A/HRC/17/33/Add.2 8. Many immigrants to Senegal have come from neighbouring countries such as Cape Verde, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Mauritania. There are also a number of immigrants from other countries within the subregion, including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo. Fewer groups come from Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Gabon and Morocco. Non-African residents to Senegal mainly include long-settled French and Lebanese immigrants, and those newly arrived from China. In the Second Senegalese Household Survey of 2002, the number of immigrants in Senegal was estimated at 126,054, representing 1.5 per cent of the total population. Among the 86,688 immigrants of working age, an estimated 55.9 per cent were employed professionally and 11.2 per cent were looking for jobs. 9. The country also hosts a number of children who have migrated alone or with family members or other adults, mostly from neighbouring countries. Some of these children are forced to beg, either by the religious teachers entrusted with their care or out of necessity. A 2007 study undertaken by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank1 found that the phenomenon of children begging in the streets had acquired alarming dimensions in the region of Dakar in particular, where it is estimated that 6,840 talibé (defined in the study as those children who reported having spent the night preceding the survey in a religious school (daara) and who reported receiving religious education) are begging. According to the study, child beggars are overwhelmingly boys, and 90 per cent are talibés. Almost half of these children come from abroad, usually from neighbouring countries such as the Gambia, Guinea, GuineaBissau and Mali. Talibés are often children from Guinea-Bissau (30 per cent) whereas many non-talibés come from Mali (30 per cent). Most of these children have left their families and communities because they have been entrusted by their parents to religious teachers to receive a religious education. 10. A total of 98 per cent of the talibé children report that their religious teachers send them begging, whereas 62 per cent of non-talibé children are compelled to beg as a means to satisfy their needs and those of their families. The income that talibé children obtain from begging is in part utilized to satisfy their needs but most is handed over to their religious teachers. Law enforcement officials informed the Special Rapporteur that detecting these children as they cross the border into Senegal is difficult as such children usually travel with their parents or authorized adults who, as ECOWAS nationals, do not require a visa to circulate within the region. 11. Senegal is one of the major transit countries of the migration stream from West Africa to Europe. Points of departure include coastal cities throughout the country, including not only the northern city of Saint-Louis, but also Dakar and Mbour. The islands of Djogué and Karabane appear also to be major departure areas according to the Senegalese gendarmerie. The main aim of most of the African migrants is to reach European soil, be it mainland Europe, the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla or islands in the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea. 12. The land route is believed to be used by the poorest migrants who cannot afford the fees for the journey to Europe by pirogue. The land route goes to Mali and through the Maghreb (Gao in Mali and Agadez in Niger are believed to be the main migrant hubs along this route). Many migrants never leave Africa and end up working, usually irregularly, in the Maghreb region where they may continue to be at risk of human rights violations. 1 4 Understanding Children’s Work (UCW), “Enfants mendiants dans la région de Dakar”, Working Paper, November 2007.