Law No. 2005-06 of 10 May 2005 on the fight against trafficking in persons and similar practices and the protection of victims EXPLANATORY NOTE In a context marked by armed conflicts and political, economic and social crises, we are increasingly witnessing a new form of trafficking: that of persons, in particular women and children. For international organized crimes trafficking in persons is one of the most lucrative and important economic activities alongside the illicit trafficking of drugs and arms. This scourge is closely linked to other related criminal activities such as racketeering, money laundering, corruption, illicit drug trafficking, counterfeiting, falsification of administrative documents and visa fraud. The consequences of trafficking are disastrous for the internal security of States. Trafficking is also a serious violation of the inherent rights and dignity of the human beings. Senegal, because of its geo-strategic position, risks becoming a country of origin, transit and destination for women and children victims of trafficking. In order to curb this modern-day scourge with an international dimension, the State of Senegal ratified, on September 19, 2003 by virtue of law N° 2003-17 of 18 July 2003, on the one hand, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; on the other hand, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and the Additional Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air which were signed in Palermo, Italy, in December 2000. Experts from ECOWAS Member States, meeting in Accra (Ghana) in 2001, drew up a Regional Plan of Action to combat trafficking in persons, which later became the ECOWAS Regional Action Plan against Trafficking in Persons, and which was validated in December 2002 by the Heads of State and Government meeting in Dakar. This Action Plan essentially recommends the establishment of a legal framework and the development of a national policy to fight against trafficking in persons. Today, the issue is about integrating into domestic law the rules set by these international legal instruments. It is true that the Senegalese Penal Code contains a set of provisions that incriminate acts and conducts related to trafficking in persons. However, there is no special law in our criminal system that provides for the criminal characterization of trafficking in persons and similar practices and having, as a single text, all the provisions relating to the prosecution of this practice and the protection of victims, in accordance with the recommendations of the Additional Protocol to the United Nations Convention mentioned above. This law, inspired by the definition given to the concept of trafficking in persons by the aforementioned Protocol, incriminates the acts of trafficking in persons and similar practices by emphasizing on the various forms of exploitation of vulnerable persons and its transnational and organized nature (chapter I section I, articles 1 and 2) and the exploitation of the begging of others (section II article 3). The offences of pimping, pedophilia, sexual violence, kidnapping and abduction of vulnerable persons are punishable under our Criminal Code. This law completes our repressive system by criminalizing organized illegal migration, trafficking in visas and other travel or identification documents (Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Chapter II). In order to effectively prosecute trafficking in persons, Chapter III provides for adapted investigative powers (Article 8) and the extension of the jurisdiction of Senegalese courts