Trafficking and Fragility in West Africa
Trafficking is an emerging concern in West Africa that is gaining increasing attention from the international community. This paper examines the relationship between trafficking and fragility in the region through a meta-analysis of existing knowledge and data on the subject. Given the scope of this paper, we will not attempt to provide any primary empirical or qualitative analysis, but instead focus on offering a comprehensive, unbiased overview of the recent policy and academic literature on the subject, which we hope will assist development practitioners working in the region and help the World Bank identify possible programmatic responses. The authors start this paper by defining trafficking to frame our analysis, and then provide an overview of the trafficking economy across the region. Next, authors outline the potential channels between trafficking and fragility, discussing the actors involved (organized criminal groups, rebels, local or national level politicians, the military, and civilians) and their relevance to specific countries. Finally, the authors present our suggestions on possible policy and programmatic responses, based on identifying both regional and external dimensions to the problems.