The Gambia

The Gambia Trafficking Routes The Gambia is a country of destination for women and children trafficked from West African countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. Evidence indicates that The Gambia may be a country of origin for trafficking to Sweden and possibly other Scandinavian countries.1 Factors That Contribute to the Trafficking Infrastructure Trafficking in African women and children for forced prostitution or labor is exacerbated by war, poverty, and flawed or nonexistent birth registration systems, according to a recent study by the United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF). Poverty aggravates already desperate conditions caused by conflict, discrimination, and repression, and unregistered children are easy to move between countries because they never formally acquire a nationality. The study also found that Africa‘s 3.3 million refugees and its estimated 12.7 million internally displaced persons are the most vulnerable to trafficking.2 HIV/AIDS has left millions of Sub-Saharan African children orphaned. By 2010, an estimated 20 million children under 15 years of age in SubSaharan Africa will have lost one or both parents from HIV/AIDS. 3 These children are extremely vulnerable to trafficking for forced labor, forced prostitution, or forced combat. According to officials at the Gambian Department of State for Health, poverty has led to increased prostitution in The Gambia and also has contributed to the rise in HIV/AIDS infections. The average Gambian is hungry, is poor, and lacks a basic livelihood.4 Furthermore, a 2002 report by the Women‘s Bureau suggested that violence against Gambian women had increased tremendously over the 5 preceding years. Such violence mostly affects girls and takes the form of rape, forced marriages, and sexual abuse.5 An increase in government legal responses in countries such as Thailand has redirected the flow of European pedophiles to places such as The Gambia. 6 A quarter of the Gambian population lives on tourism, and this fact, combined with the fact that Gambia is a cheap destination, has drawn pedophiles and other sex tourists.7 Forms of Trafficking 1 End Child Prostitution, Pornography, and Trafficking (ECPAT), ―Survivor Story: The Gambia,‖ February 2000, http://www.ecpat.net. 2 Jonathan Fowler, ―UNICEF: Human Trafficking in Africa Fueled by War, Economic Hardship, and Lack of Birth Registration,‖ Associated Press, 23 April 2004. 3 United Nations Children‘s Fund, Africa’s Orphaned Generations (New York: UNICEF, 2003). 4 ―Gambia—AIDS-Related Deaths at MRC Daily as Poverty Drives the Poor to Prostitution, HIV,‖ Africa News, 28 May 2004. 5 ―Gambia—Gender Violence Increases in the Gambia,‖ Independent, 12 August 2002. 6 Nick Tattersall, ―Sexual Exploitation of Children Rises,‖ Reuters, 7 May 2004. See also ―Rising Poverty Breeds Sexual Exploitation,‖ United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network, 6 May 2004. 7 Alex Duval Smith, ―European Paedophiles Flock to Gambian ‗Smiling Coast,‘‖ Observer, 4 July 2004. Eighty-nine percent of African countries are affected by trafficking flows to and from other countries in Africa. Half of Africa‘s 53 governments admit that trafficking is a serious concern, but because they have little capacity to collect data, no reliable figures exist.8 The number of African countries reporting trafficking in children is twice the number of those reporting trafficking in women.9 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.10 Children are taken from Senegal and Sierra Leone and are used as domestic servants or sex slaves.11 In February 2004, Gambian authorities questioned a group of 63 Ghanaian children, mostly girls, who had been trafficked to Ghana Town in The Gambia for use as sex slaves and domestic servants. Boys were taken there to work as fisherman. Located 25 kilometers south of Banjul (the capital), Ghana Town is a fishing town populated almost entirely by Ghanaian fishermen and their families.12 In April 2004, 12 Ghanaian girls were rescued from their traffickers in The Gambia and were to be repatriated to their own countries. They were rescued following a raid on Ghana Town, where they had been subjected to hard labor and sexual harassment.13 The Department of Social Welfare launched a UNICEF-funded study on sexual abuse and exploitation of children in The Gambia in May 2004. The report concluded that Gambian children face exploitation in the form of sex tourism as well as child pornography and trafficking associated with the tourism industry and that most children involved in prostitution are encouraged to do so by their parents in order to supplement family income.14 Moreover, it is common for girls as young as 13 or 14 years of age to get married; in addition, young girls will engage in sexual relations with older men in exchange for gifts, a practice known as the ―Sugar Daddy Syndrome.‖15 Another common traditional practice, known as the ―Almudu Syndrome,‖ involves sending children, usually teenagers, to study Islam and the Qur‘an with a knowledgeable adult. In return for their education, the children work for their teachers; however, in some cases children do not receive their promised education and are exploited by their teachers, even becoming sex slaves.16 8 Jonathan Fowler, ―UNICEF: Human Trafficking in Africa Fueled by War, Economic Hardship, and Lack of Birth Registration,‖ Associated Press, 23 April 2004. 9 Andrea Rossi, ed., Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children, in Africa‖ (Annunziata, Italy: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, September 2003), pp. 9–10. 10 ―Gambia Deports Five Foreigners in Alleged Human Trafficking,‖ Xinhua News Agency, 7 November 2001. 11 ―Gambia Assumes New Child Trafficking Hub,‖ Panafrican News Agency Daily Newswire, 19 June 2002. 12 ―Sex Slave Children Trafficked by Ghanaian Fishermen,‖ United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network, 26 February 2004. 13 ―Gambia to Repatriate Trafficked Ghanaian Girls,‖ Panafrican News Agency Daily Newswire, 29 April 2004. 14 ―Gambia‘s Report on Sexual Abuse and Exploitation,‖ Independent, 21 May 2004. 15 Nick Tattersall, ―Sexual Exploitation of Children Rises,‖ Reuters, 7 May 2004. See also ―Rising Poverty Breeds Sexual Exploitation,‖ United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network, 6 May 2004. 16 World Bank, ―Memorandum of the President of the International Development Association to the Executive Directors on a Country Assistance Strategy of the World Bank Group for the Republic of The Gambia,‖ Report No. 25436-GM, 10 February 2003, http://wwwwds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2003/03/11/000094946_03021504072725/Rend ered/INDEX/multi0page.txt. The Gambia has experienced a rise in sex tourism with an increase in European tourists visiting its beaches.17 European men lying by the hotel swimming pool can be seen with teenage girls; European women, known locally as ―Marie Claires,‖ are often accompanied by young men.18 In February 2003, the Dutch chapter of Terres des Hommes documented rising child sex tourism in The Gambia and indicated that police had few resources with which to tackle the problem. Investigations have revealed that organized pimping and occasional services by hotel guards, taxi drivers, and others facilitate child sex tourism. However, the most common form of child abuse was found to involve direct contact from a tourist who established a relationship with the child‘s family. About 100,000 tourists, mostly Europeans, visit The Gambia each year. Most are Dutch, Scandinavian, German, and British. In May 2004, a Norwegian teacher was charged by Norwegian police with sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy in The Gambia. The man provided the boy with pocket money, helped support his family, and paid for his school fees.19 Following publications on the subject in Belgian magazines, a team of Belgian investigators planned to probe Belgian pedophiles in The Gambia.20 Government Responses The Criminal Code prohibits procuring a woman or girl to leave the country for purposes of prostitution.21 The code also prohibits procuring a woman by means of threats or intimidation.22 Detaining a woman or girl against her will in a brothel is illegal.23 Living on the earnings of a male24 or a female25 in prostitution is also prohibited. A male may be prosecuted for being in a public place and soliciting another person for immoral purposes.26 The code prohibits procuring a female under 21 years of age to have unlawful carnal connection with any other person in The Gambia or elsewhere.27 The Extradition Act of The Gambia includes ―procuring, or trafficking in, women or young persons for immoral purposes.‖28 In 2003, the Gambian government adopted the Tourism Offences Act. 29 The act criminalizes sexual offenses of tourists against children and trafficking in children. 17 ―Sex Slave Children Trafficked by Ghanaian Fishermen,‖ United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network, 26 February 2004. 18 Alex Duval Smith, ―European Paedophiles Flock to Gambian ‗Smiling Coast,‘‖ Observer, 4 July 2004. 19 ―Gambian Child-Sex Tourism Case Rolled Up,‖ AFROL News, 28 April 2004. 20 ―Gambia—Foreign Pedophile Probe Leads to Gambia, Belgian Journalist Spills the Beans,‖ Independent, 25 August 2003. 21 Section 129. 22 Section 130. 23 Section 133. 24 Section 135. 25 Section 136. 26 Section 136. 27 Section 124. 28 Section 6(9). Extraditable offenses also include kidnapping, abduction, or false imprisonment; ―dealing in slaves‖; stealing, abandoning, exposing, or unlawfully detaining a child; and bribery or corruption. 29 Law No. 7 of 2003. In February 2001, police in the Gambian capital of Banjul deported three Nigerians and two Moroccans in connection with their alleged involvement in trafficking 15 Nigerian girls for forced prostitution at a bar in Serrekunda. In another incident, a Gambian, two Moroccans, and one Egyptian were arrested for trafficking women for sex to The Gambia.30 Also in 2001, a German was given a 2-year sentence for raping an 8year-old. A resident of the United Kingdom was cleared in the same year for shooting a sex video of 4 white men and 11 teenage girls because no acts of actual sex were seen.31 In 2002, up to 64 women in prostitution were deported from The Gambia following major night raids around the Tourist Development Areas. Most of the foreign women working in prostitution deported were from the West African subregion, mainly from Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. The Gambian women working in prostitution who were arrested were to be prosecuted in the courts.32 Police arrested more than 70 women in prostitution in a raid on brothels and bars in the greater Banjul area in November 2002. The raids were conducted after members of the Supreme Islamic Council called on President Yahya Jammeh to crack down on immoral activities.33 Weeks after the start of the 2003 tourist season began, the Gambian police force issued a warning that it will continue to hunt down pedophiles. 34 In February 2003, the Police Central Intelligence Department uncovered a gang of pedophiles in the Tourism Development Area around Kololi and Manjaikunda. All arrested were European tourists who rented a full apartment and sexually abused girls under 16 years of age.35 Nongovernmental and International Organization Responses The Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that aims at changing overall societal attitudes toward women. It is concerned with issues such as early marriage, reproductive rights, and the practice of female genital mutilation.36 Simma Vocational Training Institute aims at creating educational opportunities for young women and girls and empowering them for equal participation in national development. Simma also runs Simma Women‘s Resource Centre, which provides counseling to young girls and women and also offers services such as gender education, skills training, and women‘s rights advocacy.37 The Foundation for Research on Women‘s Health, Productivity, and the Environment works on the rehabilitation and reintegration of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation.38 Child and Environmental Development, a local NGO, strives for the well-being of children and the sustainable use of the environment. It conducts research on issues such 30 31 ―Gambia Deports Five Foreigners in Alleged Sex Scandal,‖ Global News Wire, 6 November 2001. Alex Duval Smith, ―European Paedophiles Flock to Gambian ‗Smiling Coast,‘‖ Observer, 4 July 2004. 32 Foday Kamara, ―Over 60 Prostitutes Deported,‖ Daily Observer (The Gambia), 6 June 2002. 33 ―Sex Workers Arrested,‖ Daily Observer (The Gambia), 12 November 2002. 34 ―Gambia—No Hiding Place for Pedophiles,‖ Independent, 27 October 2003. 35 ―Police Uncovers Gang of Paedophiles,‖ Daily Observer (The Gambia), 17 February 2003. 36 Global Fund for Women, ―Grantee Profile: Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices,‖ 3 January 2005, http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/archive/grantee-profiles/gambia.html. 37 African Women‘s Development Fund, ―AWDF Funds Simma‘s Building,‖ AWDFNews no. 2 (2003), http://www.awdf.org/nletter/index.php?issue=Issue%202&sid=1. 38 ECPAT International Online Database, 4 March 2003, http://www.ecpat.net. as HIV/AIDS and adolescents, child sexual abuse, exploitation of children, and child labor. It also provides counseling to child soldiers and refugees.39 The Child Protection Alliance (CPA), a network of dozens of organizations ranging from government departments to local NGOs, works to fight child pornography and child trafficking.40 It was formed in 2001 as a means of lobbying the government to formulate an action plan for combating the commercial sexual exploitation of children.41 The four main objectives of the CPA are training; advocacy; child empowerment; and research on children‘s rights, abuses, and protection issues.42 In February 2003, CPA and Terre des Hommes Netherlands released a report on the involvement of Dutch tourists in child sex tourism in The Gambia. Staff members from End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) U.K. visited The Gambia in September 2003 in order to assess gaps in progress on child sex tourism and develop possibilities for future collaboration between the United Kingdom and The Gambia. ECPAT‘s presence in The Gambia is coordinated through CPA.43 In June 2004, members of the country‘s tourism industry signed a code of conduct that they hope —along with a new tourism offensive act—will help stem sex tourism.44 The Network against Human Trafficking in West Africa is a forum of NGOs in West Africa that works against trafficking and to influence regional and national efforts to protect victims and develop activities. The network includes NGOs from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d‘Ivoire, The Gambia, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo.45 UNICEF Gambia spearheaded a birth registration campaign in partnership with the Gambian government, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program, and thousands of volunteers.46 Multilateral Initiatives The first West African Workshop on Human Trafficking took place in October 2003 and marked the beginning of a series of meetings on the problem of trafficking in persons in the region. Representatives of organizations from Benin, Côte d‘Ivoire, The Gambia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo participated.47 39 40 Ejatou Jallow, ―CEDAG on Child Mistreatment,‖ Independent (Banjul), 4 June 2004. Network against Human Trafficking in West Africa, ―Members,‖ 20 August 2004, http://nahtiwa.virtualactivism.net/members.htm. 41 Child Protection Alliance, ―Commercial Sexual Exploitation, August 2004, http://www.cpagambia.gm/Comm.htm. 42 Child Protection Alliance, ―The Official Home Page of the Child Protection Alliance,‖ 7 June 2004, http://www.cpagambia.gm. 43 ECPAT UK, ―World News: A Letter from The Gambia,‖ ECPAT UK Newsletter, September 2003, http://www.ecpat.org.uk/news0903.htm. 44 Alex Duval Smith, ―European Paedophiles Flock to Gambian ‗Smiling Coast,‘‖ Observer, 4 July 2004. 45 The Network against Human Trafficking in West Africa can be found on the Internet at http://nahtiwa.virtualactivism.net/index.html. 46 UNICEF New Zealand, ―Successful Birth Registration Conducted in The Gambia, 16 June 2003, http://www.unicef.org.nz. 47 The workshop is discussed on the Web site of the Network against Human Trafficking in West Africa, http://nahtiwa.virtualactivism.net/index.htm.