Descent-based slavery

Descent-based slavery is a form of slavery based on the assignment of a so-called hereditary "slave status". Although slavery has been officially abolished by law, stigmatisation and discrimination based on genealogy persist locally.^[1][2]

This phenomenon, rooted in history, still affects many people today, particularly in West Africa (Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal). Slavery by descent is present in most of the ethnic groups of the Western Sahel, particularly in the Tuareg, Moorish, Hausa, Soninke and Fulani communities.

"Slave" status is generally transmitted through the maternal line. Even after the official abolition of slavery by most of the colonial powers in Africa and right up to the present day, many people are still considered to be "descendants of slaves", on the grounds that one of their ancestors was enslaved.^[1]

However, this group often also includes people who were never literally enslaved in the past, but who were assigned the social status of foreigners by village chiefs when they arrived, and who were only allowed to marry descendants of enslaved people, so that these "foreign migrants" are socially inserted into the "descendants of slaves" status group.^[1]