UN Committee to review Benin’s record on children’s rights

GENEVA (18 January  2016) – Children’s rights in Benin will be reviewed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 20 January in sessions that will be webcast live. Benin is one of the 196 states that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so is required to undergo regular examinations of its record by the Committee of 18 independent experts.

The CRC members will hold discussions with a delegation from the Benin Government on how the Convention is being implemented.  The Committee will base its evaluation on the delegation’s replies, as well as information from civil society groups.

These are among the possible issues to be discussed: Steps to stop killing of children considered “sorcerer’s children”; registration of births; steps to eliminate discrimination against children with disabilities; increased infant mortality rate; female genital mutilation; underage pregnancy; measures to combat spread of HIV/AIDS; school dropout rates of girls; child labour; steps to combat phenomenon of talibé children begging on streets; reform of juvenile justice system.

The full list of issues and Benin’s submitted written report can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=924&Lang=en

The CRC’s meetings with the Benin delegation will take place in Room XXV at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 10:00 – 18:00. The sessions are public and will be webcast at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.

The CRC will hold a news conference to discuss its findings on Benin and the other countries being reviewed - Senegal, Iran, Oman, Latvia, France, Ireland, Haiti, Peru, Maldives, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Brunei and Kenya – at 12:00 on 4 February at the Palais des Nations. The findings, officially called concluding observations, will be published on 4 February here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=924&Lang=en

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell (+41 (0) 22 917 9466/ +41 79 752 0488 ethrossell@ohchr.org
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