92. In her introductory remarks, the Chairperson thanked the NGO representatives for their collaboration, stating that NGOs were indispensable to the work of the Commission since they serve as its eyes and ears on the ground. 93. She explained about the establishment, mandate and activities of the African Commission and the objectives of the CPTA Mission in Mauritania. She stated that undertaking promotion missions is one of the African Commission’s innovations geared towards informing governments and civil society about the African Commission and the African Charter. During these missions, the African Commission encourages governments to adhere to their obligations under the African Charter and civil society to participate in the activities of the African Commission, which relate to promoting and protecting human rights in Africa. 94. Members present were informed that the African Commission recognizes that NGOs are valuable partners in the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa. Consequently, the African Commission adopted a Resolution on the Criteria of Granting Observer Status to NGOs in order to strengthen the cooperation and partnership with NGOs working in the field of human rights. 95. The Chairperson explained that NGOs, by virtue of the fact that they are based on the ground, are looked to by the African Commission to provide information on human rights issues in order to assist it in assessing the human rights situations in various countries. However, the Chairperson cautioned that information provided to the African Commission by NGOs should be objective, informative and not written in disparaging language. 96. In the discussions that followed, many NGO representatives were very critical of the efforts of the Government, especially the executive and judiciary, in the fight against slavery. Speaker after speaker stated that slavery, not its legacy still exists in Mauritania, contrary to the official position of the Government that Mauritania is only affected by the legacy of slavery. They emphasized that the many cases that have been reported, some of which are being tried in the courts is ample proof of its existence. Many of the speakers informed the delegation that although there is a law against slavery, it is not practically applied and a lot of officials in the administration, who are known to practice slavery, have never been prosecuted. Some of the speakers also complained that civil society organizations are not allowed to represent victims in criminal proceedings and outlined that the anti slavery law does not make provision for compensation to victims; a situation which they described as a total disconnection between the law and reality, since most victims of slavery are very poor. Some representatives were also critical of the sentences meted out on perpetrators on the few cases that have so far been brought to the courts, and the attitude of the judiciary as a whole towards slavery cases. According to some of the speakers, 31 | P a g e