Prostitution in the Gambia prison for up to 50 years. The Gambia is a source and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking. Within The Gambia, women, girls, and—to a lesser extent—boys are subjected to sex trafficking. Women and children from West African countries—mainly Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Benin—are recruited for commercial sexual exploitation in The Gambia. Prostitution in the Gambia Prostitution in the Gambia is widespread but illegal. Most of the estimated 3,100 prostitutes in the Gambia are from Senegal. Prostitution takes place on the beach, in bars and hotels on the coast. Away from
ECOWAS military intervention in the Gambia Yahya Jammeh refusing to step down after losing the December 2016 presidential election, and set 19 January 2017 as the date the troops would move into the Gambia if Jammeh continued to refuse to step down. The operation was codenamed "Operation Restore Democracy". ECOWAS forces were amassed around the borders of the Gambia, and Marcel Alain de Souza, the president of ECOWAS, said, "By land, sea and air, Gambia is surrounded. A total of 7,000 men will participate in the mission to re-establish democracy in Gambia." In contrast, the entire armed forces of the Gambia numbered only about 2,500 troops.