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	Free Mauritania’s anti-slavery activists by Amnesty, Anti-Slavery International, agencies Mauritania   May 2016   Mauritania: Anti-slavery activists released   In response to today’s Supreme Court ruling in Mauritania releasing two anti-slavery activists, Alioune Tine, Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa Director said:   “The release of two anti-slavery activists, Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid and Brahim Bilal, who spent 20 months in jail is an enormous relief and welcome news for everyone who has been campaigning for this outcome.”   “This ruling should now provide an opportunity for the Mauritanian authorities to stop its crackdown on human rights defenders and release other prisoners of conscience, such as blogger Mohamed Mkhaïtir, who have been detained only for peacefully expressing their opinions.”   Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid is the President of the anti-slavery NGO Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), and was the runner-up in the last presidential elections.   He was sentenced on 15 January 2015 for two years of imprisonment along with Brahim Bilal and Djiby Sow for accused of membership in an unrecognized organization, taking part in an unauthorized assembly, failing to comply with police orders and resisting arrest.   The Supreme Court requalified the facts to constitute an offense punishable by only one year of imprisonment and on that basis held that the activists should be released.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/08/mauritania-drop-all-charges-and-release-antislavery-activists/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/05/mauritania-anti-slavery-activists-released/   Dakar, 21 August 2015   Slavery in Mauritania: The gap between words and actions - Alioune Tine, Amnesty International West Africa Director   In August I had the privilege of meeting Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, the renowned anti-slavery activist and runner-up in the last Mauritanian presidential elections. We spoke for an hour about his life and his work. I would have liked to have spoken to him for longer. But this was not possible because our conversation took place in the courtyard of Aleg prison, one of the most dangerous prisons in Mauritania.   Biram Abeid has served over nine months of a two prison year sentence. He was arrested in November 2014, alongside 10 other campaigners, at a peaceful protest to raise awareness about land rights for people of slave descent. On Thursday, his sentence was heard by the appeal court.   Awaiting that decision, I was just one of many people around the world hoping that his sentence would be overturned and that he would be able to return to his family. But when the news came, it was not good. The harsh sentences against Biram Abeid and two other anti-slavery campaigners, Brahim Bilal and Djiby Sow, were upheld.   All three are members of anti-slavery human rights organizations, Kawtal and the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA). Over the years they have been peacefully campaigning to raise awareness about human rights concerns, including the impunity enjoyed by slave owners and the discrimination and human rights violations faced by people of slave descent. In Mauritania slaves and their descendants work on land without any rights and are forced to give a portion of crops to their traditional masters.   Ironically, just days before the appeal trial, on 11 August 2015, Mauritania adopted a law defining slavery as a crime against humanity. It was hoped that this would signal a move towards promoting human rights but yesterday’s decision has dashed those hopes.   In July and August, when I headed an Amnesty International mission to Mauritania, I met with authorities including the Minister of Justice and the Commissioner of Human Rights. I also met with human rights defenders and I travelled more than 250 km from Nouakchott to Aleg to visit Biram in prison.   Its remote location has created problems for family members wishing to visit the activists in jail. Biram Abeid’s wife and children have had to move to a house in Aleg just to be close to him.   Amnesty International considers Biram Abeid, Brahim Bilal and Djiby Sow to be prisoners of conscience. All three of them have been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights and they should be released immediately and unconditionally.   Speaking to our mission, Biram Abeid made an empassioned plea.   I call on Mauritanian authorities to establish a constructive dialogue with anti-slavery activists, to open their doors and their hearts to begin resolving the problem of slavery. We believe that the attacks against freedom of expression and the imprisonment of human rights defenders are contrary to the country’s international legal commitments. Our place is not in prison but outside. - Biram Ould Dah ould Abeid   Those words are ever more poignant following yesterday’s appeals court decision.   15 Jan. 2015   Mauritania jails anti-slavery activists. (AFP)   Police in Mauritania have used tear gas to disperse protesters, after three anti-slavery activists were sentenced to two years in prison on Thursday.   Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, the runner-up in 2014 presidential elections and the head of an anti-slavery group, was convicted along with one of his aides Bilal Ramdane, and Djiby Sow, a civic and cultural rights campaigner.   Seven others on trial for joining anti-slavery protests in November were released.   Dozens of their supporters stormed the courthouse and surrounded the prosecutor"s office, according to private news agency Al-Akhbar. Police responded with tear gas, leaving four injured, according to the news agency.   Amnesty International statement condemned the use of tear gas and batons force by police.   "We are going to appeal," Brahim Ould Ebetty, a defence lawyer told AFP in response to the guilty verdict.   The activists were charged with "belonging to an illegal organisation, leading an unauthorised rally, and violence against the police", their defence team said.   According to Amnesty, the activists were arrested while trying to educate people about land rights in the west African country where slave descendents are often forced to give up a portion of their crops to the traditional masters.   Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty"s West Africa researcher, denounced the convictions, saying: "The intensifying crackdown on anti-slavery activists in Mauritania has no legal justification and is symptomatic of the government"s lack of respect for human rights."   The country was the last in the world to abolish slavery, in 1981, and since 2007 its practice has been officially designated a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.   But campaigners say the government has failed in the past to acknowledge the extent of the trade.   Dec. 2014 (Walk Free Campaign)   Biram Dah Abeid is a leading anti-slavery activist in Mauritania, the country with the highest prevalence of slavery in the world. The organisation he founded, the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement has fought for the freedom of countless men, women and children.   Mauritania fully outlawed slavery in 2007 but has systematically failed to end it in practice. It has fallen to activists like Biram to fight for people’s freedom and they face regular harassment and harsh treatment in their campaigning.   As you read this Biram and his fellow activists are sitting in a prison cell for their work to end slavery in Mauritania — and we need your help to secure justice. A huge wave of international pressure could help force the Mauritanian government to prioritize ending slavery and stop the harassment of anti-slavery activists.   Please call on the Mauritanian government to free Biram Dah Abeid and his fellow anti-slavery activists.   http://www.walkfree.org/mauritania/ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/jan/20/anti-slavery-activists-in-mauritania-face-violent-clampdown-rights-groups-warn http://minorityrights.org/2015/10/04/lack-of-political-and-judicial-will-undermining-mauritanias-anti-slavery-law-mrg-study/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/08/slavery-in-mauritania-the-gap-between-words-and-actions/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/mauritania-jailed-presidential-candidate-and-anti-slavery-activists-must-be http://www.minorityrights.org/13049/press-releases/mauritania-ranked-as-worst-place-in-the-world-for-slavery.html http://www.antislavery.org/ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/17/mauritania-anti-slavery-activists-jailed-biram-ould-abeid http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/08/freedom-fighter http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/
	State of the World’s Mothers report by Save the Children International, agencies   It’s called the urban survival gap – fuelled by the growing inequality between rich and poor in both developing and developed countries – and it literally determines whether millions of infants will live or die before their fifth birthday.   Save the Children’s annual report on the State of the World’s Mothers 2015 ranks 179 countries and concludes that that “for babies born in the big city, it’s the survival of the richest.”   Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, says that for the first time in history, more families are moving into cities to give their children a better life. But this shift from a rural to an urban society has increased disparities within cities.   “Our report reveals a devastating child survival divide between the haves and have-nots, telling a tale of two cities among urban communities around the world, including the United States,” Miles added.   The document estimates that 54 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and by 2050 the concentration of people in cities will increase to 66 percent, especially in Asia and Africa.   The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that nearly a billion people live in urban slums, shantytowns, on sidewalks, under bridges and along railroad tracks.   While women living in cities may have easier access to primary health care, including hospitals, many governments have been unable to keep up with this rapid urban growth. One-third of all urban residents – over 860 million people – live in slums where they face lack of clean water and sanitation, alongside rampant malnutrition.   Miles said that despite the progress made on reducing urban under-five mortality around the world, the survival divide between rich and poor children in cities is growing even faster than that of poor children in rural areas.   In most of the developing nations surveyed, children living at the bottom 20 percent of the socioeconomic ladder are twice as likely to die as children in the richest 20 percent, and in some cities, the disparity is much higher.   The 10 countries showing the greatest survival divide between wealthy and poor urban children are: Rwanda, Cambodia, Kenya, Vietnam, Peru, India, Madagascar, Ghana, Bangladesh and Nigeria.   The gap between the health of the richest and poorest is just as stark in big cities in some of the wealthiest nations, according to the report.   Among the 10 worst wealthy capital cities for child survival, out of the 25 studied, Washington D.C. (U.S.) was number one, followed by Vienna (Austria), Bern (Switzerland), Warsaw (Poland), and Athens (Greece).   Leading the list of capitals where babies are most likely to survive are Prague (Czech Republic), Stockholm (Sweden), Oslo (Norway) Tokyo (Japan), and Lisbon (Portugal).   The United States continues its descent in the global rankings of best and worst places for mothers, slipping two places to 33rd out of 179 surveyed countries.   Norway rose to the top of the list, closely followed by other Nordic countries, while Somalia remained last for the second year running, with all but two of the 11 bottom-ranked countries in the world in West and Central Africa.   By looking at the mother’s index rankings of 2015, based on five criteria – maternal health, children’s well-being, educational status, economic status and women political status, Save the Children says that conditions for mothers and their children in the 10 bottom-ranked countries are dramatic, as nations struggle to provide the basic infrastructure for the health and wellness of their citizens.   “On average, in these countries one woman out of 30 dies from pregnancy-related causes, and one child out of eight dies before his or her fifth birthday,” Miles said.   Globally, under-five mortality rates have declined, from 90 to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births. However, these numbers, says the organisation, mask the fact that child survival is strictly linked to family wealth, and miss addressing the conditions of poverty and unhealthy life of slums.   ‘We urgently need to close the gap in life chances for mothers and children so that – no matter where they live - everyone has a fair chance to survive and fulfil their potential,’ added Jasmine Whitbread, CEO of Save the Children International.   The report examines the devastating health disparities between the rich and poor living in major cities around the world.   ‘People are often drawn to cities by the prospect of a better life for their children, but many cities around the world are unable to keep up with this growth, leaving hundreds of millions of mothers and children in cities without access to essential health services and the clean water they need to survive and stay healthy’ says Ms Whitbread.   ‘If the world’s going to complete the task of ending preventable child and maternal deaths, we have to find better ways of getting health care to urban populations, regardless of income’.   ‘For babies born in many of the world’s fast-growing cities, it’s survival of the richest,’ she adds.   The report did uncover some good news, identifying a number of cities that are making significant survival gains city-wide for even the poorest mothers and children, including Kampala (Uganda), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); Cairo (Egypt); Guatemala City (Guatemala); Manila (Philippines); and Phnom Penh (Cambodia).   These cities are working to strengthen health systems, increase maternal and pediatric health awareness, and make healthcare more accessible and affordable to the poorest urban families.   ‘The survival of millions of children in cities should not be a privilege for the rich but guaranteed for all,’ says Ms Whitbread.   ‘We are calling on municipal and national leaders to put the health needs of mothers and children at the top of their agendas, and make universal quality health care a reality.’   Millions of mothers are alive today because of improvements in essential health care during pregnancy and childbirth. But there is a major unfinished agenda. Increasingly, further reductions in child and maternal mortality will depend on strengthened efforts in urban areas.   Every year, millions of families move from the countryside to towns and cities, in search of a better life. Yet in many cases, children and mothers in cities continue to face a high risk of death from preventable causes.   In most countries, the poorest urban children are at least twice as likely to die as the richest children before their fifth birthday, and often face mortality rates well above the national average. We call this the urban disadvantage.   Our 16th annual State of the World’s Mothers report explores the urban disadvantage in rich and poor cities around the world. Among our most important findings:   The world is urbanising rapidly, with virtually all future population growth in developing countries expected to happen in cities. As a result, a greater share of child deaths will take place in urban areas.   In developing countries, the urban poor are often as bad as, or worse off than, the average rural family, and for many rural families, moving to the city often results in more – rather than less – hardship.   Few countries have invested sufficiently in the infrastructure and systems, including health care and water and sanitation, which are critical to addressing the basic health needs of the urban poor.   More countries need to adopt universal health care as a national policy to help address the needs of the urban poor.   Save the Children is calling on national governments worldwide to find new policies and plans to invest in a universal maternal and infant health care, develop cross-sectoral urban plans, and reduce urban disadvantages, and to increase the focus on the Sustainable Development Goals in the post-2015 development agenda, concluded Miles.   http://www.savethechildren.org/mothers   Mothers and children need more social protection, says Isabel Ortiz, Director from the ILO Social Protection Department.   As several countries around the world prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day, two new ILO studies provide new global and country data that point to the urgent need to increase social protection for mothers and children.   The lack of access to social protection* is still a reality for a large number of mothers and children worldwide, according to two studies released by the International Labour Organization (ILO).   The Social protection for maternity: Key policy trends and statistics report shows that only 36 per cent of employed women are legally entitled to cash benefits during their maternity leave. In practice, however, maternity leave legislation is not implemented effectively, so only 28 per cent of working women are covered in case of maternity.   The study, Social protection for children: key policy trends and statistics , also paints a worrying picture. It shows that while there has been an explosion of small cash transfer schemes in recent years, there is also a considerable gap with regard to the availability of adequate child and family benefits. According to the study, 108 countries have specific child and family benefit programmes rooted in legislation, but they often cover small groups.   “Around 800 women die from childbirth every day. In addition, 18,000 children also pass away daily. The sad reality is that despite efforts carried out as part of the Millennium Development Goals process, maternal and child mortality rates in developing countries are still very high,” says Isabel Ortiz, Director of the ILO Social Protection Department.   “Most of these deaths are preventable with adequate social protection. Universal maternal and child health care is key to reducing high mortality rates, together with cash transfers to ensure adequate food, clothing, and access to social services,” she adds.   Fiscal adjustment reducing social protection for mothers and children   A worrying trend is that in some countries the levels of maternity and child protection benefits have dropped as a result of fiscal consolidation policies.   For example, several European countries have reduced the level of maternity and child benefits or have limited the level of coverage.   “Fiscal consolidation and adjustment measures threaten progress on social protection for children and their families,” says Ortiz. “Child poverty increased in 18 of the 28 countries of the European Union between 2008 and 2013.”   On the other hand, several low and middle-income countries have either extended the duration of paid maternity leave or introduced cash benefits for mothers and children. However, large coverage gaps remain.   The reports look at a sample of 57 low- and lower middle-income countries and show that introducing a basic universal maternity cash benefit would require, on average, 0.41 per cent of national gross domestic product (GDP).   Meanwhile, having universal child benefits would, on average, require 1.9 per cent of national GDP. The projected costs for a basic universal child benefit vary greatly between countries, ranging from 5.2 per cent of GDP for Niger to 0.2 per cent of GDP for Guyana, considering that children constitute a large proportion of the population in these countries.   The same variation applies to basic universal maternity protection, where it ranges from less than 0.1 per cent of GDP in Bhutan, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Morocco, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam to 1.1 per cent of GDP in Niger.   “At a time when the world is discussing a post-2015 development agenda, it is essential that the international community identifies financing sources for social protection,” says Ortiz, recalling the ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202).   “It is a question of choosing the right priorities: the total cost of universal benefits to all pregnant women and all children in 57 lower income countries is just 0.6 per cent of what G20 countries used to bail out the financial sector in 2009,” concludes Ortiz.   The ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202) reflects a consensus among governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations from 185 countries on the need to extend social security.   Both studies include detailed national data on maternity protection and child and family benefits for 188 countries surveyed.   http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_366206/lang--en/index.htm Visit the related web page
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