Timidria is a national human rights organisation founded in 1991, with the aim of eradicating slavery and all forms of discrimination in Niger.

The organisation was set up by a group of young Nigeriens who were determined to break the silence around the issue of slavery. The founder members of Timidria (which means fraternity/solidarity in Tamacheq) faced strong resistance, especially from the slave owning classes and those with vested interests in maintaining the slave system.

Since being founded, Timidria has grown into a mass movement, with thousands of members across the country, including former slaves, and dozens of local offices in villages throughout Niger. Timidria functions democratically, with elected regional and national councils, and an elected National Executive Bureau that operates from its headquarters in the capital, Niamey.

Timidria holds large-scale meetings and uses poetry and drama to convey the message that slavery is not acceptable and that everyone has the right to be free. They also lobby the Government and use the media to highlight the issue of slavery more widely across the country and abroad.

As awareness has grown and Timidria's profile has increased, some slaves have braved their master's threats and left slavery. Others have been freed, and since the introduction of the new law some large-scale liberations have taken place. To assist former slaves, Timidria distributes food, provides farming equipment and animals and enrols former slaves' children in school.

It is vital that people in slavery, and the wider society, see that there is an alternative way of life for slaves, and that they do not have to remain economically dependent on their masters. This is especially relevant in a country of such desperate poverty -- Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. In order to address this, Timidria has begun some community development projects. In Tahoua, in central Niger, for example, the local women's group has set up a microcredit scheme. And in the district of Tillaberi in the far west, the organisation has established 10 community schools.

Timidria has reached well over a hundred villages and educated over 40,000 people since it was founded. This is no mean feat in a country of such vast, arid terrain, where often there are no telephones, few roads, and where many people in rural areas live a nomadic existence. All the activities of Timidria are carried out on a voluntary basis, funded largely by membership subscriptions, along with funding from international and national donors.

Slavery in Niger