Prostitution in Sierra Leone is legal [ 1 ] [ 2 ] and commonplace. Sex workers report they are often abused, harassed and suffer extortion by the police. About free black men, 41 black women and 60 white prostitutes from London reached Sierra Leone on 15 May Since the end of the ten-year civil war in Sierra Leone, there has been an increase in child prostitution , especially among children who are struggling to survive.
Sierra Leone is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking. Victims originate largely from rural provinces and are recruited to urban and mining centers for exploitation in sex trafficking. At times, sex trafficking occurs on beaches and in nightclubs. Trafficking victims are also exploited in fishing and agriculture and subjected to sex trafficking through customary practices, such as forced marriages.
Traffickers typically operate individually, convincing parents to hand over their children and promising to provide an education or better life but instead exploiting the children in trafficking.
Sierra Leonean girls are increasingly exploited in Guinea. Sierra Leonean adults voluntarily migrate to other West African countries, including Mauritania and Guinea, as well as to the Middle East and Europe, where some are subjected to forced prostitution.
As in previous years, Sierra Leonean women are subjected to trafficking in Kuwait and Lebanon. Children from neighboring West African countries have been exploited in prostitution in Sierra Leone. In addition, two other laws prescribe penalties for sex trafficking offenses that differ from the anti-trafficking law.
