"
English > Current Affairs > Archive by region > Africa in depth
by Sebastiaan Gottlieb*
28-10-2008
A woman who spent nearly half her life as a slave has won her legal battle with the authorities in Niger. The West-African nation must pay her more than 15,000 euros in damages and has also been ordered to ensure that its citizens are better protected against slavery.
The verdict was handed dowen by the ECOWAS criminal court in Niger and is being seen as a major breakthrough in the fight against slavery. Official estimates put the number of people abused as slaves at 40,000 in Niger alone.
The case against Niger was brought by Hadijatou Mani, a young woman who was sold into slavery as a 12-year-old girl. Her owner paid as little as 300 euros for her. Mani worked in her master's home and on his land for 10 years without receiving payment. She also suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her owner and bore him three children.
Domestic and agricultural slaves
Because slavery has been a punishable offence in Niger since 1999, Mani's owner was keen to marry her but she refused. According to Lotte Pelckmans, a researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands who is conducting a study into slavery in Africa, this type of servitude can take many forms:
"Slavery is a very broad concept, encompassing a lot of things. There are house slaves or tent slaves as they are called by nomadic peoples such as the Tuareg or Tamasheq. These are slaves that live with noble families and have to do absolutely all the domestic work. Their burden is much greater than that of slaves who work the land."
In 2005, Mani was officially granted her freedom by her owner, but under Niger's traditional law, she still had to stay with him as his more-or-less legal spouse. However, Mani successfully took her master to court and the judge ruled that there could be no question of a marriage without the consent of one of the partners.
Mani's former master appealed against the decision when his former slave decided to marry another man of her own free will. He accused her of bigamy and won his appeal at a higher court. She was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 120 dollars.
Four attempts at abolition
Mani then took her case to the ECOWAS criminal court, which oversees compliance with the African Charter for Human Rights. She pressed charges against the State of Niger for its half-hearted implementation of its own anti-slavery legislation. As Lotte Pelckmans explains, the legal abolition of slavery in Africa has always been fraught with difficulty:
"One example is Mauritania where legislators abolished slavery four times. Needless to say, there's something strange going on if you have to enshrine something in law four times and each time it doesn't work. The difference now is that this woman is the first to take her case all the way to ECOWAS."
Ms Pelckmans is convinced that this legal ruling is of great importance. People have to become aware of their right to live their own life without depending on others. But she goes on to point out that this is no easy task:
"You still have mental slavery to contend with. These people still believe that they are worth less than others and that they cannot simply stand up for their rights. That they are not allowed to be critical, that they are not allowed to make demands, that they belong to a lower class of human. Übermensch and Untermensch: that's a psychological process that cannot simply be changed by a news story on the radio."
Official recognition
Even if people are able to free themselves psychologically from their position of dependence, it remains difficult for them to build a life for themselves. But Hadijatou Mani is very happy with her newly won freedom and the official recognition that the ruling brings. She wants to use the money she has received in damages to buy a house and some land to support her family.
Perhaps more importantly, the ECOWAS verdict is binding on all 16 member states of this West African alliance. For in Niger's neighbours, too, there is still a great deal of progress to be made in implementing anti-slavery legislation and hence the battle to stamp the practice out once and for all.
* RNW translation (dd)
Tags: Africa, ECOWAS, Niger, slavery, women's emancipation