Nouakchott, Mauritania - Three leading Mauritanian anti-slavery activists have embarked on hunger strike in protest against the delay in prosecuting a case of alleged slavery on children, which has been pending before the government for days. Chairman of SOS Esclaves, an NGO, Boubacar Ould Messaoud, Secretary General of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the International Abolitionist Movement (IRA-Section Mauritania), Birame Ould Abeid, and Chairperson of Mauritian Association of Women Heads of Households (AFCF), Aminetou Mint Moctar, commenced their hunger strike Thursday, PANA learnt from the associations here.

The activists are also denouncing the continuing of slavery, practiced by a large section of the society and the justice system.

They are demanding the full enforcement of the law against slavery which was adopted in 2007.

Pana 26/03/2011