According to the International Labor Organization, a United Nations Agency, an estimated 1.39 million people are currently victims of sex trafficking (US Department of State 2009:8). The very secrecy and silence involved with the sex trade, however, obscures these numbers. Most likely there exist many more not included in these statistics. Sex trafficking is a prevalent, dangerous, ever-growing issue that is putting people’s lives at risk.

Using Gambia as the location, the author explores the question of whether it is possible for Human rights organizations to work with/alongside authoritarian regimes to benefit the people in the country.