GENEVA (7 November 2017) – Benin’s human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time on Friday, 10 November 2017 in a meeting that will be webcast live.

Benin is one of the 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session taking place from 6 to 17 November.  Benin’s first and second UPR reviews took place in May 2008 and October 2012, respectively.

The documents on which the reviews are based are: 1) national report - information provided by the State under review; 2) information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities; 3) information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.

Among the issues raised in the above-mentioned documents are: setting up the Beninese Human Rights Commission in line with the Paris Principles; the abolition of the death penalty; combatting mob violence and extrajudicial killings; improving prison conditions and reducing overcrowding; guaranteeing the freedom of expression and assembly; ensuring equal social, political and economic rights for men and women; combatting the sale, trafficking and economic and sexual exploitation of children, including the practice of vidomégon; fighting poverty and malnutrition; providing free and equal access to quality education and health care, especially in rural areas; facilitating the issuance of birth certificates; combatting homophobia and decriminalizing homosexual conduct; and ending harmful practices against women and children, including forced and early marriages, polygamy, female genital mutilation, and ritual killings.

The three reports serving as the basis for the review of Benin on 10 November can be found here.

Location: Room 20, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Time and date: 9.00 – 12.30, Friday, 10 November (Geneva time, GMT +1 hour)

The UPR is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States.  Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member States have been reviewed twice within the first and second UPR cycles.  During the third UPR cycle, States are again expected to spell out steps they have taken to implement recommendations posed during their previous reviews which they committed to follow-up on, as well as to highlight recent human rights developments in the country.

The delegation of the Benin will be headed by Mr. Joseph Fifamin Djogbenou, Keeper of Seals, Minister of Justice and Legislation.

The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Benin are: Ethiopia, the United States of America and Panama.

The webcast of the session will be at http://webtv.un.org

The list of speakers and all available statements to be delivered during the review of the Benin will be posted on the UPR Extranet at the following link.

The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Benin at 17.30 on 14 November.  The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review.  The recommendations will be shared with the media on this day in advance.   

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Rolando Gómez at +41 (0) 22 917 9711 /  rgomez@ohchr.org , Sarah Lubbersen at +41 (0) 22 917 9689 / slubbersen@ohchr.org or Cédric Sapey at +41 (0) 22 917 9751 / csapey@ohchr.org

To learn more about the Universal Periodic Review, visit: www.ohchr.org/hrc/upr

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