Authors: United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Site of publication: state.gov
Type of publication: Report
Date of publication: 2023
There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Benin during the year.
The government took some credible steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who committed human rights abuses and acts of corruption. Authorities sometimes held police accountable for misconduct for corruption-related crimes, but impunity remained a problem.
Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings
There were several credible reports from civil society groups that police and military members used disproportionate and lethal force against citizens.
In December 2022 Crystal News Radio broadcast journalist Virgil Ahouanse reported that in November 2022 police shot and killed 20 men allegedly involved in motorcycle theft in Porto Novo.
Human rights activists stated police extrajudicial killings had occurred since 2016 and had become more frequent under the government of President Talon.
Disappearance
There were no reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities.
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Other Related Abuses
The constitution and law prohibited such practices, and unlike in prior years there were no credible reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening due to overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and inadequate medical care and food.
The 11 facilities held approximately 12,000 inmates, significantly exceeding a design capacity of 5,620 inmates.
Inmates died due to lack of medical care, neglect, and poor ventilation in cramped and overcrowded cells. Prison facilities did not provide support to inmates with disabilities, including those with mental disabilities.
Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
The constitution and law prohibited arbitrary arrest and detention and provided for the right of any person to challenge the lawfulness of their arrest or detention in court. A person arrested or detained, regardless of whether on criminal or other grounds, was by law entitled to file a complaint with the liberty and detention chamber of the relevant court.
Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees
There were credible reports of individuals held beyond the legal limit of 48 hours of detention before a hearing, sometimes by more than a week. The government often did not provide counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases. Persons in rural areas accused of serious crimes often lacked adequate legal representation because defense attorneys were predominantly based in the capital Cotonou and generally did not work on cases in rural areas.
Arbitrary Arrest: Arbitrary arrests and detentions occurred.
Pretrial Detention: Approximately two-thirds of inmates were pretrial detainees. The length of pretrial detention frequently exceeded the maximum sentence for the alleged crime. Several factors caused delays in the judicial process, including overcrowded dockets, poorly trained legal staff, inadequate court filing documents, judicial negligence, and insufficient legal assistance to prisoners and their lack of knowledge of legal procedures.
Denial of Fair Public Trial
Corruption also afflicted the judicial system, although the government continued to make anticorruption efforts, including the dismissal and arrest of government officials allegedly involved in corruption scandals.
Authorities generally respected court orders.
Trial Procedures
While the constitution provided for the right to a fair and public trial, judicial inefficiency and corruption impeded the exercise of this right. The legal system was based on French civil law and local customary law.
Government-provided counsel, however, was rarely available, especially in court cases in remote areas. Defendants who could not understand or speak French were entitled to free interpretation services as necessary from the moment charged through all appeals.
Political Prisoners and Detainees
In July 2022 during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, CRIET provisionally released 30 political opponents; however, high profile political opponents Reckya Madougou and Joel Aivo were not released and remained imprisoned.
Respect for Civil Liberties
Freedom of Expression, Including for Members of the Press and Other Media
The constitution provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, and the government generally respected this right. Media were not fully independent, however. There were reports the government inhibited freedom of the press through restrictions on and sanctioning of media members.
The government regulated the press and online media.
Censorship or Content Restrictions for Members of the Press and Other Media, Including Online Media: Public and private media refrained from openly criticizing government policy or reporting on security concerns.
Internet Freedom
The government censored online content, but it did not restrict public access to the internet or monitor private online communications without appropriate legal authority.
Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The constitution and law provided for the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association; the government respected the right of peaceful association but not that of peaceful assembly.
Advance notification and permits were required prior to holding protests, but authorities regularly denied or ignored requests for permits. The law prohibited unauthorized gatherings likely to disrupt public order.
Protection of Refugees
Access to Asylum: The law provided for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government had established a system for providing protection to refugees.
Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
According to the International Organization for Migration, there were approximately 10,034 persons temporarily displaced because of seasonal flooding and security concerns in the Mono, Zou, Atacora, and Alibori Departments during the year. The government provided humanitarian assistance through its National Agency for Civil Protection and cooperated with humanitarian groups to aid internally displaced persons.
Stateless Persons
The law provided for clear pathways for stateless persons and asylum seekers to normalize their status in the country.
Elections and Political Participation
Abuses or Irregularities in Recent Elections:
National elections were widely reported not to be fair and free of abuses and irregularities. The 2021 presidential election excluded candidates from established opposition parties.
The Independent Electoral Commission reported voting did not take place in 16 of 546 districts due to violent demonstrations that prevented delivery of voting materials.
During the campaign and immediately following the presidential election, police arrested more than 200 activists, opponents, and journalists, according to human rights organizations. Cultural factors, however, limited women’s political participation. By custom and tradition, women assumed household duties, had less access to formal education, and were discouraged from involvement in politics. There were reports persons with physical disabilities were unable to access polling stations due to a lack of ramps and other means of access.
Corruption in Government
The law provided for criminal penalties for corruption by officials, and the government sometimes implemented the law effectively. There were numerous reports of government corruption.
Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights
Several domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction to monitor or investigate human rights conditions or cases and publishing their findings. Government officials often were cooperative and responsive to the views of these groups. Nevertheless, the government denied registration to some domestic human rights groups critical of government actions. Human rights groups reported they did not share all their findings publicly due to fear of government reprisal.
Discrimination and Societal Abuses Women
Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalized spousal and domestic partner rape without reference to gender. Sentences for rape ranged from five to 20 years’ imprisonment. The law did not specifically reference so called corrective rape of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex (LGBTQI+) persons.
Enforcement was weak due to police ineffectiveness, official corruption, and survivors not reporting cases due to fear of social stigma and retaliation.
Penalties for domestic violence ranged from six to 36 months’ imprisonment. Nevertheless, domestic violence against women was common.
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C): The law prohibited FGM/C of girls and women and provided penalties for performing the procedure, including prison sentences of up to 10 years and substantial monetary fines. The practice was largely limited to remote rural areas in the north.
Discrimination: The constitution provided for equality of women in political, economic, and social spheres; however, women experienced extensive discrimination in obtaining employment, credit, equal pay, and in owning or managing businesses.
The government provided access to sexual and reproductive health services for survivors of sexual violence, including emergency contraception and post exposure prophylaxis; however, LGBTQI+ persons reported being routinely refused medical care and social services.
The taboo and persisting stigma associated to menstruation and lack of access to information on menstrual hygiene affected girls’ social, economic, and academic well-being. A 2020 NGO survey of 2,500 women students stated 27 percent of them missed classes because of menstruation.
Children
Child Abuse: Violence against children was common. The law prohibited a wide range of harmful practices and provided substantial fines and up to life imprisonment for persons convicted of child abuse.
Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The law prohibited the marriage of persons younger than age 18 but granted exemptions for children ages 14 to 17 with parental consent and a judge’s authorization. The law was effectively enforced in urban areas but not in rural areas.
Child, early, and forced marriage included barter marriage and marriage by abduction, in which the bridegroom traditionally abducted and raped his prospective child bride.
Sexual Exploitation of Children: The law prohibited the sale, grooming, or use of children for commercial sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking. and prescribed penalties of 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment.
Infanticide, Including Infanticide of Children with Disabilities: Although concealed from authorities, traditional practices of killing breech babies, babies whose mothers died in childbirth, babies considered deformed, and one newborn from each set of twins (because they were considered sorcerers) continued to occur in the north including the communes of Djougou, Gogounou, Kouande, and Kandi.
Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics Criminalization:
The law did not criminalize consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults. Nevertheless, a provision related to public indecency and debauchery in the penal code was applied to prosecute same-sex sexual conduct by charging individuals with public indecency or acts against nature. Prosecutions did not occur during the year.
Violence and Harassment: An LGBTQI+ NGO reported LGBTQI+ persons faced physical attacks and assaults, verbal abuse, and many other forms of intimidation, usually perpetrated by nonstate actors, that police often tolerated.
Persons with Disabilities
Persons with disabilities did not have access to education, employment, health services, public buildings, and transportation on an equal basis with others. Nevertheless, the law provided for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination
Police generally ignored vigilante attacks. Incidents of mob violence occurred, in part due to the perceived failure of local courts to try and punish convicted criminals adequately. Such cases generally involved mobs killing or severely injuring suspected criminals, particularly individuals caught stealing. On July 31, media reported vigilantes beat to death and burned three suspected goat thieves in Bokohoue village in the south of the country.
NGOs focused on protection of persons with albinism reported societal discrimination and abuses, including infanticide of children with albinism, organ trafficking, and inadequate health services.
Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining
The law provided for the rights of workers, except certain civil servants and public employees, to form and join independent unions with some restrictions. Unions were required to register with the Ministry of Interior, a three-month process, or risk a fine.
The right to strike was carefully regulated. The law restricted the maximum duration of a strike to 10 days per year for all employees, except workers barred from striking.
Authorities could declare strikes illegal for reasons such as threatening social peace and order and could requisition striking workers to maintain minimum services. The government could prohibit any strike on the grounds it threatened the economy or the national interest.
Acceptable Conditions of Work
Wage and Hour Laws: The government set minimum wage scales for several occupations in the formal sector that were slightly higher than the poverty level. In January the government increased the minimum wage from 40,000 CFA francs ($65) per month to 52,000 CFA francs per month ($85). According to the UN Development Program, 60 percent of the population, predominantly in the informal sector, lived on an income of $1.90 a day or less, a poverty-level income less than the minimum wage.
The labor code set workweek hours at 40 to 60 hours, depending on the type of work, and provided for paid holidays and at least one 24-hour rest period per week.
Domestic and agricultural workers frequently worked 70 hours or more per week, above the maximum of 12 hours per day or 60 hours per week provided for by the labor code.
The government did not effectively enforce labor laws in the informal sector that represented approximately 80 percent of workers.