COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF THE CHILD CONTINUES REVIEW OF REPORT OF BENIN

AFTERNOON
HR/CRC/99/28
26 May 1999


Government Delegation Describes Efforts to End Infanticide and Enforced Marriages, Improve School Attendance by Girls


The Committee on the Rights of the Child carried on this afternoon with its review of an initial report of Benin, hearing from a Government delegation about efforts to eradicate such cultural practices as enforced marriages and infanticide, and about programmes aimed at increasing school attendance among girls.

Joseph H. Gnonlonfoun, Minister of Justice, Legislation and Human Rights of Benin, said the Government had stopped charging school tuition for girls in rural areas as it had been found that families often paid the fees for boys but not for girls. He added that programmes to improve water supplies to rural villages also improved school attendance -- currently children often had to walk "dozens of kilometres" every day to obtain water for family use, and the chore was most often given to girls, who then missed school.

Forced marriages and infanticide occurred, Mr. Gnonlonfoun said, although both were illegal. When children had malformations or when a mother died in childbirth, children sometimes suffered infanticide; the Government was trying to end such practices; efforts were being made to ensure that more women delivered their babies in health centres instead of in their villages as one way of preventing such abuses, he said, and the courts had tried cases of infanticide recently. The Government also was trying to mobilize religious organizations to help in preventing such deaths.

A Family Code to be enacted by the end of the year would specifically prohibit enforced marriages, he said, but such marriages would still occur as it took a long time to educate the public in far-flung villages about newly passed laws; many villages could not be reached by road and were utterly inaccessible during the rainy season.
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Mr. Gnonlonfoun said such long-standing traditions and practices, also including polygamy and female genital mutilation, and resistance to such concepts as sexual equality and the use of contraception, could only be overcome slowly, especially in a country additionally burdened by poverty.

Discussion over the course of the afternoon centred on the general topics of civil rights and freedoms; family environment and alternative care; basic health and welfare; and education, leisure, and cultural activities.

Benin, as one of 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, must submit periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to improve the circumstances of the country's children. Government delegations generally appear before the panel to discuss these reports and to answer questions.

In addition to Mr. Gnonlonfoun, the delegation of Benin consisted of Sikirath Koumakpai, Technical Counsellor for Health, Social Affairs, and Women of the President’s Office; Marie Sabine d'Almeida Vieyra, Technical Counsellor for Social Affairs and Women of the Ministry of Social Protection and the Status of Women; Rita Félicité Sodjiedo Hounton, Director for the Judicial Protection of Children and Youth of the Ministry of Justice, Legislation, and Human Rights; and Cyrille S. Oguin, Director of Human Rights.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 27 May, to conclude its review of the report of Benin.

Discussion

JOSEPH H. GNONLONFOUN, Minister of Justice, Legislation and Human Rights of Benin, responding to questions put by Committee members, said, among other things, that sex education had been a taboo subject for a long time in Africa, or at least in many parts of Africa; but HIV/AIDS had provided a sufficient excuse for bringing the topic up, and now programmes for sex education were under way. Family planning was rarely used, although many women were aware of contraception; according to a survey, only 13 per cent used contraception; efforts were being made to improve the actual use of family planning; of course the subject was sensitive and the Government had to proceed carefully -- if the matter was pushed too forcefully, people would reject it.

Adopting the Convention had been difficult, Mr. Gnonlonfoun said; currently there were 150 "experimental" schools at which the standards of the Convention were being taught; children there were aware of the Convention; the Government lacked the means to disseminate the Convention at all schools; with the experimental programme it was gaining experience and soon teaching the Convention would be possible in a streamlined and effective manner.

Infanticide existed, it was true; when children had malformations or when a mother died in childbirth and people felt the child, too, had to die, sometimes the child in fact did suffer infanticide; the Government was trying to end such practices; efforts were being made to ensure that more women delivered their babies in health centres instead of in their villages as one way of preventing such abuses. The courts had tried cases of infanticide recently; this year three cases were scheduled to be tried; the Government was also trying to mobilize religious organizations to help in preventing such deaths.

A survey had been carried out that indicated that despite formal minimum ages for marriage of 18 for boys and 16 for girls, most girls were married between 17 and 19, and most boys at 24, Mr. Gnonlonfoun said.

According to tradition, women did not inherit, although under the relevant legal code women did have the right.

School tuition for girls in rural areas had been eliminated, Mr. Gnonlonfoun said, because it had been found that if a family had a girl and a boy, the parents tended to tell the girl to stay home and to pay the fees only for the boy; a brochure also had been distributed describing the adventures of a young girl and boy and advocating education for both sexes and sexual equality in general. Advancing such equality was possible, but would take a long time. Other methods of promoting sexual equality included micro credit programmes for women which could give them independent incomes and greater decision-making power over what happened to them and their children. In the north of the country, water shortages meant children often had to travel dozens of kilometres to fetch water; often it was girls who were dispatched on these time-consuming errands instead of attending school. Projects being carried out to supply water directly to such villages would have a direct effect on keeping girls in school.

The national Human Rights Commission had been established during the country's revolutionary period, Mr. Gnonlonfoun said; the point was to undercut the existing situation and its lack of respect for freedom of association, and to provide some recourse for people whose rights had been violated; the Commission also was intended to look after people who had been arrested during the revolution. Minors were allowed to make complaints before the Commission, and in the past they had done so; although there was not a special rights Commission for children, they were covered by the Human Rights Commission like everyone else in the country.

Cases or complaints about female genital mutilation were covered by general criminal standards such as assault and battery or infliction of bodily harm; but under the new penal code female genital mutilation would be specifically prohibited, he said. Female genital mutilation existed in the two northern regions of the country, and the Government was trying to educate people against it; there were political complications, of course; there could not be special legislation just for certain regions of the country. The Government was doing its best.


Forced marriages did occur, Mr. Gnonlonfoun said, although less often than before; the Family Code now under development was designed to put a stop to the practice, but when the Code was passed at the end of the year, forced marriages would still occur, as prohibiting them, and educating people to know that they were prohibited, would take time. Many far-flung rural villages that could not even be reached by car had to be informed of the nation's laws; that would take time; what happened in isolated villages could not be monitored constantly; currently it was the rainy season and many villages were utterly inaccessible.

Adoptions often occurred within extended families, he said; but now social customs were changing and this traditional arrangement was breaking down; the country had had very bad experiences with international adoptions; 20 years or so ago, international adoptions had been allowed and it had been found that the adoptive families had abused the children; at least adoptions within the country could be supervised.

Vigilante justice sometimes occurred, Mr. Gnonlonfoun said; he had the impression that one reason was the slow pace of the country's judicial system. It needed to be speeded up.

Birth registries existed in cities and in rural areas close to cities, he said; it was the Government's objective to have official civil registries under the de-centralization programme now under way.

Polygamy had been reduced in recent years, he said; monogamy was now the norm and was reinforced by the law; polygamy would disappear provided that the Government continued to campaign against it and continued to carry out awareness programmes.