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National law and policies on minimum ages – Benin

 

According to the CRC, laws and policies must be directed to the best interest of the child. This is especially so in provisions that aim to safeguard the child against exploitation or an early end to childhood, i.e. in the instances where children are most vulnerable and at risk. Yet such safeguards are often ignored and different areas of legislation found to clash with each other. What happens if the age for the end of compulsory education is 14 but the minimum age of employment is 12? Or vice versa? What if a girl can be married before school leaving age - will she then return to school? And who ensures schooling in prisons, when in reality education should protect children from incarceration?

 

 

 

 

With 192 parties to it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified UN treaty. Each State Party must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which uses this process to monitor State compliance with the treaty. The vast majority of the information on minimum ages presented on these pages is taken directly from such reports (occasionally, if these failed to include relevant information concerning minimum ages, other components of the reporting process - such as the Committee’s Concluding Observations - were consulted). States Parties’ reports constitute self-assessment by governments and are therefore authoritative sources, emanating directly from those empowered to make decisions. Using this type of sources also permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC. The sections of these reports have been reproduced faithfully, and readers are encouraged to make use of the full original text, available here.

 

Individual country reports are often written by diverse parts of the government, and frequently run to more than 100 pages. Moreover, within some states’ legal systems there are various recognised sources of law, which frequently generate conflicting minimum ages. Distilling precise numbers out of such documents is therefore a precarious task. While we would encourage cross-country comparison, we would also stress the danger that those countries with a more honest engagement with the reporting process might come off worse when compared with those which would mis-represent the degree of compliance, whether wilfully or not. For a full explanation of the principles that guided us in our analysis, please visit the introductory pages here.

Sources:

Concluding Observations: CRC/C/BEN/CO/2, 20 October 2006
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/BEN/2, 24 November 2005
Initial report: CRC/C/3/Add. 52, 4 July 1997
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
From 2nd report
486. In primary and secondary education, the picture is as follows. The official age of admission to primary school is still 6. Primary schooling lasts six years.
510. […] No upper age limit is specified for enrolling a child in school.
474. […] At the present time, education is not free for all children in Benin, despite some progress in this area. Girls have access to free education in rural areas, a measure now being extended nationally to all children irrespective of gender.
From initial report
49. Under article 13 of the Constitution of 11 December 1990, primary education is compulsory, and the State makes education for youth available by establishing schools, in which it is progressively introducing free tuition. The age for school attendance is six to seven years for the first and second years of schooling, and seven to eight years in cases of late admission in rural areas. 
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
From 2nd report
214. The minimum age for employment is 14, under the Labour Code [Article 166]. For dangerous work, it is set at 18, in accordance with the provisions of inter-ministerial order No. 132/MFPTRA/MSP/DC/SGM/DT/SST of 7 November 2000, which specified the categories of work and workplaces forbidden to pregnant women and children, and the corresponding age restrictions.
From initial report
48. In Benin, articles 107 and 108 of Ordinance No. 33-PR/MFPTT (Labour Code), dated 28 September 1967 prohibit the employment of a child under 14 years of age in any enterprise (even as an apprentice)   and authorize labour inspectors, either on their own initiative or at the request of the child concerned, to call on the services of an approved physician to determine whether the work assigned to a child exceeds his strength. 
 
Minimum age for marriage
From 2nd report
194. Under the Civil Code, the minimum legal age for marriage is 18 for boys and 15 for girls (art. 140).
From initial report
51. Article 144 of the Civil Code stipulates that no man under age 18 and no woman under 15 may enter into marriage. Circular AP No. 128, dated 19 March 1931, containing the Dahomey Code of Customary Law, which is still in force on this subject for persons who have not opted for coverage by statute legislation, states that the age of marriage is 18 to 20 years for a boy and 14 to 15 years for a girl (art. 57). In practice this rule is not complied with on account, firstly, of the wide range of existing legal customs in the field of marriage, and secondly, on account of factors affecting the will of the future spouses, namely the fact that in traditional law and in rural areas marriage is an act entered into, not by two persons but by two families, and that consequently the wishes of the father exercising parental authority have a considerable impact on the conclusion of a marriage.
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
From concluding observations
75. […] the Committee regrets the lack of a minimum age for criminal responsibility.
76. […] the Committee recommends in particular that the State party: […] Urgently establish an age for criminal responsibility at an internationally acceptable level […]
From 2nd report
201. As for children’s criminal responsibility, the 1969 ordinance mentioned above deals with proceedings against minors in conflict with the law. The legislation distinguishes between minors under 13 years of age, who may not be detained, and minors aged above 13, who can be placed in pretrial detention.
From initial report
56. Minors under age 18 charged with an offence are tried before a juvenile court, which is a court of special jurisdiction. Under criminal law majority is attained at age 18. No penalty may be inflicted on a minor under age 13, who benefits from an unchallengeable presumption of irresponsibility in criminal law (absolute legal irresponsibility in criminal law).
205. A minor under age 13 who commits an offence can only be subjected to supervision, surveillance or re-education measures. He may not be subjected to any penal sanction (art. 23 of Ordinance 69-23 of 10 July 1969).
 
Sources:
Concluding Observations: CRC/C/BEN/CO/2, 20 October 2006
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/BEN/2, 24 November 2005
Initial report: CRC/C/3/Add. 52, 4 July 1997