CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE __________________________________________________________________________ to health, Benin has put in place a vaccination programme, and has taken responsibility for orphans who are victims of HIV/AIDS and the education of girls and handicapped children (see Chapter Six on socioeconomic development). 308. The CRM notes, in the light of all the measures and provisions mentioned, that some progress has been made by Benin to promote the welfare of children by guaranteeing them better legal protection. Some relevant national laws that conform to the principles and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of he Child have been adopted. Thanks to the support of international organisations and NGOs, the country mobilised itself to fight child trafficking and child labour. It has also tried to sensitise the population about violence perpetrated against children, about the role of the BPM, and about the children’s judge. 309. The CRM observed – in discussions with stakeholders, participants at workshops organised in the prefectures visited, members of NGOs and in newspaper articles – that, despite all these efforts, Benin’s children still face serious problems. These include failure to register births, malnutrition, education, the socioeconomic environment, work at an early age, trafficking, health, sexual exploitation, and others. 310. The CRM noted that legislative and institutional provisions are still incomplete. The legal provisions aimed at guaranteeing better legal protection for children are inadequate. The Code of the Child has still not seen the light of day, nor has the revision of the Penal Code and the Penal Procedure Code. In addition, the fact that the declaration of births is not automatic or widespread in the country means that not all children have birth certificates. Furthermore, those who do not register their newborn babies do not run the risk of being punished. Moreover, there are neither control mechanisms nor structures for registering children at birth in remote areas. This situation perpetuates forbidden practices such as ritual murders perpetrated against children accused of being wizards or witches19. It also gives rise to faked identity papers and numerous other abuses, particularly those that involve falsifying the ages of children for the purpose of work or marriage. 311. At the institutional level, the main weaknesses come from inadequate structures and material and personal resources made available to the departments concerned. The MFE, in particular, suffers from a lack of staff and adequate monetary resources. Moreover, monitoring of projects is relatively weak and the actions envisaged are not sustainable. 312. With regard to education, free primary education, particularly for girls, seems to be a myth. Stakeholders have observed that measures taken to offer free education have not been accompanied by support measures like the provision of school stationery, school uniforms, transport, and accommodation in the community centres that guarantee the control and supervision of rural children. 19 Some regions in Benin that have strong animist traditions still consider some children as ‘witches’. According to this tradition, children born with an anomaly – i.e. whose mothers die through childbirth, who are delivered by breach, whose first teeth cut through the upper jaw, who are born prematurely, or who do not cry at birth – are almost always condemned to death. 121