Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09DAKAR207
2009-02-19 11:01:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Dakar
Cable title:  

SENEGAL: 2008 TIP REPORT

Tags:  KTIP ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PGOV PHUM PREF SMIG SG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6611
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #0207/01 0501101
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191101Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1884
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 DAKAR 000207 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL, PRM, INL, AF/W, AF/RSA, INR/AA
STATE FOR USAID
G-ACBLANK
ACCRA FOR USAID/WA
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PGOV PHUM PREF SMIG SG
SUBJECT: SENEGAL: 2008 TIP REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 DAKAR 000207

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL, PRM, INL, AF/W, AF/RSA, INR/AA
STATE FOR USAID
G-ACBLANK
ACCRA FOR USAID/WA
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PGOV PHUM PREF SMIG SG
SUBJECT: SENEGAL: 2008 TIP REPORT


1. (SBU) As was the case in previous years Senegal continues to
devote, time, resources and attention to combating trafficking in
persons.


2. (U) responses are keyed to questions in reftel.
Begin TIP report

PARA 23: THE COUNTRY'S TIP SITUATION


A. Information on trafficking is gathered from the government, NGOs,
the media, security services and site visits by Embassy officers.
Organizations working directly with trafficking victims such as the
International Organization for Migrations (IOM) and the government's
Ginndi center are very reliable. Media and government sources are
generally reliable.


B. Senegal is a source, transit and destination country for children
and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor, begging and
commercial sexual exploitation. While there are no reliable
statistics for the total extent of human trafficking in Senegal, a
joint November 2007 report by UNICEF, the ILO and the World Bank
said that there were 7,600 street children begging in Dakar alone
and that 90 percent of them were talibes. The report also said that
95 percent of these children were either from out of Dakar or from
outside the country. Trafficking within the country is more
prevalent than trans-border trafficking. Boys who are students
(talibe) at some Koranic schools are trafficked within the country
for forced begging by their religious teachers (marabouts. Women
and girls are trafficked for domestic servitude. Girls, and
possibly adult women, are also trafficked internally for sexual
exploitation. Trans-nationally, boys are trafficked to Senegal from
The Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea for forced begging by
unscrupulous religious teachers. Senegalese women and girls are
trafficked to neighboring countries, the Middle East and Europe for
domestic servitude and possibly for sexual exploitation.

Senegal's trafficking problems are both internal and transnational

and no one group or gender is targeted.

Young Senegalese boys continue to be trafficked from rural villages
to urban centers for exploitative begging at some Koranic schools
(daaras). Young boys are trafficked to Senegal from The Gambia,
Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Guinea for the same purpose.

Young girls are trafficked from poor villages in the regions of
Diourbel, Fatick, Kaolack, Louga, Kolda, Saint Louis (Fouta),Thies
and Ziguinchor to urban centers to work as underage maids. 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 hazy . 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, treats prostitutes for STIs through a mobile clinic
program. According to their staff, they continued to 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, Ghana, Sierra Leone and
Nigeria. Last year AWA gave 625 sex workers psychological
assistance, and 510 medical assistance.


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

Young prostitutes are either sent by rural parents to urban areas to

DAKAR 00000207 002 OF 007


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 victims with promises of money and work. NGO
ENDA ECOPOLE has created a center where young domestic girls can get
vocational training after work, in tie dye and sewing, as well as a
basic education. These activities also prevent girls from wandering
the streets at night and being targeted as potential victims for
trafficking.

Weak civil administration, porous borders 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 think that 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 of them tend to remain in Senegal.


D. As mentioned above young girls and boys are the most vulnerable
victims. The situation of older girls and women who end up in
prostitution is somewhat more nebulous, but they can still be
classified as a vulnerable group, although much less so than young
girls and boys.


E. Although trafficking in Senegal still remains informal and done
by individuals, a network that was trafficking women from Senegal to
the sub-region and to Lebanon to work as domestics was dismantled
and its leader, Victor Naja, was arrested and is currently in jail
awaiting trial. Aside from this one case, girls sent away to work
as maids 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 to buy food and
clothes. In most cases the families receive the money when the
trafficker returns to the village. These relationships and a
family's expectation of income make it very difficult for young
girls, who are sometimes sexually abused, to leave their jobs. 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. Therefore, parents are as
responsible as teachers in the trafficking of persons. Marabouts
frequently return to their home villages and receive children from
parents hoping to provide them a Koranic education. This kind of
education is more valued than a secular education by the Senegalese,
especially in the formative years of between 4-7 years. Generally,
parents are not offered money to turn young boys over to Koranic
teachers, and young boys are never sold.

PARA 24: SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS


A. The government does acknowledge that trafficking is a problem.


B. The GOS has continued to show significant political will to
combat human trafficking. The GOS-established Ginndi Center has
maintained its intake of at-risk children and continues to expand
its operations. The Ministry of Family, Social Development and
Women's Entrepreneurship runs a program for daaras, in which they
provide teaching aids, submit language components, train
Koranic teachers, offer school supplies and run awareness campaigns.
In addition, the Direction for Child Protection organized a series
of training seminars for journalists and security forces based in
the regions of Kolda, Tambacounda, Ziguinchor, Matam, Saint Louis
and Kaolack. These training sessions were conducted by social and
labor workers, gendarmes, policemen, magistrates, and civil society.
The Ministry of Justice also provided human trafficking
sensitization training for 70 judges in 2008. The judges were from
courts in Dakar, St Louis and the Court of Appeals in Kaolack.

The Criminal Analysis Unit continues to add trafficking related
offenses into its electronic database. However even though human
trafficking is an offense under domestic law, few such cases are
included in the database. The unit is associated with INTERPOL but
lacks financial and human resources to fully devote to trafficking
issues. Although specialized police squads have been posted in
border regions, the Commissioner of Police noted that police lack

DAKAR 00000207 003 OF 007


the financial incentive and time to actively pursue trafficking
cases and input data into the database.

The Interior Ministry Special Commissariat to help fight sex tourism
has set up an office ("Brigade de Mineurs" - Under Age squads) in
Dakar. Local police and gendarmerie say they need more cooperation
from citizens who are the only ones that can identify the houses
where pedophilic tourists live. They recommend more awareness
campaigns to inform people about the dangers of pedophilia and its
effects to children. The Ministry also has a special tourism police
unit (Direction of Regulation and Control) with one office in
Dakar.

As part of a Time-Bound program with the ILO, Senegal works toward
the eradication of 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
153rd on the UN's Human Development Index, and has limited ability
to effectively prosecute, prevent trafficking or protect trafficking
victims. Police are underpaid and lack adequate equipment and
resources to effectively do their jobs, while gendarmes guarding the
borders are few and far between. 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 and, notably, in 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 a 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 the systematic means in place to monitor
anti-trafficking efforts and does not submit reports. However, the
Ministry of Family and Human Rights Commissioner continues to lead a
sustained and somewhat organized effort to fight trafficking and
child begging. The Human Rights Commissioner is the focal point and
the coordination agency for all ministries involved in working
against trafficking in persons, and the Ministry of Family is the
executive and operational body that executes activities on
trafficking.

PARA 25: 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 law has been used primarily to combat those who
smuggle illegal immigrants from Senegal to Spain. The anti-TIP law
has also been used to convict Koranic teachers who have abused
talibes.

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 exploitative begging as
slavery or forced labor, and the anti- begging law is not enforced
against any beggars, trafficking victims or otherwise.

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, especially in the southeast of the country in
the Kedougou region where gold mining and porous borders attracts
many prostitutes. The HIV rate in that zone is estimated to be at
least three times higher than the national average.

A few Koranic teachers who physically abuse their students are
arrested and prosecuted each year. In most cases, students were
beaten for failing to meet their daily begging requirements. NGOs
assisting Koranic school students explain that Koranic teachers who

DAKAR 00000207 004 OF 007


violently enforce daily begging requirements are usually the most
exploitative and most likely to be traffickers rather than bona fide
Koranic teachers. At the Ginndi Center, the Family Ministry
received students who had been beaten by their Koranic teachers. No
cases have been reported this year.


B. 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. 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. As of June 2007, ILO reported that 7,600 children in Dakar, and
5,000 from the interior and neighboring countries were working in
Senegal.


D. The GOS prosecuted individuals responsible for rape, pedophilia,
prostitution and abuse of talibes children.
Penalties for rape vary between 5 to 10 years imprisonment and a
fine of USD 400 (200,000 CFAF) and 6,000 USD (3,000,000 CFAF).
Penalties for violence against children can vary form 5 to 10 years
imprisonment and a fine between USD 11,000 (2,000,000 CFAF) to USD
44,000 (20,000,000 CFAF). Jail sentences range between 10 to 30
years in cases of torture. People who organizing child begging risk
5 years of prison and a fine between
USD 1,000 (500,000 CFAF) to USD 4,000 (2,000,000 CFAF). The
Population and Reproductive Healthcare Institute of the University
of Dakar reported that among abused children, sixty five percent
have been raped. The same study discovered that violence against
children occur in different locations: forty five percent of child
sexual abuse occurs inside the family compound; seventeen percent in
the streets; ten percent at school; and six percent in the daara.
As said earlier, parents are more often than not complicit in
trafficking.


E. According to Brigade des Mineurs, there were no reports of
traffickers being arrested in 2008.


F. GOS representatives attend NGO events on trafficking-related and
child protection themes, which helps generate greater turnout and
public awareness of Senegal's trafficking problems. The Ministry of
Family, under the Department of Child Protection, has continued Save
the Children funded training seminars hosted by the Center for
Judicial Training to educate policemen, gendarmes, social and
hospital workers, judges and lawyers and civil society organizations
about the dangers of child trafficking and the actions that need to
be taken to stop it. The Ginndi center staff also receives training
on the dissemination of the anti-TIP law, and has created a watch
and alert committee that continue to implement citizen education
programs. Meanwhile, a database system called Connexions Sans
Frontiers which is supported by the Ministry of Family includes a
training module for the ten associations that are utilizing this
computerized system to keep track of trafficked children.


G. Senegalese and Malian authorities continued to repatriate Malian
children. The GOS works regularly with foreign security services on
clandestine immigration and human smuggling cases. In 2008 the
Senegalese Ministry for Families along with the Malian government
and the ILO implemented a 12 month anti-TIP project encompassing
Senegal, Mali, the Ivory Coast, Guinea and Burkina Faso. The
project collected information on the parameters of regional
trafficking and organized 4 workshops that trained 60 individuals
involved in the fight against trafficking (In Burkina Faso between
23-25 June, in Dakar between 7-9 July, in Conakry between 14-16 July
and in Abidjan Between 11-13 August). In December 2008, 68 best
practices in the fight against trafficking were indentified and
validated for implementation by the aforementioned countries. Last
year IOM in conjunction with the Ginndi center and Empire Des
Enfants repatriated or reintegrated 119 children in total. 47 were
returned to Guinea-Bissau, 3 to Mali, 1 to Mauritania and 1 to The
Gambia. The remainder were all Senegalese and returned to their
families.


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


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


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


DAKAR 00000207 005 OF 007



K. 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
and HIV/AIDS. Searching for clients and pimping are illegal.


L. No Senegalese have been implicated or involved in investigations
of trafficking by peacekeepers.


M. The Ministry of Tourism has created a police unit to fight
against sexual tourism in the principal tourist destinations of
Dakar, Mbour, Ziguinchor, Fatick and Saint Louis. No foreign
Pedophiles were arrested in 2008.

PARA 26: PROTECTION AN ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS
--------------

A. The Ginndi Center provides various services to assist
trafficking victims regardless of their country of origin. These
services include medical treatment, family mediation and
reconciliation, education, shelter and meals, and repatriation of
children to their mother lands. Last year, the center's child
protection hotline received a total of 17,501 calls (971 calls from
Koranic teachers alone, 912 calls from parents, 715 calls from
children, 1,815 calls related to children, and 13,003 from unanimous
callers concerning children and young girls and calls asking for
information about the center). The center assisted 949 children,
all of whom received medical care. A total of 807 children were
reunited with their families in Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Guinea
Conakry and the Gambia; 69 children were trained in vocational
centers (cooking, carpentry and sewing). A total of 260 street
interventions (20 interventions per month) were conducted to
convince children to join the center. In addition to that, the
Ginndi center organized street interventions during the two major
religious festivals of the year: The Magal of Touba (10
interventions) and the Gamou of Tivaouane (10 interventions).


B. The Ginndi Center is used for trafficked and at-risk children.
While the Government funds most operations, international partners
provide some assistance. The U.S. renovated the dormitories and
built a wall around the center and provided medical equipment to the
health unit.


C. NGOS are not funded by the government. They receive funds from
international organizations and other donors such as embassies and
foundations.


D. The Ministry of Family, under the association "Connexions Sans
Frontieres" is using a computerized database to track trafficked
children. The GOS also works with IOM to help the return of
children to their countries of origin.


E. The Government has provided basic shelter and medical assistance
to victims, usually in coordination with NGOs and international
organizations. The government uses its Ginndi center to provide
assistance to trafficked victims: shelter, food, medical care,
vocational training and education, while waiting to repatriate
victims to their home countries.


F. All cases of trafficking are referred to the Ginndi center.
Victims once identified as being trafficked by law enforcement
officials are transferred to the center for eventual repatriation.


G. Statistics provided by IOM indicate that 325 TIP victims were
identified in 2008.


H. NGO AWA told Embassy that all sex worker victims of trafficking
have an identification card that states they went through a
compulsory AIDS screening test. Likewise, the Brigade des Mineurs
states that once indentified as victims of trafficking they are
taken either to Le Dantec, Principal or Polyclinique hospitals for
HIV/AIDS tests before further questioning.


I. Victims' assistance in investigations is done behind close doors.
The rights of trafficked victims are generally respected.


J. According to the anti-TIP law, victims' rights are guaranteed
under Articles 12 and 17. Under the law, trafficking victims cannot
be prosecuted for acts committed 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.

DAKAR 00000207 006 OF 007




K. The government has not yet provided any specialized training to
government officials in identifying trafficking victims and
assisting trafficked children. The Ministry of Interior has applied
for and technically received approval from Department for ICITAP
funds that have yet to arrive to support such a program.


M. 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); Avenir
de l'Enfant (trafficked boys and underage prostitutes, shelter,
nutrition, education and reconciliation); ATT (Koranic students,
health and education); ENDA Sante (illegal prostitutes, health);
ONDH (Children in prisons); Enda Ecoplole (Abused Domestic maids);
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. 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 children); Save the Children
Sweden (Koranic students, education); and ILO (underage domestics,
underage prostitutes and Koranic students, education and job
alternatives).

PARA 27: PREVENTION
--------------


A. The Ministry of Family, through its Child Protection Office,
conducted studies on TIP from January 2008 to January 2009 to
collect information on TIP issues that resulted in the training of
60 participants from the judicial court, security and police agents,
government social workers, civil society and NGOs' representatives.
In addition, a workshop was held in Dakar (July 7-9, 2008) focused
on preventing TIP, protecting victims, and how to prosecute
traffickers.


B. The Ministry of Interior, through its Bureau for Investigations,
works closely with Interpol to monitor immigration and emigration
patterns for evidence of trafficking. Organized clandestine
migration by any means is punished for 5 to 10 years of imprisonment
and a fine between USD 2,000 (1,000,000 CFAF)to USD 11,000
(5,000,000 CFAF).


C. 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. The Ministry of Family works
closely with many Senegalese NGOs, such as RADDHO, Avenir de
L'Enfant and La Lumiere. 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. 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 adopted the ECOWAS plan on trafficking of persons in

2004. The Director of the office of Child Rights Protection
confirmed that the Ministry of Family, the Ministry of Justice and
the Ministry of Interior worked together with the French Cooperation
on a national action plan on trafficking that was finalized on June
24, 2008. The National Action Plan on Trafficking in Persons
includes the following targets or goals: implementing prevention and
awareness campaigns on TIP; protecting TIP victims; enhancing TIP
law enforcement by the government (with a focus on securing national
borders); TIP training for Customs, Police, Gendarmerie, health
agents; the creation of a program to assist and reinsert victims
back into society. According to the plan, the High Commission for
Human Rights will continue to coordinate TIP meetings. This Action
Plan is currently before the Cabinet awaiting approval.



E. The government has little or no means to reduce demand for

DAKAR 00000207 007 OF 007


commercial sex, as it has legalized it. With 700 km of beach and
more than 250 hotels, Senegal is a tourist country and this sector
represents six percent of the national GDP. Since colonial times,
the government has had a health clinic in Dakar which now serves as
a center where sex workers can receive care for STDs and get tested
for HIV/AIDS.


F. None that we are aware of.


G. No Senegalese peacekeeping forces were reported to have been
involved in trafficking.


28. HEROES: Embassy Dakar is pleased to nominate Maitre Ndiame GAYE
who is a magistrate working at the High Commissary of Human Rights.
His office is the GOS focal point on trafficking in persons and
monitors all other ministries dealing with the issue of
trafficking:
Ministry of Family and Women, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of
Justice, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Tourism. Each month, Me
Gaye leads meetings to coordinate discussions and outlines the steps
that need to be followed to better disseminate the anti-TIP law
across the country and to urge GOS agencies to apply the law. He
works closely with national and international NGOs to find the best
solutions to defeat this modern day slavery. Apart from his job of
coordinating this office, Me Gaye goes beyond the scope of his
assigned work to help and assist GOS agencies and other entities to
conduct successful TIP workshops. He is very well appreciated by
audiences because of the pertinence of his speeches.


29. BEST PRACTICES
--------------
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 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 possibly 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.