going to implore her to accept the marriage. The former master got up and said - No! How! Am I to buy a woman and be asked to pay dowry on her? ... After this reaction, the préfet said - Listen, as for me, I can do nothing - you must go away". 68. The Court therefore holds that when summoned to the office of the administrative authority, namely, to the préfet's office, the Applicant's former master not only refused to accomplish the marriage formalities with her but equally did not grant her the freedom due her, regardless of the certificate of emancipation. 69. In the Republic of Niger, the celebration of marriage is recognised by the payment of dowry and the holding of a religious ceremony. Now, in the instant case, El Hadj Souleymane Naroua fulfilled neither the customary nor civil requirements in regard to the Applicant. 70. Moreover, the Court holds that the Applicant was discriminated against vis-?-vis the wives in the family of her former master. 71. The Court finds that even if the complaint drawn from discrimination - to which the Applicant lays claim for the first time before the Court - is founded, that violation is not attributable to the Republic of Niger but rather to El Hadj Souleymane Naroua, who is not a party to the instant proceedings. Consequently, the Court finds this plea-in-law inoperative. Was the Applicant held in Slavery? 72. The Applicant complains having been held in slavery, in violation of Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other international instruments relating to human rights enacting absolute prohibition of slavery. She declared being born of parents who were themselves of the status of slaves and that she had always been treated as a slave under the roof of her former master, El Hadj Souleymane Naroua. 73. On its part, the Defendant refuted the grounds of slavery and maintained that the Applicant was certainly under conditions of servitude but was the wife of El Hadj Souleymane Naroua, with whom she had more or less lived happily as in the lives of all couples. 74. In the terms of Article 1 × For the purpose of the present Convention, the following definitions are agreed upon: (1) Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. (2) The slave trade includes all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged, and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves. of the Geneva Convention 1926, slavery is "The status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised" and slave trade was defined to include "all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged, and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves." 75. Thus defined, slavery is considered a grave violation of human dignity, and it is strictly prohibited by all the international instruments relating to human rights. Other instruments such as the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Article 4 (1) × Prohibition of slavery and forced labour 1. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude. ), the American Convention on Human Rights (Article 6 × Freedom from Slavery 1. No one shall be subject to slavery or to involuntary servitude, which are prohibited in all their forms, as are the slave trade and traffic in women. 2. No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labor. This provision shall not be interpreted to mean that, in those countries in which the penalty established for certain crimes is deprivation of liberty at forced labor, the carrying out of such a sentence imposed by a competent court is prohibited. Forced labor shall not adversely affect the dignity or the physical or intellectual capacity of the prisoner. 3. For the purposes of this article, the following do not constitute forced or compulsory labor: a. work or service normally required of a person imprisoned in execution of a sentence or formal decision passed by the competent judicial authority. Such work or service shall be carried out under the supervision and control of public authorities, and any persons performing such work or service shall not be placed at the disposal of any private party, company, or 9