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The Association of Young Lawyers of Benin (AJJB), with the technical and financial support of Ipas Francophone Africa, continues its campaign for the protection of women’s sexual and reproductive health rights. He organized this Saturday, December 10, 2022, for the benefit of the young students of the municipality of Bohicon, an awareness seminar on the Beninese legal framework relating to these rights. He was in the blue room of the Miracle hotel residence in Bohicon.
After the Cotonou stop on 7 December, the Association of Young Lawyers of Benin (AJJB) continues the tour to better inform and strengthen the skills of young students on the legal framework of sexual and reproductive health rights. Also in this case about forty young people from the locality were selected. In line with one of the Association’s missions, in this case the dissemination of laws, this initiative aims to be, according to its president Adam Issiakou, a framework for reflection and action by lawyers for the promotion of the rule of law and democracy .
As in Cotonou, participants from different locations in the Zou department were interviewed through two communications. The first, on the theme “AJJB facing the challenge of the new laws on sexual and reproductive health rights in Benin”, was moderated by the president of the association himself. She helped enlighten participants to Benin’s entire legal arsenal in terms of sexual and reproductive health rights. These include Law No. 2003-04 of 3 March 2003 relating to sexual health and reproduction, the law n. 2021-12 which amends and integrates the law n. 2021-11 of 20 December 2021 containing special provisions for the repression of crimes committed on the basis of people’s gender and the protection of women in the Republic of Benin.
The second, presented by Dr. Raphaël Totongnon, was held around the theme “Legal framework for sexual and reproductive health in Benin: content and scope”. In his development, the communicator did not fail to cite practical cases that testify to the choice of the State to strengthen the protection of women’s rights in terms of state sexual and reproductive health. This by placing a point of attention on the one hand on the international commitments sanctioned by the ratification of numerous charters and on the other on national choices with the adoption of laws relating to women’s rights, as well as on the socio-cultural factors that explain the legalization of safe abortion in Benin;
These various communications are not intended to encourage the beneficiaries of the program to have an abortion, but to make them ambassadors of IPAS in their respective communities, Martial Zannou, communications officer of the AJJB, invites each other to “announce the good news” to save lives of mothers and girls who practice clandestine abortions.
Please note that all participants in this awareness seminar have received their mission statement. A certificate that puts an end to this program, pending the Porto-Novo stage.
We recall that Ipas is an international organization that operates in the field of health and rights in sexual and reproductive health (SRHR), intervening since 2002 in 12 French-speaking countries in Africa, including Benin.
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