Senegal – annual report 2022

Details
Published: September 4, 2023
Mohamed Montasser Abidi, IRZ Head of Section Africa with Samba Diouf, Deputy Director of the Senegalese penitentiary authority in an interview with Senegalese television during an event on psychological and social care for detainees in Dakar.
Mohamed Montasser Abidi, IRZ Head of Section Africa with Samba Diouf, Deputy Director of the Senegalese penitentiary authority in an interview with Senegalese television during an event on psychological and social care for detainees in Dakar.

Strategic framework

Legal Policy Starting Point

Senegal has a long democratic tradition, strong political structures and is viewed as an anchor of stability in the region of West Africa.

Parliamentary elections were held in July 2022. The opposition party recorded strong gains, which resulted in the loss of an absolute majority of the ruling party in parliament. The newly appointed government continues to prioritise the implementation of a comprehensive programme for Senegal’s economic and social development until 2035 (“Plan Sénégal Emergent”). This plan includes legal reforms that focus on promoting human rights, creating a judicial system that addresses the needs of the people, strengthening the rule of law and on the decentralisation of the judicial administration. Major challenges remain despite many positive developments (energy shortages, food crises, population growth and unemployment especially among young people).

Following the discovery of large natural gas deposits off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania, Senegal’s significance on the international stage increased recently as a new partner for liquefied gas. This is due to the energy shortages caused by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Overall Concept

The IRZ cooperation with Senegal was established in 2019 and is based on a Memorandum of Understanding between the German Federal Ministry of Justice and the Senegalese Ministry of Justice. Since then, core areas of cooperation with the Senegalese judiciary have included support for reforms in the area of criminal and criminal procedure law, in the penitentiary system, as well as basic and advanced trainings for judges, public prosecutors and other members of the judiciary. In addition, issues relating to digitisation of the judiciary and electronic legal correspondence came to the fore against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on current reforms in the area of commercial and business law, IRZ expanded its activities to include support and advice in this legal area in order to promote legal certainty and to improve the investment climate.

The most important partners for IRZ in Senegal are the Ministry of Justice, the penitentiary authority and the Asset Recovery Office.

Focus of Activity in 2022

Civil and Commercial Law

  • Regional conference on “Mediation in Africa” with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and the German Federal Bar Association, with the involvement of partners from Tunisia and with participants from Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire
  • Workshop on “Asset recovery – Seizure, administration and liquidation of assets” with the national Asset Recovery Office

Criminal and Penitentiary Law

  • Workshop on “Social and psychological care of detainees”, with reference to specialised training of prison staff with the Senegalese penitentiary authority

Outlook

IRZ activities in Senegal will continue to be based on the Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Senegalese Ministry of Justice. The activities will focus on the areas of commercial law, digitisation of the judiciary, criminal law and the penal system. IRZ plans to include other countries from the region of West Africa in all its projects. A comparative perspective across the region may potentially create ­synergy effects between the countries.

Please find the Annual Report 2022 here: Media centre – Annual reports.