Global Rights Index 2014 - Mauritania

Country Rating: 4

• Systematic violation of rights

• Workers in countries with the rating of 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers, putting fundamental rights under continuous threat.

The General Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CGTM) reports that arrests of unionists during demonstration are common, even though they are released soon after. Repression by force is reported in the case of the Nouakchott's Harbour Dockers, and in the Mining sector at large, where Mohamed Ould was killed during Police intervention in July 2012. Repeated cases of intimidation, threats and dismissals at Tasiast and Akjoujt Mines have occurred. Employers frequently hire replacement workers in order to break strikes.

Mass dismissal Kinross: The company Kinross-Tasiast, extracting and processing gold ore dismissed about 300 workers in 2013 for redundancy. The Confédération Libre des Travailleurs de Mauritanie (CLTM) argues that these dismissals are not justified as the economic situation of the company is stable. Workers have also reported that they are forced to do overtime work and are exposed to inadequate working conditions.

On 18 February 2014, workers demonstrated at the offices of the Prime Minister against these violations but were violently repressed by the security forces with tear gas. About 20 workers, including union representative Boubacar Ould Merzoug, were then detained at the police station of Ksar district in Nouakchott.

Interference in strikes: Capital Drilling dismissed workers who had participated in a strike and stated that it would reinstate the workers if they left the union and agreed to work under fixed term contracts rather their previous permanent contracts.