Fourth 71.8 18.3 90.1 2,747 The Highest 79.8 15.7 95.4 2,596 Complex 61.6 18.6 80.2 14,162 Source: DHSB-IV Benin 2011-2012 86 It appears in this table that for eight out of ten under five children, births have been registered to the civil center, and 62% own birth certificates. In contrast, 19% do not. The ratio of children whose births have been registered does not vary practically following their age or gender. 87 Conversely, children whose births have been registered to the civil center are proportionally less numerous in the rural than urban area (76% versus 87%). At the departmental level, children's births in Alibori with a ratio of only four out of ten children (42 %) are the less declared to the civil center whereas more than nine out of ten births in the Littoral and Mono (respectively 95% and 91%) have been declared. In other departments, percentages vary between 67% in Borgou to 89% in Ouémé and Atlantique. Finally, it can be noticed that the ratio of registered births is all the more high that the level of the household economic welfare increases, going from 61% for children from the lowest economic welfare quintile households up to 95% for those of the highest quintile households. 88 The MICS 2015 reveals that the percentage of under five children whose births have been reported as registered are 88.8 of value. 89 Among the measures taken by Benin to facilitate birth registration, one can mention the RAVEC project. Indeed, the Government has initiated the Civil Status-oriented Administrative Census (RAVEC) whose main objective has been to help any citizen to own their birth certificate. The operation has been launched on 10 October 2006 to solve the civil status issue for three million Beninese citizens. The project's target is not children specifically, but it concerns also people reaching 15 years. It appears as a real opportunity for a sustainable solution to civil status issues of which an important part of the Beninese population is facing for decades. In 2011, the results obtained appear as follows: 69 out of the 77 Beninese communes are covered by the operation. About 2,101,402 claimants of which 65,000 children in examination classes without birth certificates have received them freely or 88% of Beninese without birth certificate are identified. However, during the operation, the project initiators faced some difficulties such as notably the delays in delivering birth certificates to claimants. In 2015, a major part of the Beninese population does not own yet all civil status documents. The civil status forum was held in 2012 after the creation of the National Civil Status Directorate (Ministry of the Interior). In this regard, strengthening mechanisms of birth registration system notably at the level of communes are planned. 90 91 92 93 c. 94 Freedom of Expression (Art.7 ACRWC): In Benin, freedom of expression is first guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic in its Article 23. This provision is also strengthened by Article 9, Paragraph 2 of the

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