Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment - Senegal

[From the introductory text accompanying this report on the U.S. Department of State website: "In most cases, the Interim Assessment is intended to serve as a tool by which to gauge the anti-trafficking progress of countries that may be in danger of slipping a tier in the upcoming June 2010 TIP Report and to give them guidance on how to avoid a Tier 3 ranking. It is a tightly focused progress report, assessing the concrete actions a government has taken to address the key deficiencies highlighted in the June 2009 TIP Report. The Interim Assessment covers actions undertaken between the beginning of May – the cutoff for data covered in the June TIP Report – and November. Readers are requested to refer to the annual TIP Report for an analysis of large-scale efforts and a description of the trafficking problem in each particular country or territory."]

The Government of Senegal has demonstrated minimal progress to combat trafficking in persons since the release of the 2009 Report. The government has neither intensified its efforts to prosecute and convict trafficking offenders nor taken steps to ensure that its special sex tourism units, located within the interior and tourism ministries, arrest sex tourists and rescue their victims. In October 2009, however, the prime minister chaired a full day workshop for government officials and NGOs that resulted in the creation of the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking, Particularly of Women and Children. The action plan includes strategies for how to better prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent trafficking. Government-sponsored media covered the workshop.