CenHTRO works to combat the sex trafficking of girls and young women in the gold mining areas of Kédougou, Senegal, in the country’s southeast regional along the Mali and Guinea borders. Accompanying the early 2023 release of baseline research, CenHTRO made significant progress in its efforts to identify cases of sex trafficking and provide protective care to survivors, train stakeholders in prevention measures, help survivors seek justice, and strengthen a sustainable national anti-trafficking response.

Learn more about CenHTRO's research and programs in Senegal

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

DISSEMINATION OF BASELINE FINDINGS

CenHTRO held two dissemination workshops of our baseline research in July and October of 2023. Attended by a wide spectrum of anti-human trafficking stakeholders from the Senegalese government, international and regional embassies, academia, civil society organizations, and non-governmental organizations, the interactive workshops allowed CenHTRO to present a detailed understanding of our research and debate ways to improve services delivered to sex trafficking survivors. 

EVIDENCE-BASED ADVOCACY

IN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

CenHTRO’s Senegal Think Tank developed nine policy briefs based on our baseline findings targeted for specific Senegalese government ministries, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Women and the Ministry of Economic Development and Planning. Accompanying the Think Tank’s networking with key stakeholders, the briefs are serving as educational tools that will improve trafficking-related policymaking and delivery of survivor services across the government agencies.

COMMUNITY-LED PROTECTION + PREVENTION

In Kédougou, community vigilance committees (CVCs) formed by FTS helped identify 163 sex trafficking survivors, most of whom came from Nigeria, and refer them to services with our shelter partner, La Lumiere, where they receive trauma-informed care. To date, FTS has established 19 CVCs  in Kédougou.

GRASSROOTS SURVIVOR CARE

CenHTRO’s partnership with Free the Slaves has developed the technical capacity and coordination skills among grassroots implementing partners to more effectively deliver services to survivors of sex trafficking and their families. Shelter partners, community health workers (“bajenu gox”), as well as social service and healthcare providers have received training, monitoring, and technical assistance via the project.

INCREASING AND IMPROVING PROSECUTION

FTS and partner Association of Senegalese Jurists (AJS) conduct consultation interviews with survivors to identify their legal assistance needs, should they wish to pursue prosecution. To date, the project has led to at least four convictions and possibly more, pending verification. More than a dozen other cases are currently in process via Malian and Senegalese courts.

This year, UNODC conducted capacity building training of 17 magistrates and law enforcement officers in human trafficking identification, investigation and prosecution. UNODC also trained at least 22 local Kédougou actors, including members of the local child protection committees, gendarmerie, and civil society representatives, on the referral mechanism for the provision of assistance to victims of human trafficking

MINING SECTOR ADVANCEMENT

UNODC has also delivered technical assistance to government stakeholders and mining representatives, with an aim to integrate anti-sex trafficking provisions in national mining legislation. This effort will increase protections for victims and promote measures to suppress sex trafficking, and human trafficking in general, in the artisanal gold mining sector by enlisting local leadership in becoming anti-trafficking actors.

ASSISTED VOLUNTARY RETURNS

To date, 84 survivors have been assisted with their voluntary return to Nigeria, coordinated with the Nigerian Embassy in Senegal. The returned survivors have been provided with reintegration livelihood services in their home country, and at least 37 survivors have been enrolled in various education programs. Our work to return survivors to their home countries was noted in the U.S. Department of State 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report.