Seventy-first session

11-29 January 2016

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Benin

The State party is invited to submit in writing additional, updated information, if possible before 15 October 2015 (10,700 words maximum).

The Committee may take up any aspects of the rights of the child set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

In this section, the State party is invited to submit its responses to the following questions.

1.Taking account of the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/BEN/CO/2, para. 10), please provide detailed information on the legislative measures taken by the State party to expedite the promulgation of the Children’s Code. Please also describe the strategy for disseminating the Code and the human and financial resources allocated for its implementation.

2.Please clarify the respective mandates of the National Commission on the Rights of the Child and the national unit to monitor and coordinate child-protection activities, and describe the measures taken to avoid overlapping of their mandates. Please also indicate the human, financial and technical resources available to them to implement children’s rights in all sectors and at all levels (national, regional and local).

3.Taking account of the Committee’s previous recommendations(CRC/C/BEN/CO/2, para. 12), please provide up-to-date information on the multisectoral plan of action accompanying the National Policy on Child Protection adopted in 2014. Please specify whether this plan integrates all action plans and programmes for children, and provide information on the budget allocated for its implementation and on monitoring and evaluation procedures.

4.Please inform the Committee of measures taken to increase the budget of the Ministry of the Family, given that it is one of the least-resourced departments.

5.Please provide information on the specific measures taken by the State party to ensure that the Anti-Corruption Act(2011-20)is strictly enforced, particularly in the areas of health, education and justice.

6.Taking account of the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/BEN/CO/2, para. 31), please provide details of steps taken to stop the killing of children considered as “sorcerer’s children” or born with a disability and to change the attitudes and beliefs leading to these murders. Please provide detailed information on legal action taken against the perpretrators of these infanticides and on the sentences handed down.

7.Please inform the Committee of measures taken to make the registration of births standard practice, particularly for children placed in institutions and children living in rural areas.

8.Please give details of the complaint mechanisms available to child victims of abuse and violence, in particular those living in institutions, and specify how children are informed of the existence of these mechanisms. Please also inform the Committee of the specific measures taken to prevent and combat ill-treatment, negligence and abuse, including sexual abuse.

9.With regard to reports of the widespread practice of placing children in informal care in the State party, please give information on the measures taken to provide the necessary assistance to families in order to prevent children from being taken into care.

10.In the light of the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/BEN/CO/2, para. 50), please indicate the measures taken to eliminate the discrimination and stigmatization of children with disabilities and to facilitate their full integration into regular schools. Please also provide information on the measures implemented to ensure effective access for children with disabilities to health, social services and leisure activities.

11.With reference to the State party report (CRC/C/BEN/3-5, paras. 212 and 213), please provide further information on the state of health of children under the age of 5 years, and explain in particular the reasons for the increase in the infant mortality rate and the decline in health indicators, and planned measures to remedy the situation.

12.Please provide information on measures taken to implement an effective ban on female genital mutilation, to specifically dissuade communities from continuing the practice, to help child victims, and to impose penalties on practitioners and traditional and religious leaders who perpetuate the practice. Please also provide information on measures taken to prohibit early and forced marriages, exchange marriages and the placement of children in convents.

13.Please provide information on measures taken to combat underage pregnancy and to ensure that adolescent girls have access to sexual and reproductive health care, including contraception, safe abortion and post-abortion care. Please also inform the Committee of measures taken to combat the spread and effects of HIV/AIDS.

14.Please indicate the measures taken to reduce school dropout rate and increase the school retention rate of girls at primary and secondary level, including pregnant girls, especially in rural areas, and to enhance the quality of education. Please also inform the Committee of measures taken to develop and improve access to early childhood education.

15.Please inform the Committee of the concrete measures taken to eliminate the economic exploitation of children and child labour and to monitor the working conditions of children, including in the informal sector, and indicate whether the decisions taken by the national steering committee to combat child labour are being implemented and whether it has been allocated sufficient resources.Please also describe the measures taken to remove children from the worst forms of child labour as a matter of great urgency, including domestic work, working in mines and the exploitation of children for begging purposes, and to punish persons who exploit children in these ways.

16.In the light of the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/BEN/CO/2, para. 74), please describe the steps taken to combat the phenomenon of talibé children living, working and begging on the streets.

17.In the light of the information provided in paragraphs 38 and 39 of the State party report, please inform the Committee of the outcome of the consultation on setting a minimum age for sexual consent.

18.Please provide further information on measures taken to ensure that the State party has a national plan of action to combat all forms of sexual exploitation and child-trafficking.

19.Please provide information on the reform of the juvenile justice system and indicate whether the minimum age of criminal responsibility has been revised in accordance with international standards. Please describe the measures taken to ensure that children in conflict with the law are only placed in detention as a measure of last resort and for as short a period as possible, to remove children from adult detention facilities as a matter of great urgency, and to ensure that children in detention have access to educational and leisureactivities during the whole period of their detention, both in prisons and in correction centres.

Part II

In this section the State party is invited to provide a brief update (no more than three pages) on the information presented in its report regarding:

(a)New bills and laws, and their respective regulations;

(b)New institutions and their mandates, and institutional reforms;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans, and their scope and financing;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

1.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographical area, covering the past three years on the number of:

(a)Cases of abuse and violence against children, including all forms of corporal punishment, with additional information on the type of assistance given to victims and follow-up action taken, including prosecution of perpetrators and sentences imposed;

(b)Cases of female genital mutilation in the State party, disaggregated by age and region, with information on follow-up in these cases, including sentences imposed on perpetrators, and redress and compensation granted to the victims;

(c)Investigations into alleged cases of sexual violence and rape, and the outcome of trials, including information on sentences imposed on perpetrators, and redress and compensation given to victims;

(d)Cases of child marriage, including information on follow-up.

2.Please provide data on the number of reported cases of ritual murders.

3.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographical area, on the situation of children deprived of a family environment, covering the past three years, with regard to the number of children:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Living on the streets;

(c)Placed in institutions;

(d)Placed with foster families;

(e)Placed informally within the extended family or in another family;

(f)Adopted in Benin or abroad.

4.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographical area, for the past three years, on the number of children with disabilities:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)In institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary schools;

(d)Attending regular secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Not enrolled in school.

5.Please provide data, disaggregated by, inter alia, age, sex, socioeconomic background and ethnic origin, for the past three years, on:

(a)The enrolment and completion rates (by sex and in percentages) of the relevant age groups in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools;

(b)The number and percentage of school dropouts;

(c)The number of children attending private schools.

6.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background and ethnic origin, for the past three years, on the number of children who are:

(a)Victims of abuse, including sexual abuse, specifying the number of children who have had access to rehabilitation and social reintegration services, what legal proceedings have been brought against the perpetrators of such offences, and the outcomes of those proceedings over the period in question;

(b)Victims of economic exploitation, in particular the number of child domestic workers, specifying the number of prosecutions against the perpetrators of such economic exploitation and sentences imposed;

(c)Living or working on the streets, and the number of these street children covered by social reintegration programmes.

7.Please provide data, disaggregated by, inter alia, age, sex, ethnic origin and type of offence, for the past three years, on the number of children:

(a)Who are suspected of having committed an offence and have been reported to the police;

(b)Who have been sentenced, specifying the type of punishment or sanction imposed, and the length of deprivation of liberty;

(c)Who have been held in juvenile detention facilities and in adult detention centres.

8.Please inform the Committee of any information in the report which may have been rendered obsolete by more recent data collected or a change in the situation.

9.In addition, the State party is invited to specify the issues affecting children that it considers to have priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.