The report describes a structured child-trafficking system moving children from Guinea-Bissau to Senegal, where they are forced to beg under the guise of religious education. Historically, talibés travelled to Senegal to study the Qur’an, supported by community almsgiving. However, since the 1970s, poverty, drought, and urban migration have turned this tradition into widespread exploitation. Marabouts now recruit children from vulnerable families—often through deception—and smuggle them across porous borders. Once in Senegal, children live in overcrowded, unsafe shelters and must deliver daily quotas of money. Forced begging has become a profitable criminal activity, linked to money laundering through the cashew and charcoal trade. While Senegal and Guinea-Bissau have ratified international conventions and adopted anti-trafficking laws, enforcement remains weak due to limited resources, strong cultural tolerance, and well-organized trafficking networks.

Security, Poverty, Human Rights, Vulnerability, Insécurité, Enfant, Trafic

This cross-sectional study assesses the quality of maternal and newborn health care in Niger using a nationally representative sample of 110 public facilities (integrated health centres, district hospitals and mother–child hospitals) and 2,153 women. A quality-of-care tool, co-developed with the Ministry of Health, combined five components: health facility survey, partograph review, healthcare provider knowledge tests, client exit interviews, and direct observation of antenatal and postnatal consultations. Findings show important structural gaps, with incomplete access to electricity, water and transport, and uneven availability of key tests and medicines. Partographs are used for most deliveries but are often poorly completed. Screening and integrated management of preeclampsia, anaemia and infectious diseases (HIV, syphilis, tuberculosis, malaria) remain suboptimal, especially in postnatal care. While overt mistreatment is rare, communication gaps are frequent: results and diagnoses are not consistently explained to women. The authors call for targeted investments in supplies, competency-based training, respectful care and stronger integration of services at each contact with pregnant and postpartum women.

Governance, Women, Health, Enfant

The report carried out by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Côte d’Ivoire assesses the country’s health sector policy aimed at achieving universal health coverage (UHC) for women, children and low-income populations. It highlights achievements but also significant barriers: regional inequalities, low public health financing, reliance on external aid, and limited access to essential services. The survey uses both quantitative and qualitative data collected from health authorities, service providers and beneficiaries. It offers recommendations to strengthen system effectiveness: enhanced coordination, sustainable resource mobilisation, improved governance, and prioritising access for vulnerable groups. Although Côte d’Ivoire has a favourable policy framework, implementation remains uneven. The report is pivotal for guiding future UHC strategies in the country.

Women, Health, Enfant, Santé publique, Protection

Nearly 25 million Nigerians – including some 6 million children under five – are at high risk of facing severe food insecurity between June and August 2023 unless urgent measures are taken. According to the October 2022 Cadre Harmonisé, this represents a significant increase from the 17 million people already threatened. The main drivers include ongoing armed conflicts (notably in the northeast), climate change, inflation and rising food prices. Extensive floods in the 2022 rainy season damaged more than 676,000 ha of farmland, further undermining food access. In the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY), and in the north-west region (Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto), displaced and returning populations are particularly vulnerable. The article calls for immediate support to prevent a dramatic worsening of hunger.

Climate change, Conflict, Enfant, Food insecurity

The article examines the rise of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cabo Verde, in connection with the rapid expansion of mobile Internet access. It points out that youths aged 13 to 24 account for a significant share of users on digital platforms, thus increasing their exposure to risks. In Côte d’Ivoire, approximately 21,000 incidents were reported annually between 2019 and 2022, with criminal networks professionalizing techniques such as sextortion, blackmail, and non-consensual dissemination of content. National legal frameworks across the three countries show gaps: certain forms of OCSEA are not criminalized and legal definitions lack harmonization. The report also underscores institutional weaknesses, underreporting of cases, limited coordination, and the constrained capacities of law enforcement. It offers recommendations across multiple levels ECOWAS, member states, law enforcement, tech sector, and NGOs to strengthen prevention, legal response, and victim protection.

Security, Justice, Vulnerability, Enfant, Protection

The study commissioned by the Gorée Institute aims to analyze the civic space related to children's rights in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Senegal. Its main objective is to produce a barometer assessing the current situation, in order to determine the need for effective, evidence-based advocacy to influence policies, legal frameworks and practices in the protection of children's rights in these countries. The process involved several steps, including the establishment of indicators validated by the parties involved, the development of quantitative and qualitative statistical data collection tools, followed by an analysis focused on children's rights.

Human Rights, Enfant