Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________Facilitate the participation of civil society in decision making by creatingan enabling environment (government, Parliament, civil society anddevelopment partners).Objective 3:Promote and protect economic, social, cultural, civiland political rights as contained in all the African andinternational human rights instrumentsi. Summary of the CSAR181. With regard to economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, manyprovisions, starting with the constitution, recognise and protect the economic,socio-cultural, civil and political rights of citizens. Apart from this basic law,there is the African Charter on Human and People‟s Rights, the lawsgoverning female genital mutilation and sexual harassment, and provisions onthe fundamental right to work. The fundamental freedoms of expression,association, religion and of the press, among others, are respected in Benin.While it is possible to find cases where these constitutional rights have beenviolated, they are generally minimal.182. On a day-to-day basis, however, the people do not always enjoy these rights.On the socioeconomic front, large-scale inequalities persist in the society.Many citizens are unable to satisfy their basic needs despite the efforts of thegovernment, especially in the areas of education (there is free education at thepreschool and primary levels), health care, and so on. In addition, one can seea lack of respect for the rights of citizens, as well as a lack of drive in thepromotion of economic, social and cultural rights. Thus, it is necessary toensure a more thorough review of the laws and the provisions guaranteeingthese rights, including increased sensitisation about human rights.183. With regard to justice and guarantees for rights and freedoms, the justicesystem in Benin can hardly be accessed by the majority of citizens, despite thegiant steps taken to establish Courts of First Instance in several communes andan Appeal Court in Parakou to reduce the pressure on the one in Cotonou.There is an acute lack of information for citizens about mechanisms forreferring cases to courts. Most people who come under the jurisdiction of acourt therefore do not know the procedures to follow when seeking redress inthe event of conflict. The bureaucratic bottlenecks and corruption in thejudiciary create a lack of confidence in the justice delivery system, therebycontributing to the alienation of citizens from the courts. Most peopletherefore resort to other mechanisms for resolving disputes. These includesettlement at the family level, village councils, and arbitration and mediationby traditional authorities (chiefs) or religious authorities. Others, however,resort to violent, illegal or underhanded means such as mob trials and castingspells.88