Senegal Issues - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

cross-border trafficking in persons, timber, wildlife, and cannabis; rebels from the Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance find refuge in Guinea-Bissau

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 14,195 (Mauritania) (2021)

IDPs: 8,400 (2020)

Illicit drugs

transshipment point for Southwest and Southeast Asian heroin and South American cocaine moving to Europe and North America; illicit cultivator of cannabis

Trafficking in persons

current situation: Senegal is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women who are subjected to forced begging, forced labor, and sex trafficking; traffickers subject Senegalese children to forced labor in domestic service, mining, and prostitution; some Senegalese boys from Quranic schools and boys from The Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea are forced to beg; Senegalese women and girls are forced into domestic servitude in neighboring countries, Europe, and the Middle East, while others are sexually exploited in Senegal; women and girls from other West African countries are subjected to domestic servitude and sexual exploitation in Senegal; Ukrainian and Chinese women are exploited for sex trafficking in bars and nightclubs; North Korean workers are forced to work in construction

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Senegal does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; efforts include establishing an anti-trafficking database; planning the third phase of its program to remove vulnerable children, including trafficking victims, from the streets of major cities; launching an emergency campaign to place vulnerable children and forced begging victims in shelters due to COVID 19 pandemic; however, the government rarely proactively investigated or prosecuted traffickers exploiting children in forced begging; authorities did not take action against officials who refused to investigate such cases; officials only applied adequate prison terms in accordance with the 2005 anti-trafficking law to two convicted traffickers; authorities did not identify any adult trafficking victims; government officials continued to have a limited knowledge of trafficking; Senegal was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List (2020)

NOTE: The information regarding Senegal on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Senegal 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Senegal 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.