Disputes - international:
Mauritanian claims to Western Sahara remain dormant
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 26,000 (Western Saharan Sahrawi) (2011); 68,673 (Mali) (2013)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Mauritania is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to conditions of forced labor and sex trafficking; women, men, and children from traditional slave castes are subjected to slavery-related practices rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships; Mauritanian boys called talibe are trafficked within the country by religious teachers for forced begging; Mauritanian girls, as well as girls from Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, and other West African countries, are forced into domestic servitude; Mauritanian women and girls are forced into prostitution in the country or transported to countries in the Middle East for the same purpose
tier rating:
Tier 3 - the Government of Mauritania does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government acknowledges that some forms of trafficking are a problem in the country, and during the year, it created a multi-stakeholder body to lead its efforts related to child trafficking, child smuggling, and child labor; hereditary slavery was officially outlawed in 2007, but many officials do not recognize that the practice continues despite its prohibition; the government did not take proactive measures to identify trafficking victims or provide them with protective services, and it continued to jail individuals in prostitution and detain illegal migrants without screening either population for trafficking victims (2009)