Prostitution in Somalia is officially illegal. Sex trafficking [6] and child prostitution [7] are problems in the country. Prostitution laws in Somalia are contained in the Penal Code of , which was based on the Italian Penal Code of The laws are currently under review. Somalia is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking. Information regarding trafficking in Somalia remains extremely difficult to obtain or verify.
In Somaliland, women act as recruiters and intermediaries who transport victims to Puntland, Djibouti , and Ethiopia for the purposes of sex trafficking.
Due to poverty and an inability to provide care for all family members, some Somalis willingly surrender custody of their children to people with whom they share familial ties and clan linkages; some of these children may become victims of sex trafficking. Regional governments from Somaliland and Puntland reported smuggling and trafficking continued through Somalia as a transit point on routes to Libya , Sudan , and Europe.
Women and girl migrants working in the informal economy were particularly vulnerable to trafficking. Certain marginalised ethnic minorities, Somali Bantus and Midgaan , continue to face greater risk of sex trafficking, as do IDPs and people living in areas under al-Shabaab control. Self-identified administrators of some IDP camps reportedly force girls and women to provide sex acts in exchange for food and services; some Somali officials are alleged to be complicit in such exploitation.
Traffickers transport Somali women, sometimes via Djibouti, to the Middle East , where they frequently endure domestic forced prostitution. Some members of the Somali diaspora use false offers of marriage to lure unsuspecting victims, many of whom include relatives, to Europe or the United States , where they force them into prostitution. Trucks transporting goods from Kenya to Somalia sometimes return to Kenya with young girls and women; traffickers procure these young girls and women and exploit them in brothels in Nairobi or Mombasa or send them to destinations outside Kenya.
