Report on the conditions of children’s deprivation of liberty in Benin. The issue of violence against children deprived of liberty
Geneva-Cotonou,July 2011. The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and itslocal partner in Benin, Solidarity for Children in Africa and theWorld (ESAM), publish their report on the situation of childrendeprived of liberty in Benin. It focuses on the various forms ofviolence perpetrated against those children while in police custodyand pre- and post-trial detention. It also shows that the conditionsof children in detention fail to satisfy international standards.
Thanksto the official authorisation to visit the prisons, the OMCT and ESAM(member of the OMCT SOS/Torture network in Benin since 2003) haveconducted more than 30 monitoring visits between September 2009 andFebruary 2011. The situation observed and the information collectedduring those visits as well as the various meetings and seminars withthe authorities and the civil society are gathered in the report. Itconfirms the critical findings contained in the UN Subcommittee forthe prevention of torture 2008 mission report[1],namely:
- thatill-treatment, including torture, is often used against children inpolice stations;
- thatthe conditions of child detention often amount to inhuman anddegrading treatment;
- thatseveral of the children’s quarters (where boys are detained) andwomen’s quarters (where girls are kept) in the prisons areovercrowded. This situation results from overuse of deprivation ofliberty and lengthy pre-trial detention and leads to appallingconditions of detention;
- thatthe separation of children from adult detainees is limited. In policecustody, there is no such separation. In the prisons, although boysare kept in separate quarters, girls remain detained with women.
Thereport contains a series of detailed recommendations to the attentionof the authorities and other relevant stakeholders. It ends with thecomments from the Ministry of Justice of Benin that was offered theopportunity to read and comment the report before it was published.
Link report (only in French) : OMCT-ESAM_Rapport sur les conditions de privation deliberté des mineurs au Bénin
[1]Reporton the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and OtherCruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to Benin, UN DocCAT/OP/BEN.1. Available at:http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/opcat/docs/ReportVisitBenin-AdvanceCopy.pdf.