International Society of Contemporary Music | ISCM [Abbr.]

International Society for Contemporary Music

International Confederation of Musical Societies [ International Confederation of Popular Societies of Music ]

71. Condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing slavery, often by inheritance, in the Sahel region, and particular in Mauritania, where it reportedly affects a sizeable minority of the population; notes that slavery exists within a rigid caste system, and persists despite the country’s official abolition of slavery in 1981, and its explicit criminalisation in 2007; expresses deep concern at the institutionalised nature of this practice, which reaches as far as the civil service; notes, furthermore, the Mauritanian Government’s extreme reluctance to acknowledge the continued widespread existence of slavery, and that to date only one legal case against a slave owner is known to have seen successful prosecution; urges the Mauritanian Gover ...[+++]nment to live up to its national and international legal commitments and obligations to end effectively all forms of slavery and to enact anti-slavery laws providing, inter-alia, compensation procedures; urges, moreover, the Mauritanian authorities to stop harassing and even imprisoning civil society activists who campaign for an end to slavery, including on charges of apostasy; calls on the Commission and the Member States, in this connection, to continue to support the work of Mauritanian as well as international anti-slavery organisations, including the UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on contemporary forms of slavery and the International Labour Organization;

72. Condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing slavery, often by inheritance, in the Sahel region, and particular in Mauritania, where it reportedly affects a sizeable minority of the population; notes that slavery exists within a rigid caste system, and persists despite the country’s official abolition of slavery in 1981, and its explicit criminalisation in 2007; expresses deep concern at the institutionalised nature of this practice, which reaches as far as the civil service; notes, furthermore, the Mauritanian Government’s extreme reluctance to acknowledge the continued widespread existence of slavery, and that to date only one legal case against a slave owner is known to have seen successful prosecution; urges the Mauritanian Gover ...[+++]nment to live up to its national and international legal commitments and obligations to end effectively all forms of slavery and to enact anti-slavery laws providing, inter-alia, compensation procedures; urges, moreover, the Mauritanian authorities to stop harassing and even imprisoning civil society activists who campaign for an end to slavery, including on charges of apostasy; calls on the Commission and the Member States, in this connection, to continue to support the work of Mauritanian as well as international anti-slavery organisations, including the UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on contemporary forms of slavery and the International Labour Organization;

From this point of view, it must be possible for globalisation, which takes the form of a remarkable contraction in space and time, to become more human and more democratic, because unless the equal participation of all the actors in the great movements of contemporary history is encouraged, globalisation will intrinsically involve the risk of giving free rein to violent forces hostile to the cohesion of national societies and of international society.

EMO (European Music Office), GESAC (European grouping of societies of writers and composers), German Sounds (Office promoting exports of German music), ICMP/CIEM (international confederation of music publishers), IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), Impala (Independent Music Companies Association), MTV Networks Europe, SACEM (society of writers, composers and publishers of music).