Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Benin.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Benin. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Benin U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/benin/
[accessed 5 July
2021] PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison conditions
were harsh and life threatening due to overcrowding, inadequate medical care,
food, and sanitary conditions. Physical
Conditions: According to the Benin Bar Association, conditions in the
country’s three prisons and eight jails were inhuman due to overcrowding,
malnutrition, and poor sanitation. The 11 facilities held approximately 9,000
inmates, significantly exceeding a capacity of 5,620 inmates. Convicted
criminals, pretrial detainees, and juveniles were often held together. There
were deaths due to lack of medical care, neglect, and poor ventilation in
cramped and overcrowded cells Independent
Monitoring: The government permitted prison visits by human rights monitors.
Representatives of religious groups–the Prison Fellowship, Caritas, the
Prisons Brotherhood, and Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture–and
NGOs–Amnesty International, the Beninese Human Rights Commission (an
independent government entity), the Friends of Prisoners and Indigents
Clinic, and Prisoners without Borders–visited prisons. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
The law defines the maximum length of pretrial detention for felony cases at
five years and for misdemeanors three years. Approximately two-thirds of
inmates were pretrial detainees. Inadequate facilities, poorly trained staff,
and overcrowded dockets delayed the administration of justice. The length of
pretrial detention frequently exceeded the maximum sentence for conviction of
the alleged crime. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/benin/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 14 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE
OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Prison conditions
are often harsh, and prisoners face overcrowding, lack of access to food and
water, and occasional physical abuse. Police brutality also remains a
problem, including beatings and torture of suspects; perpetrators are
frequently shielded from prosecution by their superiors. Security personnel
were criticized for repeatedly using live ammunition and other excessive
force during protests in 2019. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/BEN/CO/2 (19
February 2008) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/benin2008.html [accessed 23
February 2013] 8. The Committee is
concerned about the existing provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure on
legal proceedings whereby such proceedings may be instituted only at the request
of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, following a complaint by the victim, which
is clearly contrary to article 12 of the Convention (art. 12). The State party
should consider abrogating the system of discretionary prosecution in order
to comply with article 12 of the Convention and to remove all doubt regarding
the obligation of the competent authorities to institute, systematically and
on their own initiative, without a prior complaint from the victim, objective
and impartial inquiries wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that
an act of torture has been committed. 9. The Committee
regrets that persons suspected of having committed acts of torture have
reportedly been protected by Act No. 90-028 of 9 October 1990 granting
amnesty for acts, other than those covered by ordinary law, committed between
26 October 1972 and the date of promulgation of the Act, and deplores the
resulting impunity (art. 12). The State party
should ensure that all allegations of acts of torture and ill-treatment are
investigated, including those committed between 1972 and 1990, set up a truth
commission to shed light on the allegations, and consider abrogating the
Amnesty Act of 1990 with a view to prosecuting and punishing the authors of
those acts. 10. The Committee is
concerned at the lack of appropriate legislation and of any effective,
independent mechanism to enable victims of torture and ill-treatment to
complain and have their case examined promptly and impartially. The Committee
also deplores the lack of victim and witness protection legislation and
mechanisms (arts. 13 and 14). The State party
should establish a fully independent complaints mechanism for victims of
torture and ensure that measures are adopted to afford adequate protection to
all persons who report acts of torture or ill-treatment. The State party
should also enhance the capacity of the standing committee for the
compensation of victims of injury caused by the State, established by Decree
No. 98-23 of 29 January 1998. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 PRISON CONDITIONS - Prisons remained
overcrowded. The prison in the city of Cotonou held
six times its capacity, resulting in harsh conditions. Official detention
figures showed that of the 2,300 inmates held, 99
per cent were in pre-trial detention. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=benin+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61554.htm [accessed 21 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61554.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, there were credible reports during the
year that police sometimes beat those in custody. Police forcibly
dispersed demonstrations during the year, resulting in one death and numerous
injuries (see section 2.b.). Police also entered
homes without warrants and beat the occupants (see section 1.f.). The government
continued to make payments to victims of torture under the former military
regime. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 2 Civil Liberties: 2 Status: Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/benin [accessed 21 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 11 May
2020] The judiciary is
generally considered to be independent of and respected by the executive
branch. Still, the majority of current Supreme Court judges were appointed
either by Yayi or by the National Assembly when it
was led by a pro-Yayi alliance. The judiciary as a
whole is also considered to be inefficient, susceptible to corruption, and
painfully slow. More than 90 percent of cases for overdue payments are never
resolved in the courts, and there are now more pretrial detainees than
convicts behind bars. Harsh prison conditions aggravate the situation; cells
in Cotonou and Abomey prisons, for example, hold
six times the intended number of inmates. Amnesty International included
Benin in its annual State of the World’s Human Rights report for the first
time in 2008, citing the country’s horrific prison conditions and police
brutality. All
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
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