Mauritania has made progress in battling slavery but still has its work cut out to abolish the practice, the UN envoy on the issue said Friday.
Slavery has been officially banned since 1981 and classified as a crime against humanity in the Sahel country, but campaigners say it still exists there.
"Slavery and other similar practices such as forced or child labour... continue to exist in Mauritania," said Tomoya Obokata, the UN special rapporteur on modern slavery.
"I'm glad to see that Mauritania has been making progress in tackling these practices," he said.
He said the country had good laws on slavery and similar practices.
But "there still is reluctance and unwillingness on the part of some of the law enforcement authorities to investigate and prosecute slavery and other similar practices," he added.
Other major challenges included "lack of resources, long delays, light penalties which did not reflect the gravity of offenses and heavy reliance on informal conciliation processes".
Government spokesman Mohamed Melainine Ould Eyih this week told AFP that upholding human rights, including battling slavery, were now issues being treated "objectively and without taboo" in the country.
"The laws have been revised and courts criminalising slavery created... towards fully abolishing the phenomenon," he said.
Biram Dah Abeid, an activist against slavery and former presidential candidate, welcomed Obokata's comments.
But he said there were still obstacles to progress "on the security and judicial levels", with "36 slavery cases still stuck in the courts".