Prostitution in Benin is legal but related activities such as prostitution and profit from the prostitution of others are illegal. UNAIDS estimates there are about 15,000 prostitutes in the country. Most of them are migrants from neighboring countries, especially Nigeria, Togo and Ghana. Only 15% of prostitutes are Beninese. Prostitution takes place on the streets, in bars, restaurants, hotels, and brothels. With the advent of smartphones, many prostitutes use the app to make arrangements with clients.
Many women enter prostitution for economic reasons. Some young Beninese women learn English so they can go to Nigeria to work as prostitutes because Nigeria has a thriving sex industry.
In rural areas, widows will secretly turn to prostitution to support their families. It is a cultural and social tradition that is not regarded as prostitution by society, but is considered a method of preservation of a surname. Every child born of this liaison takes the name of the deceased husband. Not infrequently a widow has five children after her husband died.
HIV, sex trafficking and child sex tourism are a problem in this country.
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Sexual health
Like other sub-Saharan African countries, HIV is a problem. Sex workers are among the high-risk groups. Clients often become warriors and truck drivers. Because of their journey, if they are infected, they have the potential to spread the infection to a large area.
In 1992, a preventive project, supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), was implemented among the largest sex workers in the city, Cotonou. It sees condoms using increases and HIV among sex workers fell from 53.3% in 1993 to 30.4% in 2008. Other STI prevalence also fell significantly in the same period: gonorrhea 43.2 to 6.4% and chlamydia 9.4 to 2.8%.
NGOs, Center d'Etudes, de Recherches et d'Interventions pour le DÃ © contrement (CERID), providing sex workers with free medical care and counseling. UNAIDS reports in 2016 that the prevalence of HIV among sex workers in the country is 15.7%.
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Sex trading
Benin is a source, transit, and destination country for women, children who are victims of the sex trade. Most of the victims identified were Beninese girls who were victims of the sex trade in Cotonou and in the southern corridor of Benin. Togo girl exploited in commercial sex in Benin. Child sex tourism cases involving boys and girls along the coast and within the Mono department have been reported in previous years. A 2016 survey conducted in Cotonou cities in southern Benin and Malanville in northern Benin shows that girls experience sexual exploitation, including potential sex trade, in these two cities. The Oueme department in southeastern Benin is reported as the main area of ​​recruitment for child trafficking victims who are later exploited in the Republic of Congo. Most of the child victims arrested in Benin, either from Benin or other West African countries, are exploited or are on their way to domestic exploitation. Benin is the largest source country for victims of trafficking in the Republic of Congo; Benei victims are also victims of trafficking in Nigeria, Gabon, and Lebanon. Women of West Africa are exploited in commercial sex in Benin. Beninese young women recruited from Benin by unlicensed Beninese and Lebanese recruiters for domestic work in Lebanon and Kuwait; reportedly, some were forced into commercial sex. OCPM reports that traders no longer travel with child victims who are internally transferred or to a nearby country. The victim is now traveling alone and is full of traders or accomplices once they reach their destination. This tactic makes investigation more difficult.
The existing law does not prohibit all forms of trade. The 2006 Law Related to Underage Transport and Child Trafficking (Law 2006-04) criminalizes child trafficking but focuses on the movement of children rather than their primary exploitation and sets a sentence of six months to two years in jail or a fine if children are transferred for the purpose of labor exploitation; This punishment is not strict enough. The criminal law prohibits procurement or offers a person for prostitution and facilitation of prostitution with imprisonment of six months to two years. None of these penalties are sufficiently restrictive or commensurate with the penalties prescribed for other serious crimes. A comprehensive anti-trafficking law that will criminalize all forms of trade, including adult trade, has been awaiting MOJ review since September 2012.
Department of the United States Office of Affairs to Monitor and Combat Trafficking People ranked Benin as a 'Tier List Watch List'.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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