Human Trafficking in  [Gambia]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Gambia]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Gambia]  [other countries]
 

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

In the first ten years of the 21st Century  -  2000 to 2009

Republic of The Gambia

The Gambia has no confirmed mineral or natural resource deposits and has a limited agricultural base. About 75% of the population depends on crops and livestock for its livelihood. Small-scale manufacturing activity features the processing of peanuts, fish, and hides.

Unemployment and underemployment rates remain extremely high; short-run economic progress depends on sustained bilateral and multilateral aid, on responsible government economic management, on continued technical assistance from the IMF and bilateral donors, and on expected growth in the construction sector.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

The Gambia is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Within The Gambia, women and girls and, to a lesser extent, boys are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation, in particular to meet the demand for European child sex tourists, as well as for domestic servitude. Anti-trafficking activists report that in the last few years commercial sexual exploitation of children has moved from large hotels to small guest houses and private homes as a result of large hotels’ enforcement of a voluntary code of conduct against child sex tourism. Boys are trafficked within the country for forced begging by religious teachers and for street vending. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009  [full country report]

 

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Gambia.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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GHANA-GAMBIA: Sex slave children trafficked by Ghanaian fishermen

www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=48765

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

According to the Gambian National Intelligence Agency, the girls were smuggled into the country without official papers to work as sex slaves for their Ghanaian masters.  Ceesay confirmed this. She said the girls were forced to “satisfy the sexual desires of older men” and some were working full-time as prostitutes within the 5,000-strong Ghanaian community.

The Gambian authorities said that the girls were also made to work long hours smoking fish and selling gari, a popular Ghanaian staple made from cassava. Some boys smuggled into the Gambia were made to work as fishermen.  Meanwhile, their masters’ own children went to school and had all their usual domestic chores, like washing their school uniforms and even cleaning their shoes, done for them by the trafficked children.  The trafficked children told Gambian officials they had been forbidden to contact their parents at home.

 

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U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Child trafficking is also a problem. As a transit and destination country, the Gambia is a transfer point where children are trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced domestic and commercial labor. Most children are seized from rural areas and moved to urban centers. Many, ultimately, are trafficked to Europe or South America where they are exploited by the pornography industry.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – Most trafficking victims were forced into prostitution and/or begging; a few became domestic servants. Trafficking victims mostly came from conflict-ravaged countries, such as Liberia and Sierra Leone.  Victims from Senegal, Guinea Bissau, and Sierra Leone told CPA that foreign residents obtained permission from their home country families to employ them as bar waitresses or domestic maids. After their arrival the local employers informed them their duties entailed commercial sex work.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2001

[62] In light of the current economic situation and the increasing number of school drop-outs, the Committee is concerned about the large number of children engaged in labor and the lack of information and adequate data on the situation of child labor and economic exploitation within the State party. The Committee also notes with concern that there is no legal minimum age for employment in accordance with ILO Convention No. 138 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment. Grave concern is expressed about the increasing number of child laborers, including domestic servants.

The Protection Project - The Gambia [DOC]

FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Nigerian girls have been lured to The Gambia with promises of legitimate jobs, but instead the girls end up working in bars and are forced to provide sexual services to customers.  Children are taken from Senegal and Sierra Leone and are used as domestic servants or sex slaves.

Gambia to Sign Agreement On Child Trafficking

CAUTION … This link may pose a threat to your PC … www.iccle.org/newsletter_children/0508/index.php3#7

The problem of trafficking in children in The Gambia is underreported and this can be attributed to lack of awareness of the general public of what trafficking is, how it is done, mode/type and who are involved.  The first case of child trafficking that was reported to the Department of Social Welfare was the Ghana Town case in 2004, in which twelve identified children were trafficked from Ghana to The Gambia.

High human trafficking profits increases practice in Ghana

www.modernghana.com/news/124311/1/high-human-trafficking-profits-increases-practice-.html

modernghana.com/news/124311/1/High-human-trafficking-profits-increases-practice-in-Ghana

Statistics from the United Nationa’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicated that human trafficking was rated the World’s third most profitable illicit business venture apart from drugs and prostitution.  Subsequently, the number of children trafficked from Afram Plains in the Eastern, Yeji in the Brong Ahafo, and Atitekpo in the Volta Regions countries such as The Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire in particular, for hazardous occupation had increased.

Gambia Makes More Progress in Monitoring Human Trafficking

www.ginsc.net/main.php?option=view_article&mode=0&article=3059&lang=ge

www.ginsc.net/members/news_details_en.php?id=3059&sub=traffiking&stat=active

The governement did even better in opening a shelter in Banjul that can accommodates 48 persons and establish a hotline. They also established a hotline for reporting trafficking crimes and information centre for victims.  Cracking down on nine cases of trafficking in persons, the government with Child Protection Alliance (CPA-an NGO umbrella group) conducted sensitisation programmes.

Human Trafficking, A  Serious Crime - Says Dr Henry Carrol

www.thepoint.gm/National%20Stories769.htm

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

According to Dr Carrol, as far as the Laws of The Gambia are concerned, there is presently no law on our Statute Books which prohibits the trafficking of adult persons.  He therefore expressed the urgent need for the Gambia Government to expeditiously pass the required legislation in the National Assembly, with a certificate of urgency, to combat this fast growing menace.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 5   Civil Liberties: 4   Status: Partly Free

The State of Gambian Children

The Gambian child today like many other children on the African continent is faced with so many difficulties such that it is very difficult to determine the extent of their predicament. Gambian children are faced with problems such as child labour, child trafficking, child exploitation, child sexual abuse to name a few.

GHANA-GAMBIA: Sex slave children trafficked by Ghanaian fishermen

www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=48765

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

According to the Gambian National Intelligence Agency, the girls were smuggled into the country without official papers to work as sex slaves for their Ghanaian masters.  Ceesay confirmed this. She said the girls were forced to “satisfy the sexual desires of older men” and some were working full-time as prostitutes within the 5,000-strong Ghanaian community.

The Gambian authorities said that the girls were also made to work long hours smoking fish and selling gari, a popular Ghanaian staple made from cassava. Some boys smuggled into the Gambia were made to work as fishermen.  Meanwhile, their masters’ own children went to school and had all their usual domestic chores, like washing their school uniforms and even cleaning their shoes, done for them by the trafficked children.  The trafficked children told Gambian officials they had been forbidden to contact their parents at home.

Report For The WTO General Council Review Of The Trade Policies Of Gambia

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Gambia has ratified the Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labour and the Convention on Forced Labour. Forced labour exists such as forced prostitution (trafficking of women and girls) and forced domestic labour by trafficked girls.

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Human Trafficking in  [Gambia]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Gambia]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Gambia]  [other countries]