Mauritania makes slavery a criminal offence

In a welcome move the Mauritanian Government passed a law on 8 August making slavery a criminal offence.

The new law, which passed with 100 per cent support in parliament, makes the practice of slavery punishable by up to 10 years in prison and states that anyone supporting slavery could be imprisoned for two years.

Anti-Slavery International and local organisations including SOS Esclaves are calling on the Government to create a monitoring mechanism that can apply the law and investigate allegations of slavery, and for all freed slaves to receive economic and social assistance, including land and access to micro-credit schemes so those leaving slavery can live free and independent lives.

Thousands of people in Mauritania are enslaved as a result of being born into an established slave class.

China sentences 29 in brick kiln forced labour case

A man was sentenced to death and 28 others imprisoned on 17 July for using forced labour in brick kilns in Shanxi province, China.

Those found guilty include a brick kiln supervisor who was sentenced to death for killing a man and a kiln foreman who was sentenced to life in prison for illegal detention and intentionally hurting workers. A kiln owner, son of a local Communist Party official, was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Over 570 adults and children were freed from slavery in raids on brick kilns; many had been abducted and sold as labour.

They were forced to work 16 to 20 hours a day for no pay and meagre food, housed in squalid conditions, locked in and kept under guard. They were only allowed out for work, were regularly beaten and suffered a range of injuries. At least 13 died from overwork and abuse, reports say.

Ninety-five officials have been punished for dereliction of duty in supervising the kilns. According to reports 35,000 police carried out raids in June against 7,500 brick kilns across Shanxi and Henan provinces. The investigation was prompted after parents of missing children posted a petition on the internet demanding action after officials ignored their pleas for help. More trials are expected.

Over 1,000 freed from forced labour in Brazil

Brazilian authorities freed over 1,100 forced labourers from a sugar cane plantation in the Amazon in the biggest raid to date.

The raid, which was carried out against a plantation owned by Pagrisa, a supplier of state-owned energy company Petrobras, ended on 2 July. Workers were forced to work 14 hours a day for little or no money. They were kept in terrible conditions and many were ill as a result of only being given rotten food and bad water.

Most came from the neighbouring state Maranhao and were recruited with promises of good pay. But once they arrived they were told they owed money for transport and supplies. Officials are calculating what the company owes the workers in back pay.

Despite the Government's aim to eliminate slavery by 2006, thousands of Brazilians continue to be trafficked from impoverished parts of the country, lured to Amazonia by promises of good work.

Bail denied US couple enslaving domestics

A couple in New York arrested for enslaving two migrant domestic workers and indicted on federal slavery charges, was denied bail on 11 June.

Varsha Mahender Sabhnani and her husband Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani were arrested on 15 May after one of the domestic workers escaped and was found by police.

The Sabhnanis brought the women from Indonesia to the United States to work as domestic servants in 2002. Despite promising them US$200 and US$100 per month, they received nothing. They were forced to work from 4.00am to 1.00am, seven days a week. They were only allowed out at night in order to empty the rubbish and were treated with brutality.

The women said they were fed so little that in desperation they had to take extra food from their employer and hide it.

The Sabhnanis are charged with two counts of forced labour; the trial date is 10 September.

Five convicted of child trafficking in legal first for Togo

Five men were convicted of child trafficking in the first case of its kind in Togo.

They were found guilty on 19 June of trafficking five children to Nigeria. Three of the men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to two years with fines of up to US$2,000. One trafficker was fined US$600, which will be used towards costs of repatriating the children, and another was given a 12-month suspended jail term.

"The most important thing for us is the strong message that the Government wants to send to traffickers, which is that impunity is no longer acceptable in Togo," Cléophas Mally, Director of WAO Afrique, Anti-Slavery International's partner, said.

These are the first convictions under Togo's anti-trafficking law despite its being in force since August 2005. Under the law, traffickers face up to five years in prison and fines of up to US$20,000. If the child is subject to violence, disappears or dies, the sentence is doubled to 10 years. The law applies to traffickers regardless of where the child is taken to or from. Prior to this, traffickers were held for only a few days with no penalties.

Children as young as five years old are trafficked within Togo as well as to countries in the region, including to Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria and Niger into a range of forced labour including domestic work, agriculture, fishing and work in markets as well as into sexual exploitation.