The west African regional court of justice has convicted the state of Niger of failing to protect a 12-year-old girl from being sold into slavery, in what campaigners hail as a victory for human rights.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) Community Court of Justice said Niger had failed in its obligations to Hadijatou Mani, sold into slavery as a child in 1996 for about $500 (€398) and regularly beaten and sexually abused.
"I am very happy with this decision," Ms Mani, now 24, told reporters at the court. She spoke in the Hausa language spoken widely in Niger, via an interpreter.
Ms Mani was once jailed for bigamy by a Niger court when her former master opposed her marriage to another man, insisting she had automatically become his own wife when he freed her in 2005.
The case against the state was brought with the help of British-based anti-slavery organisations as a test case to press African governments to stamp out slavery, which campaigners say is rife in some African countries despite legal prohibitions. The court sentenced Niger to pay 10 million CFA francs (€15,159) in damages. There is no right of appeal.
"These events were in the past. This was about righting a wrong, and the court of justice saw fit to say this is what should be done. Niger will accept that," the country's African integration minister, Saidou Hachimou, said.
"It is now 2008 and I think Niger has made significant progress regarding slavery, with the law voted in 2003 abolishing slavery," he added.
The London-based Anti-Slavery International says 43,000 people are enslaved in Niger, despite the 2003 law. Activists say slavery is common in some other countries, including Mauritania and Sudan.
"It was very difficult to challenge my former master and to speak out when people see you as nothing more than a slave. But I knew that this was the only way to protect my child from suffering the same fate as myself," Ms Mani said in comments published by Anti-Slavery International, which helped her case.
The organisation said Ms Mani had been born the daughter of a slave and was bought by El Hadj Souleymane Naroua, a friend of her mother's master, at the age of 12. She worked for him for almost 10 years doing unpaid chores and agricultural labour and was used as a sex-slave, bearing three of his children, the organisation said.
Ms Mani said she would use the damages to build a house and send her children to school, "so they can have the education I was never allowed as a slave".
"This historic verdict sets a legal precedent that we can take to neighbouring states where slavery remains an issue," said Romana Cacchioli of Anti-Slavery International. "Niger now needs to look closely at its customary law courts to ensure that there is an end to the discrimination of women and to the acceptance of slavery at a local level."
The Ecowas court upheld Ms Mani's claim that the state had failed to protect her from slavery. But it dismissed a second plank of the case, which accused the government of legitimising slavery through customary laws that campaigners say discriminate against women.
- (Reuters)