A/HRC/17/33/Add.2
afterwards. This state of affairs has had a negative impact on the enjoyment of the refugees’
human rights, including the right of refugee children to education, as well as on access to
benefits and freedom of movement.
23.
Many of the Mauritanian refugees managed to integrate with the local population,
but the quality and security of their lives remain precarious. Although the Government of
Senegal has provided these refugees with certain services, such as medical facilities, as well
as with teachers and books, unemployment among them remains high and the income
generating projects, inadequate.8
24.
A number of Mauritanian refugees are believed to have returned spontaneously,
whereas the last organized voluntary repatriation ended in December 2009.
D.
Smuggling of migrants
25.
The smuggling of migrants through Senegal seems to be organized mainly by
nationals from English-speaking countries in Western Africa, such as Ghana, Liberia and
Nigeria, many of whom have lived in Senegal for a long time. Senegalese nationals,
referred to as sergents-recruteurs, support them. In a smuggling network, everybody has his
or her own separate tasks.9
26.
In a typical case of smuggling via maritime routes, an old trawler is bought.
Migrants are not only from Senegal - many West Africans arrive in Dakar by plane, after
which they try to board a boat to Europe. After the payment of a fee, the candidate migrants
are escorted to beaches in and around Dakar. From the beach fishermen take them by
pirogues to the trawler at sea. In the process of trying to reach their destinations, migrants
spend the equivalent of hundreds of United States dollars on bribes, smugglers,
transportation, and daily necessities. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime quoted
prices of US$ 480 to US$ 1,930 for a Senegal-Canary Island crossing.10 Migrant smuggling
routes in Africa are also being used by international criminal networks involved in the
smuggling of undocumented migrants from other regions, particularly East, South, and
Southwest Asia. Undocumented migrants from Bangladesh, China, India, and Pakistan
have been found stranded in West or North Africa. Taking advantage of the relative ease of
securing visas to West African countries, migrants normally enter such countries legally by
air.
E.
Trafficking in persons
27.
According to ILO, every year between approximately 200,000 and 300,000 children
fall victim to trafficking for sexual or labour exploitation in West Africa. The organization
also estimates that 41 per cent of children in West Africa work.
28.
Senegal is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women
trafficked for the purpose of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. Women and
girls are reportedly trafficked for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation, including for
8
9
10
Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Special Rapporteur on Refugees,
Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, Mission to the Republic of Senegal, 29
August to 3 September 2005 (ACHPR/38/OS/496).
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “Organized crime and irregular migration from Africa to
Europe” (July 2006), p. 19.
IOM, Irregular Migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union: An Overview of
Recent Trends (Geneva, 2008), p. 18.
7