Human Trafficking in [Benin] [other countries]
Street Children in [Benin] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Benin] [other countries]
 

Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children

Republic of Benin [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Republic of Benin [map] is a West African country bordered by Togo (W), Burkina Faso and Niger (N), Nigeria (E), and by the Bight of Benin (an arm of the Gulf of Guinea) in the south. Porto-Novo is its capital and Cotonou its largest city and chief port. The economy of Benin remains underdeveloped and dependent on subsistence agriculture, cotton production, and regional trade. Benin continues to be hurt by Nigerian trade protection that bans imports of a growing list of products from Benin and elsewhere. As a result, smuggling and criminality along the Benin-Nigeria border has been on the rise.

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text 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.

Quick Search for Missing Children - Select Gender, Country (Benin), and Years Missing

UNICEF - The Big Picture

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

CHILDREN - There were numerous street children, most of whom did not attend school and had limited access to government resources. Some street children became prostitutes to support themselves.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2006 [DOC]

[73] The Committee expresses its concern at the increasing number of children living, working and begging in the streets (the talibés), especially in urban areas, who are also victims of economic and sexual exploitation and at risk of HIV/AIDS infections. The Committee is also concerned at the lack of programmes to address the needs of these children and to protect them.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1999

[29] While recognizing the State party's openness to hosting refugees from neighboring States, the Committee remains concerned at the lack of adequate legal provisions, policies and programs to guarantee and protect the rights of refugee, asylum-seeking and unaccompanied children. The Committee recommends that the State party develop a legislative framework for the protection of refugee, asylum-seeking and unaccompanied children and implement policies and programs to guarantee their adequate access to health, education and social services

Information about Street Children - Benin [DOC]

Factors pushing children onto the streets: low income of families and general poverty of the social sphere; inadequate education and training opportunities (particularly for girls); traditional customs such as forced marriages, polygamy and female genital mutilation; the high number of children per family; the absence of leisure activities in rural areas and the attractions of city life; the high demand for child labor in the informal economy; the total impunity of those who exploit children both economically and sexually, and the difficulty of applying legislation that is either inadequate or non-existent.

Street Children - The Facts

BENIN - An estimated 50,000 are trafficked to nearby countries where they often end up selling goods on the street.

Plan marks Global Campaign for Education Action Week

BENIN - Throughout the week 300 children, aged six to 14 from the Couffo area, in the south of Benin, will make life-size cardboard cut-outs to represent the shadows of their friends who do not go to school and send them to President of the Republic, Mathieu Kerekou.  They will also draw up maps showing the whereabouts of children who are not enrolled in school, and then each community will use the maps as the basis for making an action plan to increase school enrolment.

A Family For Homeless Children In Benin

Benin: a small country (43,500 sq. mi.) with a big population (6 million), 47 per cent of which is under the age of 15. Literacy stagnates at around 60 per cent and 40 per cent of school-age children are not enrolled. Many of these live more and less in the streets. To help deal with the situation, the Comité des Activités en éducation au Bénin (CAEB) has set up a number of homes.

A Belgian Princess Opens A Home For Benin's Street Kids

With a 100-bed dormitory, a dining hall, a library and administrative blocks, street children of Segbeya district and other poor areas of Cotonou now have a place to call home. Children will receive counseling, food and shelter and all efforts will be made to reunify them with their families. Those who can no longer be reunited with their families will receive vocational training to ensure self-sufficiency in their adulthood.

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Human Trafficking in [Benin] [other countries]
Street Children in [Benin] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Benin] [other countries]