The report also mentions that “Fishing vessels owned and operated by Chinese nationals flying the Senegalese flag may exploit West African men, including Senegalese.
The U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report highlights human exploitation in the Kédougou gold region of southeastern Senegal.
According to this report, “ traffickers exploit women and girls as young as 12 in sex trafficking », specifying that most of the victims come from Nigeria, but women and girls from Senegal, Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone and the People’s Republic of China ( RPC) are also affected.
Organized networks of Nigerian traffickers play a central role in this trafficking, the Americans say, emphasizing that they “ fraudulently recruit their victims for employment and then exploit them in sex trafficking in Kédougou, often through debt bondage “. Traffickers confiscate victims’ identity documents and charge them exorbitant travel costs, ranging from 1.57 million FCFA to 2.15 million FCFA ($2,670 to $3,650).
It is also reported that “victims’ families are sometimes complicit and receive payments from traffickers.” A research study cited in the report estimates that “ one in five people working in the sex trade in Kédougou are victims of sex trafficking “. Additionally, an NGO report attributes some of the increased demand for sex trafficking in mining communities to “ cultural and religious beliefs associating sex and illicit activities with increased chances of finding gold “.
In addition, the report notes, traffickers exploit boys from neighboring countries to subject them to forced labor in artisanal gold mines. The report also mentions that “fishing vessels owned and operated by Chinese nationals flying the Senegalese flag may exploit West African men, including Senegalese, and Chinese nationals in forced labor.” North Korean nationals working in Senegal are also affected, often “in exploitative conditions and presenting multiple indicators of forced labor”.
According to the report, the government of Senegal does not fully meet minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.
AC/APA
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