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Washington, DC – U.S. Department of State Counselor Derek Chollet is in Mauritania this week, meeting with “senior government officials and young leaders in civil society” on issues of “democracy, development, and security” in Mauritania.
Why aren’t human rights on the agenda?
For Black Mauritanians, “security” has never included them. In fact, the Mauritanian government has been trying to eliminate them, first through genocide and now with land grabbing, denaturalization, police violence, arbitrary detention, extortion, and attacks on free speech and assembly.
While Chollet is in Mauritania, Black Mauritanians and their allies will gather outside the Embassies of Qatar and Mauritania in Washington, DC. They are demanding justice and accountability for the genocide carried out by Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya, an end to apartheid in Mauritania today, and both emergency (TPS/DED) and permanent protection for Mauritanians in the United States.
WHAT: Protest against Qatar and Mauritania for human rights abuses, avoiding accountability
WHO: Black Mauritanians who fled genocide and apartheid and their allies
WHEN: Wednesday, July 27, 11am-3pm ET
WHERE: 11am-1pm outside Embassy of Qatar (2555 M St NW)
1-3pm outside Embassy of Mauritania (2129 Leroy Place, NW)
Background
As president of Mauritania, Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya directed the mass murder, rape, torture, detention, and deportation of tens of thousands of Black Mauritanians in the 1980s and 90s. Qatar is harboring the despot Taya, so that he cannot be extradited to Brussels to appear before an international tribunal. Leaders in the Mauritanian diaspora demand accountability for Taya’s genocide and an end to the apartheid Black Mauritanians are living under today.
Houleye Thiam, President of the Mauritanian Network in US, said: “Dictators are weapons of mass destruction. Black Mauritanians aren’t leaving their homes, families, and lives to go on an adventure. They are fleeing to survive, running from a country where Black people are oppressed, enslaved, denied citizenship, attacked, and killed simply for being Black. We need emergency and permanent protection today.”
The goal of the Mauritania government’s repression of its Black citizens was and still is the “Arabization” of a nation with a rich history of Black African cultures, and the extinction of those cultures. Today, Taya’s genocide has been replaced with an insidious web of forced statelessness; police violence; arbitrary detention; extortion; stealing land and water access; and denial of free speech and assembly against Black Mauritanians. Slavery remains widespread, despite the government’s denial.
That’s why people will be demonstrating outside of the Qatari and Mauritanian embassies in Washington, DC on July 27. They want the media and international community to expose Qatar’s harboring of the mass murderer Taya, and demand his extradition to Brussels so that Taya can finally answer their demands for truth and accountability.
They also want the world to understand that apartheid exists in Mauritania today, and for the U.S. government to stop deporting people to slavery or oppression by designating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED).
TPS is a statutory, temporary humanitarian protection created by Congress and carried out by DHS, in consultation with USCIS and the State Department. This blanket humanitarian protection can be designated for nationals of a specific country due to temporary, dangerous conditions. DED is a foreign policy tool the President can exercise to protect foreign nationals in the United States from civil, political, and humanitarian crises in their home countries, suspending deportation to serve U.S. interests.
The extraordinary conditions preventing people from safely returning to Mauritania include widespread human rights violations, the practice of enslaving members of its Black population, forced statelessness, and land grabbing. On July 14, 87 local, state and national organizations sent a letter to President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas requesting an immediate 18-month designation of TPS or DED for Mauritania.
“The number of Mauritanians who need Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure in the United States is not large. But for those who need it, the stakes are high,” said Lynn Tramonte, Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “Mauritanians in the United States consistently express the same fear of arrest, torture, and death if deported. After their deportations, many are forced to become refugees once again. With a few actions, the Biden administration could bring much-needed security and relief to Black Mauritanians in the U.S., and allow their families to start to heal.”
Read
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Letter from 87 NGOs calling for designation of TPS/DED for Mauritania
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Backgrounder: ““‘Land Slavery’ and Stolen Land: Another Tool for Oppression of Black Mauritanians” (Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in US)
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Backgrounder: “Black Mauritanians’ Ongoing Search For Safety” (Ohio Immigrant Alliance)