someone has tried to sabotage my car. Just before I left Niger to come to London to receive the Anti-Slavery Award, the president of the Zinder section, in the east, was assaulted. Our members are intimidated on a daily basis.

Q: What challenges do you face in the future?
A: There are many. We are looking for funds to provide for the the long-term support for the 7,000 slaves who are due to be released from Tillaberi, and to facilitate their integration into society. If this first release fails and slaves go back to their masters, it could put our work back.

Recently when I was on a tour of the country, I stopped in a village and started speaking to a slave woman. At the end of the conversation, she said, "Aren't you going to take me with you?" I just cried because I could not. I had nowhere to take her. This is the challenge for the future.

Anti-Slavery International trustee Angelika Berndt visited our partner the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) in Brazil to find out the latest on forced labour in Amazonia.

One of the most striking aspects to emerge from my recent visit to Brazil was the level of violence that surrounds this issue, both against the men who are trafficked and the activists who challenge it. Not only are many of the estates surrounded by armed guards, but also cases are coming to CPT's attention where workers are being killed to avoid paying them.

In Tucuruí, Para state, northern Brazil, I met Valdemir Maria de Jesus (not his real name) at his father's house where he was recovering from an attempt against his life. There he was waiting to return to hospital to have two bullets removed from his back. Valdemir was the victim of an attack where his assailant tried to kill him to avoid paying him for work he had done. If his attacker knew he had survived to tell his story, he would come after him and finish the job.

Valdemir told me that he had worked for a gato (a recruiter) called Maciel for three and a half months clearing land.

"In all, we were eight labourers. Maciel said we should go to Novo Repartimento in Para and that he would pay us all then and there. So we went, but he only paid six of us -- only those who were from there. But Antonio and I were not from there. He said he did not have all the money but would pay us later. He told us that he'd come back that same night, probably late, and that we should not worry when somebody called at the door; that we should just open it, because it would be him.

"He came back very late, at 3.00am. I opened the door and he shot me. When the first shot hit me I fell down and pretended to be dead. He shot me a second time. Then he went over and shot my friend. He came back and kicked me several times in the head to check if I was dead. After he left, my landlady found me and they somehow got me to hospital."

After meeting Valdemir, I went with two CPT lawyers -- Hilario and Sidilene -- to the police station to find out what progress was being made in their investigation. Hilario was risking his life being in Novo Repartimento because he was told that if he went there he would be killed. But he went anyway, though not alone, to help with the case.

When we asked the police what progress they were making, the deputy police chief replied "what do you want us to do? This is a very violent place and we are very few. Once we took some criminals in for investigation and a gang came and raided the place."

Even though the Government has committed itself to ending slavery, CPT estimates 25,000 workers are enslaved each year in the rural areas of northern Brazil, forced to clear the Amazon forest to make way for cattle ranches and other agricultural estates. It is vital that those who use forced labour or facilitate it are held accountable and penalized.

Anti-Slavery International's current Action Briefing is urging the Brazil Government to take action against forced labour in the country. For details, see the country action.