Senegal Struggles with Organized Crime and Financial Challenges

The Fight Against Organized Crime

Dakar, Senegal - Combating organized crime is a daunting task in Senegal, where the lack of specialized units and resources hinders efforts to combat complex crimes such as money laundering and financial fraud. Despite having highly professional and dynamic law enforcement agencies, Senegal faces significant challenges in addressing security concerns.

Financial Crime Challenges

• The country’s porous land borders and instances of cross-border crime pose significant threats to national security.
• There is a particular need for better nationwide focus on financial crime, which has been fueled by drug trafficking and illegal activities.
• The real estate and construction sectors are commonly exploited for money laundering purposes.

Capacity Building and Human Rights Concerns

• The government has developed a strategy to prioritize counterterrorism and cross-border organized crime, but more needs to be done to build capacity among legal practitioners and address human rights issues such as prolonged pre-trial detention and prison overcrowding.
• The lack of integration of transnational organized crime into Senegalese judicial practices is also a major concern.

Economic and Financial Environment

• Senegal has made significant strides in combating money laundering, but concerns remain regarding its compliance with international standards.
• Technical expertise is lacking in identifying and reporting money laundering activities.
• The fixed exchange rate between the local currency and the euro limits Senegal’s control over its monetary system.

Progress and Challenges

• Despite challenges, Senegal has made progress in improving its transport infrastructure and has attracted significant investment from international actors in sectors such as oil and gas exploration, agriculture, mining, energy, and services.
• The country’s civil society is highly active, with efforts to prevent and combat organized crime through sensitization campaigns.

Areas for Improvement

• More needs to be done to address victim support and ensure that civil society is empowered to play a role in preventing organized crime.
• A unique center has been opened for treating people with drug addiction, but more efforts are needed to tackle this issue.
• Instances of media intimidation and restrictions on press freedom have been reported, which hinder the prevention of organized crime.