Benin
The Constitution of the Republic of Benin does not explicitly guarantee the right to adequate food.
The Republic of Benin has become a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1992 by way of accession. It has signed the Optional Protocol (OP-ICESCR) in 2013, but has not ratified it yet.
CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITIONS OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD
National status of international obligations
Article 7 : "The rights and duties proclaimed and guaranteed by the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights adopted in 1981 by the Organization of African Unity and ratified by Bénin on January 20, 1986 shall be an integral part of the present Constitution and of Béninese law."
Other pertinent provisions for the realization of the right to adequate food
Article 9.: "Every human being has a right to the development and full expansion of his person in his material, temporal and intellectual dimensions, provided that he does not violate the rights of others nor infringe upon constitutional order and good manners."
Article 40 : "The State has the duty to assure the diffusion and the teaching of the Constitution, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights of 1981 as well as all of the international instruments duly ratified and relative to Human Rights. The State must integrate the rights of the individual into the programs of literacy and of teaching in the various scholastic and university academic cycles and into all the educational programs of the Armed Forces, of the Public Security Forces and of comparable categories. The State must equally assure the diffusion and teaching of these same rights in the national languages by all the means of mass communication, and particularly by radio and television."
INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) – 1966
Status: Accession (1992)
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) – 1979
Status: Ratification (1992)
Legislation and policies recognizing the right to adequate food
Considering that the human right to adequate food can be implemented through a variety of legal and policy actions, we invite you to visit the FAOLEX Country Profile database for a wide-ranging collection of measures that have been taken at national level. Some of the documents you may find are legislation and policies that touch on a number of relevant Guidelines, such as those on Access to resources and assets (Guideline 8), Food safety and consumer protection (Guideline 9), Support for vulnerable groups (Guideline 13) and Natural and human-made disasters (Guideline 16).
