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Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Mauritania

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MAURITANIA

Mainly covers the period June 1998 to April 2001 as well as including some earlier information.

• Population:
  – total: 2,598,000
  – under-18s: 1,307,000
• Government armed forces:
  – active: 15,650
  – paramilitary (active): 5,000
• Compulsory recruitment age: 17 (unclear)
• Voluntary recruitment age: 18; 16 with consent (unclear)
• Voting age (government elections): 18
• Child soldiers: indicated
• CRC-OP-CAC: not signed
• Other treaties ratified: CRC; GC

• There are indications of under-18s in government armed forces given that recruitment is possible from the age of 16. However, numbers of such recruits are not known.

CONTEXT

There are still tensions in the country following the conflict with Senegal in 1989 when ethnic pogroms took place in both countries. Furthermore, the ultimate resolution of the conflict in the Western Sahara will inevitably have consequences for Mauritania.¹¹⁹⁸

GOVERNMENT

National Recruitment Legislation and Practice

Article 18(1) of the 1991 Constitution states that: "Every citizen has the duty of protecting and safeguarding the independence of the country, its sovereignty, and the integrity of its territory."¹¹⁹⁹ The 1962 Law on Recruitment of the Army (Law no. 132/62 of 29 June 1962) provides for two-year compulsory service. According to this law, every citizen who has reached the age of 17 must be registered, and following a medical examination a Council (Conseil de révision) must deliberate each case. The age of actual recruitment is not expressly mentioned, but is believed to be 17.¹²⁰⁰

Official sources claim recruitment into the armed forces is actually on a voluntary basis and the minimum age of recruitment is 18.¹²⁰¹ But according to Article 7 of the above-mentioned law, Mauritanian citizens who have reached the age of 16 may enlist voluntarily with the consent of parents or a tutor, or through authorisation by the Minister of Defence. There is no available information on how recruitment is currently carried out.

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1198 Balencie and de la Grange op. cit.

1199 Constitutions of the World, http://www.charter88.org.uk/politics/links/link_cons_af.html; Horeman and Stolwijk op. cit.

1200 Brett and McCallin, op. cit.

1201 Telephone conversation between CSC and the office of the military attaché at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in Paris, France, 10 February 1999.

Topics: Child soldiers, Military service,