August 7, 2025
Written by Madeeha Syed, CAL Legal Intern and rising 3L at Wayne State University Law School.
Although some think of chattel slavery as a practice of the past, it is a daily reality for far too many. In Mauritania, there are an estimated 149,000 individuals still enslaved, out of a population of under five million. The country’s practice is descent-based; roughly 2,000 years ago, ancestors of enslaved individuals were captured into slavery during village raids. This laid the foundation for a rigid caste system, and the families of those captured have remained enslaved throughout generations. Hundreds of thousands of “masters” from the White Moor ethnic group continue to exploit enslaved individuals from the Haratine class throughout their lives, treating them as property. Enslaved Haratines work without pay, herding animals, working in fields, or in domestic work in their “masters’” homes. In addition to raising alarming concerns for human rights accountability over private individuals perpetrating slavery in Mauritania, this reality brings to light important issues for companies who source agricultural goods from local farmers who have historically relied on slave labor. These companies’ responsibilities are heightened in a country with a deep-rooted legacy of slavery. This post introduces the historical context of slavery in Mauritania and calls on businesses operating in the country to proactively demonstrate that their supply chains are free from slave labor, particularly in high-risk industries, such as dairy.
Madeeha conversing with women selling goods in Mauritania.
Legal and Historical Background
Mauritania became the last country in the world to formally abolish slavery, declaring the practice unlawful in 1981. It was not until 2007 when the practice became criminalized under an anti-slavery statute. Even still, during its seven years of implementation, the law resulted in only one conviction, and the judge sentenced the offender to less than the legal minimum. In 2015, a revised anti-slavery law was promulgated, replacing the 2007 law. The 2015 law declared slavery a crime against humanity and implemented stricter enforcement measures. In part, it increased sentences to ten to twenty years and created regional special tribunals to address slavery issues. Nonetheless, the practice persists, largely due to government capture by the White Moor ruling minority who control the economy, government, military, and police. Organizations like SOS-Esclaves, which help enslaved individuals escape and sue their former “masters,” continue to serve hundreds of individuals at any given time. This signals widespread continuation of chattel slavery, despite government denial of the practice, as noted by Professor Tomoya Obokata, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.
Madeeha with women involved in Sahel Foundation.
Slavery in Mauritanian Agriculture
Mauritania’s economy is heavily reliant on agricultural production. Over half of the population earns a living from agriculture and livestock. For enslaved Haratines, the “slave class,” working on farms is a common practice. Enslaved individuals commonly work in the south, where there is more arable land, while their “masters” reside further north. Upon harvest season, “masters,” often nomadic, will travel south to collect reapings of harvested crops.
I interviewed Brahim Ramdhane, the founder of Sahel Foundation, an organization which helps Haratine women, predominantly those who were formerly enslaved, create businesses to become economically independent and support their children. (Often, enslaved women face sexual abuse and bear their “masters” children, who are then also “owned” by their “masters.”) Born enslaved in Mauritania’s south, Brahim noted that between the ages of six and twelve, he cared for goats on his “master’s” farm, taking them to pastures to graze in the morning and returning them in the evening. Such work remains a deeply entrenched practice for enslaved individuals, who continue to be forced into labor across the agricultural sector without any financial compensation in return or control over the goods they help create.
Brahim and Professor Tomoya Obokata, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.
Risks of Slave Labor in Commercial Dairy Production
Dairy companies like Tiviski, that source local camel, cow, and goat milk from nomadic herders and pastoralists who milk by hand, have a responsibility to ensure that their supply chains are free from slave labor, and that responsibility is heightened in this context. Tiviski and similarly situated enterprises have a moral and legal responsibility to engage in heightened risk-based due diligence, as outlined in guidance such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains, and International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 29 and 105, both of which Mauritania has ratified. Together, these frameworks direct companies to conduct risk-based due diligence, especially when operating in contexts such as Mauritania, where slavery is deeply embedded in its societal structure.
However, it appears that Tiviski has not taken steps to mitigate risks of forced labor in its supply chain. Its website mentions the use of two collection centers near pastures in Rosso and Boghé, Mauritania. Milk from various animals is collected from hundreds of pastoralists within a 90 kilometer radius, where it is then checked, weighed, chilled, and carried to Nouakchott. Rosso and Boghé are cities marked with histories of slavery and forced displacement. (As recently as 2010, an enslaved woman fled from her “masters” in the Rosso area, after they poured hot embers over and killed her baby.) As many nomadic and pastoralist families in Mauritania continue to rely on enslaved Haratine individuals for labor tasks such as milking, herding, and harvesting, and in rural regions where Tiviski sources milk, the risk of slave labor entering the dairy supply chain is significant. This history and the spatial detachment of these southern Mauritanian cities make rigorous due diligence all the more important.
On Tiviski’s website, there is absolutely no acknowledgement of slavery in the region, nor a commitment to not using milk that has been produced with slave labor– let alone evidence of practices to reinforce such a commitment. Currently, Tiviski appears to disregard the role of enslaved labor in these communities, dismissing structural inequalities and risks of slave labor within dairy production.
Companies like Tiviski, who source milk from pastoralist communities, must implement rigorous due diligence programs to identify and mitigate risks of enslaved labor in the supply chain and ensure consequences for suppliers and remediation for workers where enslaved labor occurs. This includes identifying and acknowledging risks; designing a milk tracing strategy, prohibiting suppliers from using enslaved labor, and enforcing that prohibition; conducting field-based verification to identify who performs the labor, under what conditions, and whether enslaved labor is involved; implementing an action plan when enslaved labor is found; and ongoing monitoring. Failure to do so does nothing to mitigate the high risk that Tiviski actively benefits from enslaved labor.
In a country where enslaved individuals continue to produce agriculture for their so-called “masters,” companies sourcing agricultural goods, especially from local communities, must engage in risk-based prevention mechanisms. Companies, such as Tiviski, have a moral and legal obligation to workers in every step of their supply chains to actively investigate, disclose, address, and eliminate any links to forced labor.
