Discover how children in this desert nation are breaking free from forced labor, discrimination, and exclusion — and meet the quiet forces leading the way to dignity, education, and freedom.
Mauritania is a nation of vast deserts and layered traditions, but for many children, it is also a place of deep injustice. Systemic inequality, modern slavery, and school exclusion have made childhood fragile — especially for those born into the wrong class or caste. These are the three most urgent challenges:
Children born into the Haratine (former slave) caste or Black African communities are still forced into unpaid labor, herding, or domestic servitude — especially girls. Legal protections exist but are rarely enforced.
Many children in rural areas — especially girls and ethnic minorities — are excluded from schooling due to cost, language barriers, or cultural restrictions. Some schools segregate informally, and dropout rates remain high.
Thousands of children, especially from Afro-Mauritanian or migrant communities, lack birth certificates. Without legal identity, they are barred from school, healthcare, and protection — rendering them invisible.
Despite these challenges, Uganda’s children remain full of hope — dreaming of education, health, and opportunities for a better tomorrow.
At iam4allkids.org, we focus on children born into silence — and those working to break it. In Mauritania, we amplify grassroots voices fighting against child slavery, exclusion, and erasure.
We:
Share stories of children escaping servitude and entering classrooms
Support programs offering education to stateless or undocumented children
Highlight community leaders confronting caste-based injustice
In Mauritania, childhood is not always recognized — but we help make it real.
Mauritania’s children are growing up in the shadows of history — but they deserve the full light of protection.
Descent-based slavery and unpaid child labor persist despite bans
Thousands of children are out of school due to discrimination or statelessness
Birth registration is one of the lowest in the region, especially among rural minorities
We believe every child — no matter their name, caste, or origin — deserves freedom, visibility, and care.
Even where silence reigns, change is speaking:
In desert villages, girls once sent to clean are now sent to class.
In hidden shelters, children once beaten for disobedience are reading stories aloud.
In courtrooms, brave women are speaking out against generations of forced labor.
And because of your support, Mauritania’s invisible children are becoming impossible to ignore.
In Mauritania, freedom is no longer just a dream — it’s a movement.
For over two decades, SOS Esclaves has worked to end descent-based slavery in Mauritania — rescuing children, pursuing legal justice, and pressuring the state to uphold its own anti-slavery laws. They provide shelter, counseling, and school enrollment for children born into servitude.
The organization works closely with survivors, helping them testify, reclaim identity, and rebuild family life. Their legal victories — though rare — send powerful signals across the country.
In a land where slavery still lingers, SOS Esclaves fights for freedom with every rescued child.
AFCF provides safe housing, legal aid, and school access for girls escaping forced labor, marriage, or gender-based violence. They also work with undocumented children — helping families obtain identity papers and access public services.
Their shelters serve as bridges between isolation and opportunity. Staff include lawyers, teachers, and survivors-turned-advocates who now speak for the next generation.
For the child whose name was never written down, AFCF helps write a new beginning.
In 2023, SOS Esclaves launched the Freedom Through Education Campaign, enrolling 150 children freed from domestic servitude into local schools and transitional programs. Each child received uniforms, meals, and psychosocial support, while teachers were trained in trauma-informed care.
Parents — often mothers who had escaped slavery themselves — attended workshops on child rights and community healing.
The campaign proved that education isn’t just learning — it’s liberation.
In 2024, AFCF partnered with local officials to host an Identity for Every Child Drive, assisting undocumented children — mostly from Afro-Mauritanian and migrant communities — in obtaining legal birth registration.
Volunteers traveled door-to-door helping families file paperwork, while mobile legal clinics reviewed cases of unregistered children expelled from school.
Over 600 children were officially documented — many for the first time — restoring their right to learn, be treated, and be counted.
Meet the organizations protecting children’s rights and rewriting legacies of silence:
Rescuing children from slavery and pursuing legal freedom and family reintegration.
Protecting girls and undocumented children from exclusion and abuse.
Coordinating local efforts on child protection, school access, and policy reform.
Advocating against caste-based child labor and supporting inclusive education in rural areas.
Working to improve public education quality and prevent school dropout in marginalized communities.
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