VOA常速英语2008年-Former Slave Launches Case Against Niger

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
07 April 2008

A woman once forced into a life of sexual slavery and domestic labor¹ has filed suit against the government of Niger. The case is being heard by the court of the Economic Community of West African states. The court, which has jurisdiction² in all ECOWAS member states and is normally based in Nigeria, is hearing this case in Niger's capital, Niamey. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our regional bureau in Dakar.

Hadijatou Mani is accusing Niger's government of failing to implement³ 2003 laws against slavery.

The case started Monday with several witnesses appearing before the court, including other former slaves, as well as Mani explaining her case.

A legal advisor⁴ helping⁵ her, Helen Duffy, usually based in The Hague, but now in Niamey, says the case is very significant.

"It is an opportunity for the victim in this case to get recognition of what she suffered for many years, but also for the practice of slavery to be exposed and for the state to be held responsible for its part in its failure to prevent slavery and for some ways encouraging it over many years," said Helen Duffy.

British-based Anti-Slavery International says Mani was sold when she was 12 for about $500 and forced to carry out unpaid⁶ work, while being beaten and sexually abused by the man who bought her.

The group says there are still more than 40,000 slaves in Niger. Human-rights groups based in Niger say the number is actually in the hundreds of thousands, and that common law still allows the practice.

Niger's government calls those figures exaggerated. Officials say the 2003 law against slavery is being implemented⁷, and that traditions are hard to break, but that authorities are doing everything they can to make sure laws are respected.

The new legislation sets sentences of up to 30 years and heavy fines for people convicted of keeping slaves, but very few cases involving slave owners have come through the court system.

Ilguilas Weila, the head of a Niger association called Timidria, says much more still needs to be done.

He says there are still three types of slavery, what he calls active slavery in rural areas, whereby people are still sold, passive slavery whereby members of lower castes work on land for members of higher castes in a feudal⁸ type of system, and city slavery, which he says affects many children who are forced to work for families other than their own.

In Mani's case, when she was released from slavery, she decided⁹ to marry a man she had freely chosen, but the man who had previously¹⁰ used her as a sex slave, said she was his wife.

A court found Mani guilty of bigamy and sentenced her to six months in jail.

Duffy says the government should be held responsible for allowing such a court decision to be made, despite the 2003 anti-slavery law.

"The problem in this case is not so much that the law in itself is inadequate¹¹, but that it is simply not applied," she said. "[The government] has to make sure that those that are applying the law know about the law, and understand the law, and understand the phenomenon that is being addressed."

She says the trial in Niamey, which is expected to last about one week, could help make the law clearer both for Niger and for other ECOWAS states where some critics say forced labor, especially among children, seems to be growing.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

3 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

4 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

7 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

8 feudal   

adj.封建的，封地的，领地的

参考例句：

• Feudal rulers ruled over the country several thousand years.封建统治者统治这个国家几千年。
• The feudal system lasted for two thousand years in China.封建制度在中国延续了两千年之久。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

11 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。