Migrant Smuggling Not a Crime in The Gambia, Immigration Official Reveals

Gambia Immigration Department Inspector Alkali Jammeh © Askanwi

By Edward Francis Dalliah, Jr.

Migrant smuggling is not currently criminalised under Gambian law, a gap that severely limits the ability of authorities to prosecute those involved in facilitating irregular migration, according to Inspector Alkali Jammeh, a Lead Investigator at the Migration Unit of the Gambia Immigration Department (GID). However, our investigation reveals that since 2023 a Bill has been validated which could criminalise smuggling but is currently languishing between cabinet ministers.

Inspector Jammeh made the disclosure during a panel discussion at a National Youth Dialogue on Irregular Migration, organised by the National Youth Parliament at the Youth Monument on Saturday, 7th February 2026, under the theme “Breaking the Silence, Saving the Future”.

Speaking at the panel, he explained that The Gambia’s position at the Atlantic Ocean makes the country vulnerable to smugglers because it is widely known as a source, transit, and destination point for irregular migration. “Because Gambia is known as the source [and] transit destination for irregular migration, a lot of these smugglers have chosen [the country to do their operations],” he said.

He noted that while The Gambia is a signatory to international conventions that criminalise both human trafficking and migrant smuggling, only trafficking has been domesticated into national law through the Trafficking in Persons Act 2007. Inspector Jammeh explained that the country is still yet to criminalise smuggling as per international law, unlike how the country has already criminalised trafficking in persons as per international law.

As a result of this, he revealed that the Immigration Department is left to rely on the Immigration Act of 1965, which merely prohibits aiding or abetting the illegal entry or exit of a person. “This is the only legal framework that we have,” he said, adding that arrests made under the Act lead only to administrative charges. “These administrative offences attract minimal fines, and it is left to the discretion of the judge, and this is where the bigger problem comes in,” Inspector Jammeh explained.

Sections 31 and 32 of the Immigration Act 1965 provide that any person who aids or assists another to enter The Gambia illegally commits an offence and may be fined no more than two thousand dalasis or sentenced to a maximum of one year imprisonment, or both.

But Inspector Jammeh stressed that these penalties are insufficient to deter organised smuggling networks. “These provisions are administrative and carry minimal penalties,” he said, noting that the absence of a law specifically criminalising migrant smuggling leaves them without an effective legal basis to prosecute offenders.

However, he disclosed that efforts are underway to address the gap: ‘We have a Bill that [has been] prepared, and as we stand today, it has been sent to the Ministry of Justice for legal opinion. After that, it will be sent back to the Ministry of Interior, then to Cabinet, and eventually to the National Assembly for it to become law and criminalise the smuggling of migrants.’

The proposed legislation forms part of the government’s security sector reform agenda, but progress has been slow. According to The Standard Newspaper, the Gambia Immigration Department successfully validated the Bill intended to replace the outdated GID Act of 1965 in March 2023. Nearly three years later, the Bill is yet to be tabled before the National Assembly.

The delay raises serious questions about the government’s commitment to this reform, as migrant smuggling continues, often resulting in the deaths and disappearances of thousands at sea as young people pursue dangerous routes in search of greener pastures.

Recently, those arrested in connection with irregular migration are charged with “trafficking in persons and other backway-related offences” by the police, a practice that raises legal questions on whether migrants using Gambia to embark on the irregular migration journey are under coercion, as implied under the Trafficking in Persons Act 2007.

Human trafficking, under the Trafficking in Persons Act 2007, involves exploitation through forced labour, sexual exploitation, or other forms of coercion. Migrant smuggling, by contrast, involves providing a service, such as transportation or fraudulent documents, to individuals who voluntarily seek illegal entry into another country.

According to a report by Cornerstone in the US, these two crimes “are often confused,” and, in the Gambia’s case, where eight individuals are currently facing charges of human trafficking in connection with alleged involvement in irregular migration, it raises concerns about whether authorities are confusing the two crimes.

Askanwi will continue to monitor and report any developments that arise as we wait for the court judgment of the eight individuals and also the tabling of the New Immigration Bill at the National Assembly.