The Republic of Benin is a constitutional democracy. The government is elected through periodic elections held on the basis of universal suffrage. The President can be elected twice to 5-year terms of office. National Assembly members serve an unlimited number of 4-year terms. Candidates for the presidency must be aged 40 to 70. There are 12 political parties and coalitions represented in the unicameral, 83-member National Assembly. Opposition parties hold 18 seats. There are 5 women in the 21-member Cabinet and 6 in the National Assembly. The leader of the largest opposition party is a woman. Minority ethnic groups are represented in government: 19 members represent the Goun-Nago-Yoruba ethnic group, 15 are from the Bariba and 10 from the Somba-Dendi and other smaller groups.

The judiciary is independent in law but not always in practice since the executive branch has important powers over the judiciary. Judicial employees were on strike for 2 months to protest executive interference. The judiciary is reported to be inefficient in some respects and susceptible to corruption.

Discrimination based on race and sex is legally prohibited, but social discrimination against women is endemic.

The country is extremely poor, with an average annual per capita income of US$1,100. The economy's growth rate contracted from 5.5% in 2003 to 3% in 2005. Official corruption is widespread, and reports are made of graft in the privatisation of the state-owned oil company. Police are poorly equipped and trained and are criticised for corruption. Impunity is a problem.
Freedom of speech and of the press are generally respected. No law provides for public access to government information.

The country is a source, transit and destination for trafficked persons, primarily children, for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labour. Approximately 90 to 95% of the children sent to live as servants with wealthier families (a practice called vidomegon) are young girls. Children from poorer families are sent to cities, some have been sent to Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire and the Central African Republic, to help in markets and around the home. The child receives accommodation, while income generated from the child's activities is split between the child's parents and the family raising the child.

Education International began a training programme on HIV/AIDS prevention through education with four affiliated education unions in Benin (SYNEMP, SNEP BENIN, SYNESTP, SYNAPES).

Primary education is compulsory for all children and was intended to be tuition-free for girls. In some parts of the country, girls receive no formal education. Despite the fact that education is legally free, the government has levied tuition costs, and parents are required to pay tuition for both boys and girls because schools have insufficient funds. There is resistance in some areas to provide tuition-free education to girls because of the impact on school budgets.

Initiatives have begun to offer books at reduced prices to promote children's access to primary schools and to enhance the quality and relevance of schooling, but costs are still prohibitive for poor children. Statistics show the nationwide Net Enrolment Rate (NER) in primary school at 83% (93% of boys, 72% of girls). The NER for secondary school is 26% of boys and 18% of girls. The female literacy rate is approximately 18%, while male literacy is 50%. School pass rates for girls have shown some improvement.

A private 2-year ECE programme begins at age 3. The Net Enrolment Rate (NER) is 27%. At this level there are 222 teachers, of whom 99% are women and only 7% are trained. The pupil/teacher ratio (PTR) is 17 : 1.

Primary education is compulsory for ages 6 to 11. The NER is 83%. 11% of primary education is private. 25,583 teachers, of whom 19% are women, work at this level. 72% of primary teachers are trained, and the PTR is very high at 52 : 1.

A 7-year secondary education programme starts at age 12. 18% of secondary education is provided privately, and 33% of students are girls. In lower secondary, 3% of students are in technical vocational education, rising to 29% of upper secondary students. The Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) at this level is 26% (only 18% female). 23% of students repeat a grade level. 12,205 teachers work in secondary schools, with a PTR of 30 : 1 in lower secondary and 22 : 1 in upper secondary. Women account for 12% of secondary teachers, 10% in lower secondary and 16% in upper secondary.

The only statistical information provided for tertiary education is that 3,213 students study abroad, mainly in France (2,250), Germany (188), USA (168), Morocco (155) and Canada (132).

Persons with disabilities are disadvantaged. The Constitution provides that the state should care for persons with disabilities. But the government operates few institutions to assist persons with disabilities, and many disabled individuals are forced to beg to support themselves. Traditional practices include the killing of deformed babies, breech babies and one of any newborn twins. In some rural areas, persons with disabilities are thought to be sorcerers, though these practices are decreasing because of widespread NGO media campaigns. Little special education is available.

The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees. The UNHCR estimates that over 5,000 refugees of various nationalities are in the country. Togolese citizens were granted refugee status. Despite severe economic pressures limiting the government's ability to provide education for children, it allows Togolese children to be enrolled in local schools.

No information is provided on minority education.

Reports do not indicate that the government restricts academic freedom. Internet access, for those who can afford it, is not limited. However, activities at the University of Abomey Calavi are monitored, raising questions about academic freedom. When university students demonstrated against tuition increases, police forcibly dispersed the demonstrators and arrested the leaders. The university was subsequently closed. The demonstration had begun with the death of a student in an accident with a university bus, but it became violent when students discovered an undercover police officer had infiltrated their group. After the university was re-opened, it was closed again by a nationwide teachers' strike.

Women have legal equality in the political, economic and social spheres, but they experience social discrimination. In rural areas women are subordinate and responsible for much of the hard labour on subsistence farms. Women dominate the trading sector in markets. Legislation has improved women's inheritance and property rights and has prohibited forced marriage and polygyny.

Domestic violence is common. Women remain reluctant to bring charges, and judges and police prefer not to intervene in what they consider family matters. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is practised on females from infancy to age 30. FGM is illegal, and penalties are imposed for performing the procedure. But there is a profit motive in the practice of FGM by older women. Infanticide remains a problem. Commercial sexual exploitation of women and children continues. Some young girls living on the street support themselves through prostitution.

Child labour, including forced and compulsory child labour, is a huge problem. Hundreds of children are trafficked within the country and to neighbouring countries to work as domestic servants, prostitutes or labourers in quarries or farms. Some are trafficked with the consent of their families, but some are kidnapped.

Four forms of trafficking are acknowledged to occur in the country: Trafic don occurs when children are given to a migrant family member or stranger, who turns them over to another stranger for vocational training or education. Trafic gage is a form of indentured servitude where the cost of transporting the child has to be paid off before the child can return home. Trafic ouvrier involves children aged 6 to 12 who work as artisans, construction, agricultural or domestic workers; this is said to amount to 75% of the total traffic. Trafic vente is the outright sale of children. Some 8% of the rural child population aged 6 to 16 are said to work abroad, mainly in the mines of Nigeria, on plantations in Cote d'Ivoire or as domestic workers in Gabon. Some villages report up to 51% of children are trafficked away.

Reports continue to surface that children are abused sexually by teachers. Sexual tourism has been growing, with men seeking young girls who are seen as less likely to have HIV/AIDS. A majority of children working as apprentices are under the legal apprenticeship age of 14.

Workers have the right to organise and join trade unions. Most of the labour force works in subsistence agriculture, with only a small percentage of the population engaged in the formal sector. 75% of wage earners are union members. Collective bargaining is practised, and wages in the private sector are set through negotiations. Public sector wages are set by law and regulation.

Strikes are permitted but can be declared illegal if perceived to threaten social peace. Striking workers must maintain minimum services. Teachers' strikes closed schools from the primary through university levels. In January 2005 the government agreed to a 7% pay increase, and teachers returned to work, ending a nationwide strike that began in August 2004. The 2004-05 school year was not invalidated.

The government raised the minimum wage to approximately US$50 (25,000 CFA francs) per month. This does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Workers supplement their wages by subsistence farming or informal-sector trade. Workers in the wage sector earn more than the minimum wage, although many domestics and other informal sector labourers earn less. A work week of 40 to 46 hours is legislated, but not for everyone, and it is not always respected.