Presentation by Mr. Pascal Décarpes, EU criminal law expert. Mauritania
In cooperation with the Mauritanian Ministry of Justice IRZ organised a training course on "Alternatives to custodial sentences and pre-trial detention" in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on 6 and 7 December 2023. The event was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Justice and the penitentiary authority as well as judges and public prosecutors from the higher courts in Nouakchott.
The participants listened very attentively to the presentations by Pascal Décarpes, EU criminal law expert, and Petra Meyer, public prosecutor and legal officer in the Criminal Law Division of the Federal Ministry of Justice, and subsequently discussed the topics in depth and quite controversially. The challenges of practical implementation and the necessary support structures, such as probation services, played a major role. Although alternatives to custodial sentences are enshrined in law in Mauritania, they are rarely used in practice.
In the area of criminal justice, IRZ has already implemented a large number of projects in various partner countries. Mauritania has been a new partner state of IRZ since 2023, which is why the topic is also becoming increasingly important as a field of cooperation.
From left to right: Prof Dr Michaela Wittinger, Professor of Public Law (in particular Constitutional and European law) at the Federal University for Public Administration and Sheikh Turad Abdlmalek Mafoud, former Commissioner for Human Rights. Mauritania
On 1 and 2 March 2023 IRZ, in cooperation with the Mauritanian Ministry of Justice and the École Nationale d'Administration, de Journalisme et de Magistrature, held the very first training course on the implementation of international human rights conventions at a national level and on the role of the judiciary in human rights protection in Nouakchott (Mauritania).
The aim of the event was to promote the implementation of regional and international human rights conventions and to harmonise them with national law and to strengthen the role of the judiciary in the interpretation of human rights conventions.
Jule Andersen, consultant in the “Human Rights” department at the Federal Ministry of Justice, was first to introduce the topic with the attendees, and discussed human rights in the international system and the challenges associated with such. She described to the participants, some of whom work in ministries, the role of international human rights in German ministerial practice. Sheikh Turad Abdlmalek Mafoud, former Commissioner for Human Rights, examined the implementation of human rights obligations in Mauritanian law. Prof Dr Michaela Wittinger, Professor of Public Law (in particular Constitutional and European Law) at the Federal University of Public Administration, then presented selected international human rights protection agreements and their safeguarding mechanisms and the principle of reservations of the member states. In addition to international agreements, the regional protection of human rights was also discussed based on the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The event was attended by ministerial officials from the Mauritanian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Interior and the Ministry of Justice, employees from the National Commission for Human Rights, the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's Office. The diverse target group engaged in comprehensive and expert discussions with the German experts. The discussions were extremely lively and far-reaching.
