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