“Save the #Talibés”: A State-Led Intervention to Remove Children from the Street in Dakar, Senegal

Abstract

Between July 2016 and May 2018, the Senegalese state implemented two phases of a project designed to remove children from the streets of Dakar, targeted at the talibés, or child students of the Qur’an, who beg. Based on qualitative research conducted in Dakar in 2017–2018, this article demonstrates the dynamics behind an uncoordinated and unplanned anti-trafficking intervention. It shows that the contradictions between two different explanations for talibés’ begging led to reward rather than sanctions for those responsible, who are framed variously as child traffickers and as legitimate Qur’anic teachers. It demonstrates the lack of coordination and cooperation among state structures, and between state structures and NGOs, which is then employed by the same actors to explain away the project’s minimal impact. It argues that the project was an example of the Senegalese state trying to adhere to international prescriptions to action to end child trafficking, while avoiding the political wrath of religious leaders domestically. By drawing attention to the distance between global discourse and local implementations, the findings of this article contribute to promoting nuanced policymaking under the Sustainable Development Goal Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.