{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "id": "mauritania",
  "name": "Mauritania (Islamic Republic of Mauritania / الجمهورية الإسلامية الموريتانية)",
  "jurisdiction_code": "MR",
  "legal_system": "religious-law",
  "language": ["ar"],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "generated": "2026-06-04",
  "summary": "Mauritania is a West African religious-law Islamic republic operating under a Maliki-Sunni Sharia framework. Family-law framework operates under the Personal Status Code 2001 (Law 2001-052, Code du Statut Personnel) drawing on Maliki jurisprudence with codification. Mauritania is structurally distinctive within the corpus as the only Islamic Republic in West Africa and within the Sahel cluster — Constitution 1991 (revised 2017) establishes Islam as state religion and Sharia as the source of law. Custody (hadana) and guardianship (wilaya) are governed by Personal Status Code arts. 124-145. The Supreme Court (Cour Suprême) is the apex court for civil and criminal matters; the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) operates separate constitutional review. Family-law matters are heard at first instance in the Court of First Instance with Personal Status section. Psychology profession is regulated through the Ministry of Health framework. Mauritania is silent on 'parental alienation' as a statutory label; courts operate substantively under the welfare-of-the-child standard. Mauritania is non-Hague Convention.",
  "pa_recognition_status": {
    "statutory": "silent",
    "apex_court_position": "no-apex-position",
    "professional_regulator_position": "silent"
  },
  "statutory_framework": [
    {
      "citation": "Personal Status Code 2001 (Law 2001-052) arts. 124-145",
      "title": "Personal Status Code — Custody and guardianship",
      "year": 2001,
      "url": "https://www.justice.gov.mr/",
      "relevance": "Federal Personal Status Code drawing on Maliki Islamic-law jurisprudence with codification. Arts. 124-145 govern hadana (custody) and wilaya (guardianship)."
    },
    {
      "citation": "Constitution 1991 (revised 2017) — Islam as state religion",
      "title": "Constitution",
      "year": 1991,
      "url": "https://www.cc.mr/",
      "relevance": "Constitution establishing Islam as state religion and Sharia as the source of law."
    }
  ],
  "apex_courts": [
    {
      "name": "Supreme Court (Cour Suprême)",
      "seat": "Nouakchott",
      "url": "https://www.coursupreme.mr/",
      "role": "Apex court for civil and criminal matters."
    },
    {
      "name": "Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel)",
      "seat": "Nouakchott",
      "url": "https://www.cc.mr/",
      "role": "Constitutional Council with original jurisdiction over constitutional review."
    }
  ],
  "professional_regulators": [
    {
      "name": "Ministry of Health, Mauritania",
      "url": "https://www.sante.gov.mr/",
      "role": "Federal regulator of health and allied health professionals including clinical psychology."
    }
  ],
  "anonymisation_convention": "Mauritanian family-court decisions are anonymised per Supreme Court practice using initials.",
  "key_developments": [
    {
      "year": 1960,
      "title": "Mauritania independence + Daddah founding-presidency",
      "description": "Mauritania independence 28 November 1960 from France — establishing Islamic Republic framework. Moktar Ould Daddah first president 1960-1978 substantively distinctive Sahel African founding-presidency framework. Foundational pre-1978-coup framework affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1978,
      "title": "1978 Mauritania coup + Western-Sahara-context + recurring-coup-pattern",
      "description": "1978 Mauritania coup 10 July 1978 ending Daddah presidency — substantively distinctive Sahel recurring-coup pattern (1978, 1984, 2005, 2008). Substantive Western-Sahara War context substantially affecting political-institutional framework. Foundational recurring-instability framework affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1981,
      "title": "Mauritania slavery abolition + last-state-globally framework",
      "description": "Mauritania abolished slavery 9 November 1981 — substantively distinctive globally last-state-formally-abolishing-slavery framework. Subsequent slavery-criminalisation 2007 + 2015 anti-slavery-law strengthening framework substantively affecting demographic and family-law-implementation framework."
    },
    {
      "year": 1991,
      "title": "Constitution 1991 + Islamic Republic + multi-party-transition framework",
      "description": "Constitution adopted 12 July 1991 establishing Islamic Republic of Mauritania with Islam as state religion and Sharia as source of law. Substantive multi-party transition framework. Foundational constitutional anchor for contemporary family-law jurisprudence including Maliki Islamic-law framework."
    },
    {
      "year": 1991,
      "title": "Mauritania ratifies UN Convention on the Rights of the Child",
      "description": "Mauritania ratified the UNCRC on 16 May 1991 (with reservations consistent with Islamic Sharia) — substantively significant child-rights framework integration. Foundational best-interests-of-the-child framework integration with subsequent 2001 Personal Status Code substantive doctrine."
    },
    {
      "year": 2001,
      "title": "Personal Status Code 2001 (Law 2001-052)",
      "description": "Federal Personal Status Code enacted 19 July 2001 drawing on Maliki Islamic-law jurisprudence with codification. Arts. 124-145 govern hadana (custody) and wilaya (guardianship). Substantively distinctive Sahel Maliki-Islamic-law-codification framework affecting family-law-implementation."
    },
    {
      "year": 2005,
      "title": "2005 Mauritania coup + Vall transitional-government framework",
      "description": "2005 Mauritania coup 3 August 2005 ending Ould Taya 20-year-presidency — substantively distinctive Sahel-recurring-coup framework. Subsequent democratic-transition 2005-2007 leading to 2007 elections affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 2008,
      "title": "2008 Mauritania coup + Aziz framework + 11-year-presidency",
      "description": "2008 Mauritania coup 6 August 2008 led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz ending Abdallahi presidency. Subsequent Aziz presidency 2009-2019 substantively distinctive Sahel African long-presidency framework. Substantive recurring-coup pattern affecting constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 2017,
      "title": "Constitution revision 2017 + Senate-abolition framework",
      "description": "Constitutional revision August 2017 substantively reforming political-institutional framework including Senate abolition. Substantive constitutional anchor affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory and family-law-cross-cutting-areas."
    },
    {
      "year": 2023,
      "title": "Commission Nationale des Droits de l'Homme + slavery legacy framework + Mali refugee context",
      "description": "Commission Nationale des Droits de l'Homme (CNDH) institutional position addressing PA-related issues within Personal Status Code 2001 + Maliki Islamic-law framework. Continuing slavery-legacy framework affecting institutional context including anti-slavery framework operationalisation. Mali refugee context affecting cross-border family-law adjudication with Sahel cluster. Substantively significant Maghreb-Sahel institutional jurisprudential development."
    },
    {
      "year": 2024,
      "title": "Cour Suprême + Conseil Constitutionnel — welfare-of-the-child substantive register + Ghazouani re-election",
      "description": "Cour Suprême and Conseil Constitutionnel continue to develop welfare-of-the-child jurisprudence under Personal Status Code 2001 arts. 124-145 + Maliki Islamic-law framework in custody disputes. Mohamed Ould Ghazouani re-elected 29 June 2024 — substantive analysis without doctrinal 'parental alienation' label adoption."
    }
  ],
  "structural_findings": [
    "Mauritania is structurally distinctive within the corpus as the only Islamic Republic in West Africa and within the Sahel cluster — Constitution 1991 establishes Islam as state religion and Sharia as source of law.",
    "Maliki-Sunni Sharia framework places Mauritania alongside Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Mali, Senegal in the Maliki Islamic-law family.",
    "Non-Hague Convention status places Mauritania in the non-Hague Sahel West African cluster."
  ],
  "references": [
    "jurisdiction:senegal",
    "jurisdiction:morocco",
    "jurisdiction:mali",
    "evidence:cross-border-parental-abduction-and-pa-intersection",
    "evidence:childrens-rights-paramountcy-doctrine"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Supreme Court of Mauritania",
      "url": "https://www.coursupreme.mr/",
      "publisher": "Supreme Court",
      "language": "ar,fr"
    },
    {
      "title": "Constitutional Council",
      "url": "https://www.cc.mr/",
      "publisher": "Constitutional Council",
      "language": "ar,fr"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ministry of Justice",
      "url": "https://www.justice.gov.mr/",
      "publisher": "Ministry of Justice",
      "language": "ar,fr"
    }
  ],
  "editorial_notes": [
    "Mauritania jurisdiction sidecar v1.1 — deepened 2026-06-09 from 3 to 10 key_developments with full Daddah-to-Ghazouani trajectory: 1960-Mauritania-independence-+-Daddah + 1978-1978-Mauritania-coup-+-Western-Sahara-context + 1981-Mauritania-slavery-abolition-+-last-state-globally + 1991-Constitution-+-Islamic-Republic-+-multi-party-transition + 1991-UNCRC-ratification + 2001-Personal-Status-Code-Law-2001-052 + 2005-2005-Mauritania-coup-+-Vall-transitional + 2008-2008-Mauritania-coup-+-Aziz + 2017-Constitution-revision-+-Senate-abolition + 2024-Cour-Suprême-+-Conseil-Constitutionnel-+-Ghazouani-re-election.",
    "Religious-law Maliki-Sunni Islamic Republic Sahel West Africa (Personal Status Code 2001 + Constitution 1991 Islam-as-state-religion + non-Hague). Only Islamic Republic in West Africa.",
    "PA-recognition: silent statutory + no-apex-position + silent regulator — substantive welfare-of-the-child analysis under Personal Status Code 2001 arts. 124-145 + Maliki Islamic-law framework without doctrinal 'parental alienation' label.",
    "Joins Sahel-West-African + religious-law + Maliki-Sunni + only-Islamic-Republic-in-West-Africa-distinctive + Mauritania-slavery-abolition-1981-last-state-globally-formally-abolishing-slavery-distinctive + slavery-criminalisation-2007-+-2015-strengthening + recurring-coup-pattern-1978-1984-2005-2008 + Western-Sahara-War-context + Senate-abolition-2017 + non-Hague-Convention clusters within the corpus."
  ]
}