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This conclusion, which is similar to the concern OMCT expressed after a November 2015 visit to the country, comes after the UNCRC examined a report put together by the Government of Benin itself. OMCT and its member organization provided the UN child rights watchdog with what is known as a “shadow reports” containing independently collected information on issues of concern to the UNCRC.
OMCT and its local partner Enfants Solidaires d’Afrique et du Monde (ESAM) have until November 2015 interviewed children detained in all civil prisons in Benin to verify to what extent the 2008 recommendations of the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT) had been being implemented in the country. The interviewees testified to their on-going detention with adults, which constitutes a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and leads to violence – including sexual abuse – against them.
“The worst thing that could happen to a child detained in Benin is to be mixed with adults as it inherently leads to violence and abuse,” said OMCT Executive Council member Aminata Dieye, who was invited as expert during OMCT’s last mission in the country.
Many of the Beninese children OMCT had interviewed reported to have had to pay adult prisoners for a place to sleep and to have been forced to move to the toilets if they could not afford to. They also said water and food were in insufficient supply. In the prison of Abomey, water had been rationed for several months, affecting most severely mothers with small children.
OMCT and ESAM welcome and stress the UNCRC’s concluding observations that followed the visit, urging Benin to:
· Ensure the provision of qualified and independent legal aid to children in conflict with the law at an early stage of the procedure and throughout the legal proceedings;
· Promote alternative measures to detention, such as diversion, probation, mediation, counselling, or community service, wherever possible, and ensure that detention is used as a last resort and for the shortest possible period of time and that it is reviewed on a regular basis with a view to withdrawing it;
· Investigate all allegations of torture or ill-treatment, prosecute and punish law enforcement officers responsible for such abuses against children deprived of liberty;
· Create and establish a torture prevention mechanism (Observatory for the Prevention of Torture) under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. In particular, ensure that prison authorities facilitate individual private interviews with detained children and staff during visits by independent bodies such as NGOs;
· In cases where detention is unavoidable, ensure that the children are not detained together with adults and that detention conditions are compliant with international standards, including with regard to access to education and health services.
Since 2009, OMCT and ESAM (member of OMCT’s SOS-Torture Network) have worked together to fight torture of children deprived of liberty in Benin, through the implementation of a wide range of activities, including monitoring of civil prisons, advocacy and training.
For further information please contact:
Lori Brumat, OMCT Head of Communications, lb@omct.org, +41 22 809 49 33
Carolina Barbara, OMCT Child Rights Coordinator, cb@omct.org, +41 22 809 49 38
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