By Alieu Jallow
The Gambia’s fight against irregular migration continues to face a significant legal hurdle due to the absence of specific legislation criminalizing migrant smuggling. Despite growing concerns over human trafficking and the exploitation of Gambian migrants, the country’s legal framework remains inadequate in addressing smuggling networks that facilitate irregular migration.
Efforts to introduce a new Immigration Bill, which includes provisions to criminalize migrant smuggling, have yet to gain parliamentary approval. The stalled legislation leaves law enforcement agencies with limited legal tools to prosecute individuals and networks involved in facilitating unauthorized migration, often exposing Gambian youths to dangerous routes across the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert.
Inspector Siman Lowe, the public relations officer for the Gambia Immigration Department (GID), expressed great concern, noting that despite their persistent efforts to track and prosecute perpetrators, they face significant challenges due to the absence of a legal framework.
“The GID faces significant challenges. A major impediment is the absence of specific legislation criminalizing migrant smuggling within Gambian law. While efforts are underway to pass a new Immigration Bill that includes provisions for criminalizing smuggling activities, the lack of such legislation currently hinders effective prosecution. Another challenge is the limited resources available to the Immigration Department. Underfunding in operational activities restricts the GID’s ability to conduct thorough investigations, maintain adequate surveillance of irregular migration activities along the coast, and enhance the technical capacities of officers to gather intelligence,” Lowe outlined.
Speaking to The Fatu Network, Inspector Lowe revealed that 699 potential migrants were intercepted in 2024 alone. However, he noted that this figure does not capture those who may have used other routes, highlighting the continued vulnerability of Gambian citizens to irregular migration networks.
“In 2024, the GID’s Migration Management Unit, supported by various partners, conducted 43 interception operations involving a total of 699 individuals, including 74 women. A significant proportion of those intercepted were Gambian nationals, numbering 450, of whom 43 were female,” Lowe added.
Legal Loopholes and the Need for Stronger Legislation
Experts believe that without a specific law criminalizing smuggling, it will be difficult to hold perpetrators accountable. This creates a legal loophole that emboldens smugglers who exploit vulnerable migrants.
Currently, The Gambia relies on broader provisions within its criminal code and human trafficking laws to address smuggling-related offenses. However, migration specialist and international development practitioner Muhammed Lamin Dibba, based in Switzerland, argues that these legal instruments are insufficient because they do not explicitly define and criminalize migrant smuggling as a distinct offense separate from human trafficking.
Dibba stressed that The Gambia needs to establish a legal instrument in line with international frameworks, such as the ECOWAS Protocol and the Maputo Convention, to ensure the regulation of migration through legal means.
“There should be a specific legal instrument, such as an act, to criminalize the smuggling of people and goods. The absence of such legislation—such as the Immigration Bill criminalizing migrant smuggling—will undoubtedly create significant challenges for law enforcement in The Gambia. This will leave gaps that smugglers can exploit, from unclear legal definitions and weak penalties to difficulties in international cooperation.
Without specific legislation, prosecuting cases related to migrant smuggling will become complex. Existing laws do not adequately define the various aspects of smuggling, such as organizing, facilitating, or transporting migrants, and they fail to account for the roles of different individuals involved in smuggling networks, such as recruiters, transporters, and enablers.
For example, people are being smuggled from The Gambia through different departure points to either the high seas of the Mediterranean or the treacherous Sahara Desert in an attempt to reach Europe. The lack of legal instruments creates challenges in gathering evidence, securing convictions, and dealing with perpetrators,” Dibba stated.
International Obligations and the Immigration Bill Stalemate
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines migrant smuggling as the facilitation of a person’s illegal entry into another country for financial or material gain. Without clear legislation targeting this practice, The Gambia struggles to meet its international obligations under the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air—a supplement to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), to which the country is a signatory.
In 2021, the government initiated a draft Immigration Bill aimed at strengthening border control and introducing harsher penalties for smuggling-related offenses. However, procedural bottlenecks prevented its passage. The failure to enact the bill has left gaps in migration management efforts, particularly in dismantling smuggling networks operating both locally and across West African borders.
Dibba warns that without dedicated legislation, law enforcement agencies will continue to struggle with effective prosecution, allowing smugglers to operate with impunity.
“The Gambia should prioritize several legal reforms to strengthen its capacity to address migrant smuggling effectively. Key areas of focus include:
- Enacting specific anti-smuggling laws
- Strengthening international cooperation
- Enhancing border control and surveillance
- Promoting public awareness and education
- Establishing monitoring systems
I strongly encourage the Gambian government to prioritize these areas. If addressed, The Gambia will be in a stronger position to counter smuggling operations and promote safe and legal migration pathways,” Dibba emphasized.
Interceptions and Law Enforcement Efforts
As irregular migration remains a persistent issue for The Gambia, particularly with a high number of youths embarking on dangerous journeys to Europe, stakeholders continue to urge the government to revisit the stalled legislation.
Inspector Lowe further revealed that in the second quarter of 2023, the GID’s Migration Management Unit intercepted 119 people, while a single interception in the first quarter of 2024 involved 98 migrants—57 of whom were Gambian nationals.
“During the first quarter of 2024, a single interception involved 98 migrants, including 57 Gambians. In the second quarter of 2024, seven interceptions were conducted, involving 145 migrants, including 69 Gambians. These figures underscore the persistent need for continued vigilance, resource allocation, and collaborative efforts to effectively manage migration and combat migrant smuggling within The Gambia,” Lowe stated.
While the Gambia Immigration Department (GID) and other security agencies frequently struggle with the limitations of current laws in addressing the complexities of migrant smuggling, Lowe asserted that the GID has registered significant achievements in managing smuggling cases. This includes the implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), launched in 2022, which standardize the approach to handling smuggling cases, from intelligence gathering and interception to processing.
“The GID prioritizes the immediate needs of intercepted migrants, providing psychosocial support facilitated by partners such as the Gambia Red Cross Society, which offers food and non-food items. Following initial support, migrants are processed according to formal immigration procedures to identify potential perpetrators.
Gambian nationals receive counseling and are reintegrated with their families, while non-Gambians are offered options for integration and regularization within The Gambia or voluntary return to their countries of origin—facilitated by the Gambia Immigration Department, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and relevant embassies. Those identified as smugglers are subjected to investigation and prosecution,” Lowe stated.
Historically, coastal fishing villages like Tanji, Gunjur, and Barra have been identified as departure hotspots for Gambian migrants, with Spain’s Canary Islands serving as a primary destination. However, according to the GID, smugglers have shifted routes, making it increasingly difficult to predict departure points and necessitating intensified surveillance nationwide.
Conclusion
Without specific legislation criminalizing migrant smuggling, The Gambia remains vulnerable to smuggling networks that exploit irregular migration pathways. The stalled Immigration Bill, if passed, could provide law enforcement with the necessary tools to prosecute smugglers effectively and deter illegal migration. Until then, the legal gap continues to hinder efforts to combat smuggling, leaving migrants at risk and authorities with limited means to address the crisis.
