Prostitution Prostitution laws in SenegalSénégal
Senegal regulates prostitution by individuals through a health-registration system dating from 1966 and 1969. A person registered in the fichier sanitaire et social who carries an up-to-date health booklet (carnet sanitaire) and attends regular check-ups may sell sex; the statutory minimum age is 21, which the government says now reads as 18. Everything around the individual is criminalised: procuring, including living with a sex worker, carries one to three years (Penal Code Article 323), running a brothel two to five years (Article 325), and publishing an advertisement for an opportunity for debauchery is an offence (Article 257); public soliciting is a police contravention. A 2015 survey found about 80% of female sex workers unregistered. No reform of the 1960s texts was found as of October 2026.
Legal model
Regulation (legal & licensed). Selling sex and running venues are legal under a licensing or registration regime.
Senegal is one of very few African countries with a registration system for sex workers. Under Law No. 66-21 of 1 February 1966 and its implementing Decree No. 69-616 of 20 May 1969, a person may sell sex if registered in the health and social register and attending regular check-ups. The regime covers individuals only: brothels, procuring and public soliciting remain offences under the Penal Code, so the framework also has strong abolitionist features.[1][2][3]
At a glance
| Question | Status | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Selling sexual services | Licensed Breach: criminal offence | Selling sex is lawful for a person registered in the fichier sanitaire et social who holds an up-to-date carnet sanitaire, attends the required check-ups and does not solicit in public. Working unregistered, failing to show the booklet to police or missing a medical visit can be prosecuted. People under 21 who sell sex are brought before the juvenile court for protective measures (Article 327 bis).[1][2][3][4] |
| Buying sexual services | Legal | No offence of buying sex from an adult was found in the Penal Code or in official descriptions of the 1966 law. The procuring and corruption-of-youth offences (Articles 323 and 324) target those who organise, profit from or habitually encourage the prostitution or debauchery of others, not clients as such.[1][2] |
| Brothels and managed venues | Illegal Criminal offence | Owning, managing, running or financing a prostitution establishment, or habitually accepting or tolerating prostitution or the seeking of clients in a hotel, furnished house, bar, restaurant, club, dance hall or any place open to the public, carries two to five years and a fine of 300,000 to 4,000,000 francs (Article 325), doubled for a repeat within ten years. The court must withdraw the licence and close the premises for three months to five years (Article 326).[2] |
| Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping) | Illegal Criminal offence | A procurer is anyone who aids, assists or protects another's prostitution or soliciting, shares its proceeds or receives support from a person habitually engaged in it, knowingly lives with such a person, cannot justify their lifestyle while in habitual contact with sex workers, recruits or keeps even a consenting adult for prostitution, or acts as an intermediary: one to three years and 250,000 to 2,500,000 francs (Article 323), two to five years if aggravated (Article 324).[2] |
| Advertising sexual services | Illegal Criminal offence | Publicly drawing attention to an opportunity for debauchery, or publishing an advertisement or correspondence of that kind whatever its terms, carries the penalties of Article 256: one month to two years and a fine of 25,000 to 300,000 francs (Article 257). Publicly soliciting people for debauchery by gestures, words, writings or any other means is a police contravention, and helping another person's soliciting is procuring (Article 323).[2] |
The law in detail
Selling sexual services
Selling sex is lawful for a person registered in the fichier sanitaire et social who holds an up-to-date carnet sanitaire, attends the required check-ups and does not solicit in public. Working unregistered, failing to show the booklet to police or missing a medical visit can be prosecuted. People under 21 who sell sex are brought before the juvenile court for protective measures (Article 327 bis).[1][2][3][4]
The government's 2016 report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child lists the conditions as: being 21, presenting an identity card (or other identity document for foreigners) and four photos, attending gynaecological visits every 15 days, presenting the booklet when stopped by police or gendarmerie, and not soliciting on the public road. The same report says that since the age of majority was lowered to 18, access to the booklet is from 18. A 2024 peer-reviewed study describes monthly visits, compulsory STI testing and treatment, and reports that failing to present the booklet can lead to two to six months in prison.
Confidence: medium. The texts of Law 66-21 and Decree 69-616 could not be found online; their content is taken from the government's own report to a UN committee and from peer-reviewed research. Those sources differ on the check-up interval (every 15 days or monthly) and on the minimum age (21 in the statute, 18 according to the government).
Checked 30 October 2026
Buying sexual services
No offence of buying sex from an adult was found in the Penal Code or in official descriptions of the 1966 law. The procuring and corruption-of-youth offences (Articles 323 and 324) target those who organise, profit from or habitually encourage the prostitution or debauchery of others, not clients as such.[1][2]
Confidence: medium. The 1966 law and 1969 decree themselves were not read.
Checked 30 October 2026
Brothels and managed venues
Owning, managing, running or financing a prostitution establishment, or habitually accepting or tolerating prostitution or the seeking of clients in a hotel, furnished house, bar, restaurant, club, dance hall or any place open to the public, carries two to five years and a fine of 300,000 to 4,000,000 francs (Article 325), doubled for a repeat within ten years. The court must withdraw the licence and close the premises for three months to five years (Article 326).[2]
Note. Read in the consolidated text published on WIPO Lex, which includes amendments up to the late 1990s; later amendments to the Code (2016, 2020) were not checked for these articles.
Checked 30 October 2026
Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping)
A procurer is anyone who aids, assists or protects another's prostitution or soliciting, shares its proceeds or receives support from a person habitually engaged in it, knowingly lives with such a person, cannot justify their lifestyle while in habitual contact with sex workers, recruits or keeps even a consenting adult for prostitution, or acts as an intermediary: one to three years and 250,000 to 2,500,000 francs (Article 323), two to five years if aggravated (Article 324).[2]
Note. The 'lives with' and 'cannot justify resources' limbs can reach partners and family members of registered sex workers.
Checked 30 October 2026
Advertising sexual services
Publicly drawing attention to an opportunity for debauchery, or publishing an advertisement or correspondence of that kind whatever its terms, carries the penalties of Article 256: one month to two years and a fine of 25,000 to 300,000 francs (Article 257). Publicly soliciting people for debauchery by gestures, words, writings or any other means is a police contravention, and helping another person's soliciting is procuring (Article 323).[2]
The soliciting contravention is in Article 9(3) of the Code des contraventions annexed to the Penal Code; police penalties are one day to one month of imprisonment and a fine of 200 to 20,000 francs (Articles 2 and 3 of that Code).
Note. No case applying Article 257 to online advertisements or to websites was found.
Checked 30 October 2026
Key legislation
| Law | What it does here | In force |
|---|---|---|
| Code pénal (loi n° 65-60 du 21 juillet 1965) Penal Code (Law No. 65-60 of 21 July 1965), with the Code of Contraventions art. 257 · art. 323–327 bis | Articles 323 to 327 criminalise procuring and brothels; Article 257 covers advertising an opportunity for debauchery; the Code of Contraventions punishes public soliciting.[2] | 1965 |
| Loi n° 69-27 complétant le Code pénal par un article 327 bis réprimant la prostitution des mineurs de 21 ans Law No. 69-27 adding Article 327 bis to the Penal Code on prostitution by people under 21 art. 327 bis | Sends people under 21 who sell sex, even occasionally, to the juvenile court for protective measures rather than punishment.[4] | 1969 |
In numbers
Estimate from a 2015 national surveillance survey cited by Lépine et al. (2024); a survey estimate, not a count of the total population.
Timeline
- 21 July 1965Law No. 65-60 adopts the Penal Code, including the procuring and brothel offences.[2]
- 1 February 1966Law No. 66-21 on combating venereal diseases and prostitution creates the registration and health-check regime.[1]
- 1969Law No. 69-27 adds Article 327 bis, providing protective measures for people under 21 who sell sex.[2][4]
- 20 May 1969Decree No. 69-616 implements the 1966 law.[1]
Sources
- Rapport soumis par le Sénégal en application du paragraphe 1 de l'article 12 du Protocole facultatif à la Convention relative aux droits de l'enfant, concernant la vente d'enfants, la prostitution des enfants et la pornographie mettant en scène des enfants (CRC/C/OPSC/SEN/1) (Report submitted by Senegal under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography). Government of Senegal, via the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 8 December 2022. government · accessed 30 October 2026
- Code pénal (loi n° 65-60 du 21 juillet 1965) (Penal Code (Law No. 65-60 of 21 July 1965), consolidated, with the Code des contraventions annexed). WIPO Lex, 21 July 1965. legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- Optimising the public health benefits of sex work regulation in Senegal: Results from qualitative interviews with policy stakeholders. PLOS ONE (Lépine, Procureur, Szawlowski, Treibich, Mbaye, Gueye, Ndour), 15 August 2024. academic · accessed 30 October 2026
- Loi n° 69-27 complétant le Code pénal par un article 327 bis réprimant la prostitution des mineurs de 21 ans (Law No. 69-27 adding Article 327 bis to the Penal Code on prostitution by minors under 21). Vie Publique Sénégal, 1969. legislation · accessed 30 October 2026