Gambia’s students union in Cairo, Egypt, has intensified efforts to help rescue and repatriate Gambian girls trafficked in the North African destination country. However, many of the girls do not wish to return back to Gambia, union leader tells Gambia Beat.
The country has a population of over twenty Gambian girls currently working under trafficking conditions. Since the country has no Gambian embassy, trafficking matters of Gambian girls are usually handled by Senegalese embassy and Gambia’s students’ group there.
“Two days back, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) called me to contact our (Gambian) Embassy in Saudi Arabia, to tell them to send a fax to Egyptian foreign affairs about this (trafficking) problem,” the president of the student’s union there, Alieu Darboe told Gambia Beat.
Mr. Darboe said such an effort will help effectively bring the matter to the attention of the Egyptian government for possible intervention since it is difficult for anyone to do much for the girls there.
They are bound by agreements and their travel documents are confiscated upon their arrival in destination countries. They are required to work to repay the agents who brough them to Egypt. In such situations, the girls will work for many months while their pay goes to the agents.
“But I have to contact the girls first… This is because most of them do not want to go back to Gambia. They just want us to help them recover their passports from the Nigerian agens,” the students’ leader said, arguing that he has no powers against these agents who brought the girls to Cairo.
Egypt, just like The Gambia, is designated a source, transit, and destination country for women and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labour and forced prostitution.
Some of the girls rescued there in 2015 by the Gambian students spoke of sexual abuse at the hands of their handlers, as well as other forms of exploitation at work. Despite these, they are afraid to go to the police without proper immigration documents. “When the problem is reported to the Police, they may face deportation,” Darboe said.
“And we are not going to attack the agents physically. All we can do is report the cases to the Police. And if I report that, I don’t know whether they will deport them or not,” the university student from Gambia said.