SENEGAL: ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 DAKAR 000501

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP, AF/RSA, AF/W, INL, DRL, PRM, AND G/IWI
AID/W FOR AFR/WA AND DCHA
BAMAKO FOR TIP OFFICER
BANJUL FOR TIP OFFICER
CONAKRY FOR TIP OFFICER
MADRID FOR TIP OFFICER
PRAIA FOR TIP OFFICER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KWMN ELAB SMIG ASEC PREF SG
SUBJECT: SENEGAL: ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

REF: 06 STATE 202745


1. SUMMARY: After being upgraded last year from Tier
2 Watch List to Tier 2 status, Senegal has continued
to devote significant time and attention to the issue
of trafficking in persons. Following passage of its
first trafficking-in-persons (TIP) law in April 2005,
police now maintain a computerized database meant to
record trafficking-related crime statistics. At least
four traffickers were arrested; at least three
trafficking crimes have been investigated; at least
two traffickers were prosecuted and sentenced to two
years in prison; and the GOS also prosecuted
individuals responsible for rape, pedophilia,
prostitution and abuse of ?talibe? children.
Cooperation with Spanish government intelligence
sources led to Senegalese authorities breaking up two
trafficking rings. In October, President Wade co-
hosted a Presidential Council on Street Children and
declared a policy of ?One family, one child,? urging
families to ?adopt? street children. The Ministry of
Family has since received grants from Italy, the World
Bank and UNICEF to follow through with initiatives to
get children off the streets. The Government has
continued to provide assistance to victims and to
repatriate children found to have been trafficked from
surrounding countries. 75 were repatriated to Mali,
92 to Guinea-Bissau, 1 to Burkina Faso, and 29 to
Guinea in 2006. IOM is working to repatriate four
children to Guinea-Bissau. In December 2006, G/TIP
Ambassador Miller and members of his staff held a DVC
conference, along with the Senegalese TIP grantee (the
High Commissioner for Human Rights and Peace
Promotion),key GOS ministries, international
organizations and NGOs to discuss the trafficking in
persons law. The conference revealed that Senegal has
made some progress and improvement, such as
implementation of an inter-ministerial cooperative
located at the High Commission?s office, and
collection of data regarding trafficking of street
children and ?talibes? through the database set by the
Ministry of Family, using the partnership of
Connexions Sans Frontieres. END SUMMARY.


2. Responses are keyed to questions in Reftel A.

Begin TIP report:

PARA 27. Overview of a country's activities to
eliminate trafficking in persons
-------------- --

A. Senegal is a country of origin, transit and
destination for human trafficking of women and
children. There are no reliable statistics on the
extent of human trafficking in Senegal. While some
NGOs and international organizations, such as UNICEF,
have estimates on the number of child beggars or at-
risk children, there has never been a quantitative
study on trafficking victims in Senegal. Anecdotal
evidence suggests young boys constitute the highest
risk group for trafficking.

Senegal?s trafficking problems are both internal and
transnational.

Young Senegalese boys are trafficked from rural
villages to urban centers for exploitive begging at
some Koranic schools (?daaras?). Young boys are
trafficked to Senegal from The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau,
Mali and Guinea for the same purpose. Although there
were reports in the past of Senegalese children being
trafficked to other West African countries, Cote
d?Ivoire for example, for labor purposes, there were
no such reports in 2006.

Young girls are trafficked from villages in the
Diourbel, Fatick, Kaolack, Louga, Saint Louis (Fouta),
Thies and Ziguinchor regions to urban centers for work
as underage domestics. NGOs report Malian girls are

DAKAR 00000501 002 OF 010


trafficked to Senegal to help blind -- and people
posing as blind -- beggars. Young girls from both
urban and rural areas are involved in illegal
prostitution, which NGOs claim always involves an
adult pimp who facilitates their commercial sex
transactions or houses them.

The issue of trafficking of adult women remains a hazy
one. Police officials, international organizations
and NGOs have indicated that trafficking of women for
use in prostitution occurs in Senegal, but there is
little concrete data to support this. NGOs working
with illegal prostitutes have provided anecdotal
evidence. ENDA Sante, a Senegalese NGO and FY06 TIP
grantee, treats illegal prostitutes for STIs through a
mobile clinic program. According to ENDA Sante?s
staff, they see many women from nearby African
countries -- Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia,
Guinea-Bissau and Guinea -- practicing illegal
prostitution in Senegal.

Association AWA, an NGO providing health care and
vocational training to women in prostitution, reported
that physically abused women occasionally come in to
be treated. They are sometimes accompanied by another
person to get tested for HIV/AIDS. AWA believes some
of these women may be trafficking victims, and the
persons accompanying them may be traffickers. AWA
also said they see many female prostitutes from
Liberia and Nigeria. Last year?s TIP Report discussed
the organized nature of foreign prostitutes? entry
into Senegal.


B. The lack of reliable trafficking data impedes
clear understanding of trafficking trends. Young boys
continue to be trafficked from neighboring countries
and Senegalese villages, and young girls continue to
be trafficked internally. Foreign and Senegalese
women continue to work in the sex industry. NGOs
working with children and prostitutes, and a GOS
health professional working at a government-funded
health clinic that offers health checks for
prostitutes complying with Senegal?s legal
prostitution regime, claim they see more and
increasingly younger underage prostitutes on Senegal?s
streets.

Children trafficked to Senegal are forced into
exploitive begging. Separated from their families and
support systems, children must choose between staying
with their trafficker or life on the street as
runaways. Many children are too young to remember
with any detail the village from which they came and,
sadly, forget their families. Newspapers have
reported on cases of physical abuse committed by
Koranic teachers (?marabouts?) against their students
(?talibes?). Koranic teachers who abuse their
students have been prosecuted under non-TIP laws and
sent to prison.

There is not enough evidence on underage or adult
prostitution to know how traffickers ensure
compliance. There are no reports children are
trafficked from other countries to Senegal for sexual
purposes, or to become underage domestics.

For child victims, parents who entrust young boys into
the care of a Koranic teacher, or send a female child
to work as a domestic, oftentimes know the trafficker.

Koranic teachers frequently return to their original
villages and receive children from parents hoping to
provide a Koranic education, which many Senegalese
value more highly than a secular education.
Generally, parents are not offered money to turn young
boys over to Koranic teachers, and young boys are
never sold. An NGO working in the northern Senegalese
town of St. Louis explained young boys are sometimes
passed from one Koranic teacher to another, but never

DAKAR 00000501 003 OF 010


for recompense.

Girls sent away to work as domestics often work in
family members? or family friends? homes. In such
cases, poor rural families expect money will be sent
back to the home to help provide badly needed income.
These relationships and families? expectations of
income make leaving exploitive labor conditions, which
sometimes include sexual abuse, difficult for young
girls.

Young prostitutes are either sent by rural parents to
urban areas to find work, or leave urban homes to work
on the streets. While parents do not send their
daughters to become prostitutes, with rare exceptions,
NGOs working with underage prostitutes claim parents
are aware of the fact their daughters prostitute
themselves because they leave the house at night, and
they have an otherwise unexplainable source of income.
Almost all underage prostitutes have Senegalese pimps
who entice their desperate victims with promises of
money and work. NGO ENDA ECOPOLE has created a center
where young domestic girls can have vocational
training after work, in tie dye and sewing, as well as
get educational learning skills and human rights
highlights.

Weak civil administration and the ease of obtaining
fake identity documents, the abundance of foreign
tourists and potential visa sponsors, freedom of
movement between Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) member states without the need to
present a passport, direct flights from Senegal to
Europe and national stability entice adult women from
other African countries to come to Senegal for sexual
purposes. If these women are trafficked, it is
unclear who their traffickers are, or what methods
they use to approach victims. NGOs explain while some
Senegalese women could be trafficked to North Africa,
Europe and the Middle East for sexual purposes, as has
been reported in the past, most Senegalese prostitutes
tend to remain in Senegal.

The GOS has continued to show significant political
will to combat human trafficking.

The GOS-established Ginddi Center has maintained its
intake of at-risk children and had expanded its
operations, using TIP money in year 2006. Minister of
Women, Family, Social Development and Women?s
Entrepreneurship Aida Mbodj, one of the 2005 TIP
Heroes, whose Ministry directs the Ginddi Center,
continued her efforts to bring public awareness to
this problem and to work closely with international
organizations and her counterparts in other African
countries. In July 2006, 24 western and central
African countries met in Abuja, Nigeria to sign a
multilateral cooperation agreement to combat TIP, and
adopted a regional action plan to implement the
accord. Her Ministry runs a program for daaras, in
which they provide teaching aids, submit language
components, train Koranic teachers, offer school
supplies and run awareness campaigns. She has
publicly called for an end to begging and has
mobilized her Ministry to educate the public about the
importance of birth registration; this program is
ongoing.

Human Rights Commissioner Mame Bassine Niang helped
push through the new anti-TIP law. She was also
tasked with the maintenance of an inter-ministerial
task force that has already started work for a
ministerial jointed approach to TIP. The Family
Minister, the Human Rights Commissioner and the Chief
Prosecutor all agree there is a trafficking problem
that must be addressed.

The relatively new Criminal Analysis Unit continues to
add trafficking-related offenses into its electronic

DAKAR 00000501 004 OF 010


database. Unfortunately, though human trafficking is
now an offense under domestic law, few, if any, such
cases have been included in the database. The unit is
associated with INTERPOL but lacks financial and human
resources to fully devote to trafficking issues. The
Commissioner of Police noted that police lack the
financial incentive and time to actively pursue
trafficking cases and input data into the database.
Nonetheless, with assistance from Spain, the GOS broke
up at least two trafficking rings in the last year.

The Interior Ministry established a new Special
Commissariat to help fight sex tourism in Dakar and
Mbour, two of Senegal?s principal tourist destinations
and target areas for underage and illegal
prostitution. However, the Commissariat has taken no
definitive actions.

The Ministry of Tourism created a special tourism
police unit and appointed someone to head it. It is
charged with fighting sexual tourism in the popular
tourist destinations of Dakar, Saint-Louis, Mbour,
Fatick and Ziguinchor. It is not yet operational.

As part of a Time-Bound program with the ILO, Senegal
works toward the eradication child begging, underage
domestic work, and underage prostitution as three of
Senegal?s worst forms of child labor.


C. Senegal is one of the poorest countries in the
world, ranking 157th on the UN?s Human Development
Index and limiting its ability to effectively
prosecute traffickers, prevent trafficking or protect
trafficking victims. Police are underpaid and lack
adequate equipment and resources to effectively do
their jobs. In addition to its public revenue
problems, the government?s bureaucratic structure and
reliance on highly centralized decision-making stand
in the way of reform. Corruption exists throughout
government, including law enforcement. Trafficking
represents only one of many vexing social and economic
problems with which the Government must contend. The
fact that recruiters of young boys exploit parents?
legitimate, socially prevalent desire for a religious
education provides ?cover? within local communities,
and decreases the possibility of government
intervention.


D. The GOS does not have a systematic means in place
to monitor its anti-trafficking efforts and does not
submit reports. However, the Ministry of Family and
the Human Rights Commissioner in an unprecedented move
led a sustained and well-organized effort to fight
trafficking and child begging throughout 2006 and
early 2007.

PARA 28. PREVENTION
--------------

A. President Wade has spoken publicly against human
trafficking. As the leading minister on children?s
issues, Family Minister Mbodj condemned child
trafficking during her public statements numerous
times during this TIP reporting cycle. In October,
President Wade hosted a Presidential Council on Street
Children and declared a policy of ?One family, one
child,? urging families to ?adopt? street children.
The Ministry of Family has since received grants from
Italy, the World Bank and UNICEF to follow through
with initiatives to get children off the streets.

Privately, most GOS officials admit child trafficking
exists and the Government is now acting. Fewer
Senegalese see adult prostitutes as trafficking
victims.

Some GOS officials continue to see trafficking as a
foreign problem and Senegal victimized as a transit
country rather than a destination or source country.
When confronted with the realities of today?s

DAKAR 00000501 005 OF 010


exploitive begging relationships, for example, many
remain unconvinced Senegal?s cultural and religious
practices constitute human trafficking when Senegalese
children are involved. People are more apt to
criticize these practices, however, when foreign
children are involved.


B. The Family Ministry is the ministry most actively
involved in prevention and protection efforts. As
part of its anti-child labor program with UNICEF, the
GOS created observatories in Mbour and St. Louis to
fight prostitution and pedophilia, and in Fatick to
keep girls from leaving school to become underage
domestics.

The High Commission for Human Rights, due to its lack
of a budget, is unable to undertake anti-trafficking
programs absent external assistance. However, the
High Commissioner played a critical role in getting
the anti-TIP law passed and has received G/TIP funding
that help her to staff and operate her office.

Various courts under the Justice Ministry collect
statistics on arrests and imprisonment for all
criminal offenses, including arrests of pimps and
Koranic teachers who abuse their students. However,
there is a centralized system in place for collecting
data, Connexions Sans Frontieres, in partnership with
the Ministry of Family.

In charge of law enforcement, the Interior Ministry
created a Criminal Analysis Unit, sent students to
ICITAP anti-trafficking training and created a new
Special Commissariat to crack down on sex tourism and
illegal prostitution. The Judicial Police, falling
under the authority of the Interior Ministry, assigned
four police officers to the anti-trafficking police
unit upon the signature of the anti-trafficking law.
The four officers, while assigned to the anti-
trafficking unit, actually spend the majority of their
time on other routine cases. Senior Judicial Police
officials have openly expressed that there is no
financial motivation for police officers to pursue
trafficking cases.

The Minor?s Brigade monitors legal protection for
minors and assists legal proceedings against
perpetrators.


C. As part of its program against the worst forms of
child labor, the Family Ministry, along with its
department of youth protection, has held workshops and
roundtables in Mbour, Dakar and other areas to fight
child begging, underage domestic work and underage
prostitution.


D. The GOS has a comprehensive poverty reduction
program (DSRP) to help improve national economic
conditions and ameliorate social problems like
trafficking that poverty exacerbates. Economic growth
at the local level could help reduce pressure on
parents to send their children away, keep children in
schools and create job alternatives to prostitution,
such as the center created by ENDA Ecopole.

The Wade government champions education as a top
priority. Since 2000, when Wade became President, the
GOS has constructed numerous new school facilities,
including the approximately 150 newly created centers
specifically designed for young children (?les cases
des tous petits?) and school attendance for girls,
historically disadvantaged in terms of access to
education, continues to rise. The GOS implemented a
UN-approved plan for assuring universal education by
2015, and committed 40 percent of the national
operating budget to education, the highest percentage
in Africa. Gross enrollment is 82.5 percent.
Enrollment of girls has reached 80.6 percent, compared
to boys enrollment of 84.4 percent, a big improvement

DAKAR 00000501 006 OF 010


over previous years. The Government has also taken
initiatives to combat child begging by creating
Franco-Arab schools. These offer religious education,
as well as scholastic learning. In addition, the GOS
and its Ministry of Education formalized the ?daaras?
as private schools.


E. The Family Ministry works closely with UNICEF and
Senegalese NGOs to implement its program against the
worst forms of child labor. In Mbour, for example,
the GOS holds workshops and seminars with UNICEF and
NGO assistance to prevent young girls from turning to
prostitution. In a separate program, the Family
Ministry collaborates with local religious leaders to
improve conditions in Koranic schools. The GOS
cooperates with international organizations at Ginddi
Center, and with the IOM to help repatriate trafficked
children from neighboring countries.

The Interior and Justice Ministries have a program
with IOM to monitor migration flows across Senegal?s
borders. Justice Ministry officials worked with IOM
staff in the past to organize and analyze criminal
statistics.

A number of NGOs, such as ENDA Ecopole, which works
primarily with women and children, and Avenir de
l?Enfant report cooperative relations with some
Senegalese officials, such as the Minister of Family,
and the police, who often refer individual cases to
such NGOs.


F. Due to the Casamance conflict in southern Senegal,
remote borders with Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea, a
largely uncontrollable riverine border with
Mauritania, a large seaport in Dakar and heavy
international flight traffic, the GOS is unable to
effectively monitor all frontiers. The Government has
made progress, though, improving security at Dakar?s
port and international airport. The Government
recently detained a vessel suspected of trafficking in
persons, worked with the Governments of Spain and Cape
Verde to end the activities of traffickers bringing
children and adults from Cape Verde through Senegal to
The Gambia and ultimately to Spain, and stopped an
orphanage from advertising children to pedophiles via
the Internet.


G. As part of the Labor Ministry?s Time Bound Program
against the worst forms of child labor, an inter-
ministerial committee was formed between 14 government
ministries and several other non-ministerial entities.
This mechanism for coordinating and communicating on
children?s issues is the first of its kind. The GOS
does have a TIP task force managed by the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, along with the National
Committee against Human Trafficking that includes
various ministries and NGOs. The Commissioner has
activated this Committee. The Government has
established and staffed an office to fight public
corruption, but little has been done thus far.

The GOS participated in multinational working groups
leading up an accord with Mali against child
trafficking. Senegal has signed a TIP cooperation
agreement with nine ECOWAS countries.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights is Senegal?s
focal point on trafficking and is responsible for
coordinating anti-TIP policy. Family Minister Mbodj
actively fights human trafficking through her
ministry?s programs and her efforts to lobby other
government ministries to reform.


H. The GOS drafted a national action plan against
trafficking in 2002-03 that included input from the
Family, Justice and Interior Ministries as well as
from several NGOs, international organizations and the
High Commissioner for Human Rights. The GOS adopted

DAKAR 00000501 007 OF 010


the plan in 2004.

PARA 29. INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS
-------------- --------------

A. On April 29, 2005, the National Assembly
unanimously adopted a comprehensive anti-TIP law.
Under the law, those who recruit, transport, transfer
or harbor persons, whether by means of violence,
fraud, abuse of authority or otherwise for the
purposes of sexual exploitation, labor, forced
servitude or slavery are subject to punishment of 5 to
10 years' imprisonment and a fine of between USD
10,000 and 40,000 (5 to 20 million CFA francs (CFAF)).
When the violation involves torture, barbarism, the
removal of human organs or exposing the victim to a
risk of death or injury, jail time can range from 10
to 30 years imprisonment.

Though Senegal now has an effective legal tool for
fighting human trafficking, the new law has been used
primarily to combat those who smuggle illegal
immigrants from Senegal to Spain. At least two such
smugglers have been sentenced to two years in prison.
A number of other smugglers have also been arrested.
Another three were detained for five months before
being released in January. An Ivoirian named Gomez
suspected of trafficking two girls to Spain was
arrested, and his case reportedly remains pending.

Other statutes have been used to prosecute and convict
traffickers. For instance, Senegal?s constitution
forbids slavery, the labor code prohibits forced
labor, and begging is illegal under the penal code.
Senegalese have not historically viewed exploitive
begging as slavery or forced labor, and the anti-
begging law is not enforced against any beggars,
trafficking victims or otherwise.

A legal regime regulates prostitution. Pimping and
soliciting customers are illegal. Current laws
regulating prostitution yield arrests, including
arrests of foreign illegal prostitutes, underage
prostitutes and pimps. NGOs working with prostitutes,
however, claim the problem is bigger than official
statistics suggest.

A few Koranic teachers who physically abuse their
students are arrested and prosecuted each year,
including three arrests in 2006. In most cases,
students were beaten for failing to meet their daily
begging requirements. NGOs assisting Koranic school
students explain that Koranic teachers who violently
enforce daily begging requirements are usually the
most exploitive, and most likely to be traffickers
rather than bona fide Koranic teachers. At the Ginddi
Center, the Family Ministry received students who had
been beaten by their Koranic teachers. No cases have
been reported this year.


B. The law provides for 5 to 10 years imprisonment
for rape. Rapes resulting in death qualify for life
imprisonment. If a rape victim is a minor, the
penalty is 10 years imprisonment. The law punishes
sexual abuse of children (pedophilia) with 5 to 10
years imprisonment. If the offender is a family
member, the punishment is 10 years. Any offense
against the decency of a child is punishable by
imprisonment for 2 to 5 years and in some aggravated
cases up to 10 years imprisonment. Procuring a minor
for prostitution is punishable by imprisonment for 2
to 5 years and a fine between USD 575 and 7,600
(300,000 and 4,000,000 CFAF). The penalties for sex
trafficking (whether for a minor or an adult) are more
severe.


C. ILO?s International Program on the Elimination of
Child Labor (IPEC) says there has not been a reported
case of child labor reported in Senegal during the
reporting period. However, IPEC has conducted

DAKAR 00000501 008 OF 010


training for magistrates and police on identification
of the problem and appropriate steps to take should it
arise. IPEC is currently conducting a study of the
extent of the problem in Senegal.


D. The GOS prosecuted individuals responsible for
rape, pedophilia, prostitution and abuse of ?talibe?
children. In the last year, at least two Koranic
teachers were convicted and sentenced (though not
under the new TIP law) for such abuse. One case
involved the June 29, 2006 arrest of Abdourahmane
Sall, who was charged with committing pedophilia on
one of his 15-year-old talibes. A judge placed Sall's
other talibes in a reeducation center.


E. Prostitution is legal in Senegal. To legally
practice prostitution, a woman must be at least 21
years old, register with the police, carry a valid
sanitary card and test negative for STIs. Searching
for clients and pimping are illegal.


F. TIP Prosecutions: One Nigerian was arrested in
late December 2006 at Dakar?s Leopold Sedar Senghor
International Airport for attempting to traffic three
children to Europe. One Ivoirian was arrested in
January for attempting to traffic two girls to Europe.
The Nigerian and the Ivoirian are currently in jail
awaiting trial. Police apprehended the Nigerian based
on an outstanding arrest warrant. As noted above,
several smugglers have been arrested and prosecuted
for facilitating and/or engaging in illegal migration
to Spain. Post will send statistics on additional TIP
prosecutions Septel.


G. Child traffickers appear to be freelance
operators. GOS officials who say Senegal is a transit
country for human trafficking of adult women believe
European-based networks regulate these flows. NGOs
working with prostitutes claim networks, even if not
highly organized or part of a larger criminal
syndicate, exist in Senegal.


H. The GOS has actively investigated trafficking
cases. As noted above, a trafficking ring bringing
Cape Verdeans through Senegal and The Gambia to Spain
has been investigated and broken up; vessels suspected
of trafficking has been detained; an orphanage
advertising children to pedophiles over the Internet
has been investigated; and marabouts have been
arrested and prosecuted after investigation. The
police and gendarmes use electronic surveillance,
undercover operations, and other techniques in their
investigations.


I. Police have received training from ICITAP. The
head of the police anti-trafficking unit, located in
the Judicial Police headquarters is a graduate of an
ICITAP-sponsored TIP course.


J. Senegalese and Malian authorities continued
cooperation to repatriate Malian children. Two
Senegalese marabouts were arrested in Guinea in
February 2006 for trafficking in children. The GOS is
working with the Government of Guinea in the
prosecution of these two individuals. The GOS works
regularly with foreign security services on
clandestine immigration and human smuggling cases.


K. The GOS can extradite individuals but has not done
so for trafficking purposes.


L. There is some evidence of government tolerance of
trafficking for forced begging on a local or
institutional level.


M. No GOS officials are known to have been involved
in trafficking.


N. French newspaper articles and tour guides have

DAKAR 00000501 009 OF 010


described Senegal as a destination for sex tourism.
Senegal?s Tourism Minister claims, however, Senegal is
not and will not become a destination for sex tourism.
Police have arrested foreign tourists for illegal sex
acts. On June 6, 2006, a French national was arrested
after being caught in the act of committing pedophilia
on a 14-year-old boy. A French tourist was arrested
for lewd acts on February 15, 2007, but his male
partner who was believed to be under age escaped.


O. Senegal ratified ILO Convention 182 concerning the
prohibition and immediate action for the elimination
of the worst forms of child labor on June 1, 2000.

-- Senegal ratified ILO Convention 29 and 105 on
forced or compulsory labor on November 4, 1960 and
July 28, 1961 respectively.

-- The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC) on the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography was igned on
September 8, 2000, and ratified on Noveber 5, 2003.

-- The Protocol to Prevent, Suppres and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, especially omen and Children,
supplementing the UN Conventio Against Transnational
Organized Crime was ratifed on October 27, 2003.

PARA 30. PROTECTION AN ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS
--------------

A. The GOS? Ginddi Center rovides various services
to assist trafficking vitims. These services include
medical treatment, family mediation and
reconciliation, education, shelter and meals, and
repatriation of children to their mother lands. Last
year, the Ginddi Center?s child protection hotline
received 21,533 calls from parents, Koranic teachers
and other concerned parties. The Center assisted 373
children to receive medical care and reunite with
their families; 107 children were trained in
vocational centers.


B. GOS representatives attend NGO events on
trafficking-related and child protection themes, which
helps generate greater turnout to these events and
greater public awareness of Senegal?s trafficking
problems. The Ministry of Family works closely with
many Senegalese NGOs, such as RADDHO, Avenir de
l?Enfant and La Lumiere.


C. The GOS provides care services through its Ginddi
Center. While there is no formal referral process
between the GOS and NGOs, close working relationships
between local government officials and NGOs active in
their districts allow for information exchange and
intervention in particular cases.


D. The rights of young boys trafficked by religious
teachers are generally respected, and they are usually
provided with victim assistance.

Underage and foreign prostitutes are considered
criminals. On average, 16 prostitutes are
checked/questioned every day. Of those 16,
approximately three are found in violation of the law,
arrested and prosecuted every day. During the year,
90 foreigners were arrested/prosecuted for
prostitution -- 50 Nigerians and 40 Guineans.


E. Under the 2005 TIP law, trafficking victims cannot
be prosecuted for acts taken as a result of their
being trafficked. The law also protects the identity
of victims and permits ?closed door? testimony to
encourage them to serve as witnesses. They also are
permitted to remain temporarily or permanently on
national territory under the status of resident or
refugee. Victims have a right to an attorney. If
they cannot afford one, one will be provided to them.
Young boys beaten by their Koranic teachers are

DAKAR 00000501 010 OF 010


encouraged to assist authorities to investigate and
prosecute cases. Similarly, illegal prostitutes are
questioned about their pimps.


F. The GOS operates the Ginddi Center in Dakar for
trafficked and at-risk children. While the Government
funds most operations, international partners provide
some assistance. The U.S. has renovated the
dormitories and built the wall around the Ginddi
center and also provided medical equipment to the
health unit.


G. To our knowledge, other than training Ginddi
Center personnel, the GOS provided no training in

2006.


H. The Government has provided basic shelter and
medical assistance to victims, usually in coordination
with NGOs and international organizations.


I. The following is a non-exhaustive list of NGOs
working with trafficking victims, their primary target
group(s) and services: TOSTAN (Koranic students,
health, education and nutrition); l?Avenir d?Enfant
(trafficked boys and underage prostitutes, shelter,
nutrition, education and reconciliation); ATT (Koranic
students, health and education); ENDA Sante (illegal
prostitutes, health); and AWA (prostitutes, job
training and health). RADDHO, which works with
Koranic students, underage prostitutes, and domestics,
has a program for the ?Socio-Professional Integration
of Young Migrant Victims of Trafficking,? which is
being funded by the Swiss Foundation for International
Social Service (SSI). Local authorities support NGO
programs through their attendance at public events,
collaboration on program strategies and activities and
use of public spaces for activities.

International organizations include: the World Bank
(street children); UNICEF (underage domestics,
underage prostitutes and Koranic students, education,
and job alternatives); IOM (trafficked children,
coordinates repatriation of Malian children); Save the
Children Sweden (Koranic students, education); and ILO
(underage domestics, underage prostitutes and Koranic
students, education, and job alternatives).

BEST PRACTICES
--------------

6. Mission highlighted NGO AWA?s work as a ?best
practice? in last year?s reporting cable, but it was
not included in the TIP Report. AWA is a Senegalese
NGO that works with former and current prostitutes to
provide with medical care, vocational training and
other services to encourage them to find an
alternative profession. AWA has launched a new
project to train large numbers of women in cooking,
sewing, tie-dye, and other skills to generate income.
It will also combine advocacy and awareness programs
to teach women about the dangers of prostitution. We
are recommending this project as a best practice,
because it is unique in its attempt to not only pull
large numbers of vulnerable and probably trafficked
women out of the perilous field of prostitution but
also provide them with another way to earn an income
and contribute not only to their families but also to
Senegalese society and economy.

TIP OFFICER
--------------

7. (U) The Embassy?s TIP officer is Osman Tat. He
can be reached by phone at 221-823-4296, ext. 2420,
and by e-mail at TatON@state.gov.

JACOBS