A/HRC/34/54/Add.1 Rapporteur regrets the use of the very vague provisions of article 306 and the imposition of the death penalty for a crime that does not fall under the category of most serious crimes, he welcomes the reported improvement since March 2016 in Mr. M’Khaitir’s detention conditions in Nouadhibou and, in particular, the end of his prolonged solitary confinement. 35. It is unclear how many detainees are currently on death row in Mauritania. Many are held in Aleg, but also in the central prison in Nouakchott and in the maximum security penitentiary near the Salahdine military base. Others are held among the general prison population in smaller facilities throughout the country. While the detention conditions of persons sentenced to death are usually similar to those of other inmates, 7 the Special Rapporteur considers that the indefinite detention and uncertainty about possible execution and, in some cases, drastically reduced human contact or isolation, render their situation tantamount to ill-treatment or even torture. 4. Vulnerable populations 36. The Special Rapporteur received numerous reports regarding the mistreatment and excessive use of force by law enforcement officers of some of the most vulnerable groups, groups that have traditionally been marginalized and discriminated against. 37. He is particularly concerned about reports of the collective expulsion of irregular migrants and refugees, which suggests that the fundamental principle of non-refoulement is not respected. Migrants are often abandoned in Senegal, just across the southern border from the town of Rosso, without any further assistance or regard for whether they possess Senegalese citizenship. No specific centres exist for detaining illegal migrants, who are regularly held in police stations not equipped to hold such large numbers, often in inhumane conditions. 38. Repatriated Mauritanians who fled or were forcefully expelled during the humanitarian crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s face similar difficulties. Many have not obtained personal documents (i.e. birth, marriage or death certificates, personal identification cards and travel documents), a task that is particularly difficult to carry out if their documents were confiscated prior to expulsion. Consequently, of the 24,000 returnees, only around 8,000 have obtained official documents identifying them as Mauritanians; the others continue to face great difficulties in accessing State services like education and health care and in registering to vote, and are excluded from national censuses. Without identity documents, many repatriated persons are at risk of becoming stateless. 39. The Special Rapporteur commends the authorities for their commitment to eradicating slavery, as demonstrated by the adoption of the 2007 and 2015 slavery acts criminalizing the practice, and welcomes the road map on the fight against contemporary forms and remnants of slavery. Today, slavery-like practices persist, even if often underground, creating an environment in which ill-treatment flourishes. The Special Rapporteur calls upon the Government to fully enforce the anti-slavery laws and prosecute and punish perpetrators. 5. Gender-based violence 40. According to information received from the Ministry of Social Affairs, Children and Family, female genital mutilation is still widespread in Mauritania, with an estimated 69 per cent of women having undergone the procedure. Female genital mutilation is acknowledged as a form of gender-based violence that constitutes ill-treatment and torture. It has severe, immediate and long-lasting negative health consequences (see A/HRC/31/57, paras. 61-62). 7 8 A notable exception is the maximum security facility Salahdine (see paras. 52-53 below).