Paragraph 132, page 52:
Any agreement for the purpose of enslaving another person, placing him in servile status or in slavery is of course illegal or in violation of public order and consequently subject to the provisions of the Civil Code, which renders it null and void.
Paragraph 135:
Any person who places or receives another person in pledge, for whatever reason, is liable to a term of imprisonment of not less than one month or more than two years and a fine of from 2400 to 24000 francs, or to one or the other of those penalties. The prison sentence may be extended to five years if the person placed or received in pledge is under fifteen years of age. Persons guilty of those offences may also, in all cases, be deprived of the rights mentioned in article 42 of the Penal Code for a period of not less than five and not more than ten years.
Paragraph 136:
In addition, any attacks on the human person such as coercion, violence, assault and battery, deliberate injury, mutilation or even mere threats, etc., are criminal offences under the Penal Code.
Article 15
Each individual has the right to life, liberty, security and the integrity of his person.
Article 25
The State shall recognize and guarantee, under conditions fixed by law, the freedom to go and come, the freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration.
Article 30
The State shall recognize for all citizens the right to work and shall strive to create conditions which shall make the enjoyment of this right effective and shall guarantee to the worker just compensation for his services or for his production.
Constitution of the Republic of Benin 1990 (PDF)
Articles 330 to 340:
Deal with acts of sexual violence committed against women and children below the age of 15, as well as with adultery.
Articles 334 and 335:
Punish habitual incitement of a minor to debauchery, recruiting or abducting a minor or a woman and keeping them in a house of debauchery, forcing a woman or young girl into prostitution, keeping a clandestine house of prostitution, serving as an intermediary between persons engaging in prostitution or debauchery, and persons exploiting the prostitution and debauchery of others. The same applies to any gain or subsidy deriving from the prostitution of others or from cohabitation with a person engaging in prostitution and to habitual toleration of prostitution in a public place. The perpetrator of such acts, who has incited, encouraged or facilitated the offence or has attempted to incite, encourage or facilitate prostitution or exploitation of women and girls, is punished by six months to three years’ imprisonment as well as a fine of 18 000 to 1 800 000 francs. A heavier penalty is imposed if the perpetrator is the victim’s father, mother, guardian or direct ascendant. It is then raised to three to five years’ imprisonment plus a fine of 18 000 to 1 800 000 francs, and is accompanied by loss of parental authority where the perpetrator is the father or mother. The same penalties are applied where the perpetrator is a person having authority over the victim, her teacher, a paid servant of the victim or of the persons designated above, a public official or a minister of religion.
Articles 330 to 333
Provide for the punishment of any immoral act committed with or without the use of violence against a minor of either sex aged under 13. The penalty for this offence is imprisonment.
Article 499
The recruitment, transport, transfer, accommodation, reception of persons, by the threat of recourse or the use of force or other forms of coercion, by kidnapping, fraud, deception, abuse of authority or a situation of vulnerability, or through and the acceptance of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having authority over another, for the purposes of exploitation constitutes an act of trafficking in persons.
Exploitation includes at least the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or organ removal.
The consent of a victim of human trafficking to exploitation envisaged in paragraph 2 of this article is irrelevant where one any of the means set forth in the first paragraph of this article has been used.
The use by a parent or a guardian the services of a child under 14 years of age for lucrative purposes also constitutes a form of exploitation.
Article 500
Also constitutes an act of child trafficking the purpose of which is to dispose of the property, either free of charge or for a fee the freedom or the person of a child.
Article 501: Trafficking in Persons shall be punished by criminal imprisonment time from ten (10) years to (20) years.
Trafficking in persons is punishable by life imprisonment when it has resulted or is aimed at the removal of organs.
Article 502
Anyone who has entered into an agreement in the Republic of Benin for the purpose of alienating the freedom of a third person for a consideration, is punished by life imprisonment.
Money, goods and other objects or values received in execution of the agreement or as a deposit of a convention to intervene, are confiscated.
Article 503
Is punished with the same penalty the act of introducing, or attempting introduce in the Republic of Benin, individuals destined to be the subject of the practice mentioned in the previous article or to remove or attempt to remove individuals from the Republic of Benin in view of such an agreement to be entered into abroad.
Article 504
Legal persons for whose benefit or account an offense of trafficking in persons, sale of children, prostitution of children, child pornography or any of the offenses set out in this section has been committed by one of its agents or representatives, are punishable by a fine of five million (5,000,000) to one hundred million (100,000,000) CFA francs without prejudice to the award of damages. Legal persons may, in addition, be sentenced to one or several of the following sentences:
1- exclusion of public contracts, definitively or for a period of five (05) years at most;
2- the confiscation of the property that was used to commit or was intended to commit the offense or the property that is the product of the offense;
3- placement under judicial supervision for a maximum of five (05) years;
4- the prohibition, definitively, or for a period of five (05) years at the most, to exercise directly or indirectly one or more professional or social activities where the offense was committed;
5- the definitive closure or for a period of five (05) years at the most, establishments or one of the establishments used to commit the incriminated facts;
6- the dissolution, when they were created to commit the incriminated facts;
7- the posting of the decision pronounced or the diffusion of this one by the written press or by any means of audiovisual communication, at the expense of the affected legal person
Penal Code 2018 (PDF)
Article 4
Exploitation comprises, without this enumeration being limiting: -All forms of slavery or analogous practices
Article 7
No child can be moved within the country, separated from their biological parents or the person having authority over him, without a special permit issued by the administrative authority competent in his place of residence unless the court or if specifically recommended by social services and health services. The procedures for issuing this authorization is determined by decree of the Council of Ministers.
Article 16
The parent who knowingly transported and / or handed her child to the trafficking of it or who helped in one way whatever the trafficker is liable to imprisonment for six (06) months to five (05) years.
Article 17
Anyone who has moved, or tried to move accompanied a child to a destination in the Republic of Benin outside the residence of his father and / or mother or the person who authority over him, without completing the paperwork required is punished imprisonment for one (01) year three (03) years and a fine of fifty thousand (50,000) francs rnille five hundred (500,000) francs.
Article 18
Anyone who has moved, or tried to move together outside the territory of the Republic of Benin, a child other than his own or a child which he has authority without completing the formalities administrative provisions shall be punished by imprisonment for two (02) years five (05) years and a fine of five hundred thousand (500,000) francs to two million five hundred thousand (2,500,000) francs.
Article 21
Anyone who has engaged in trafficking is punishable by imprisonment time of ten (10) to twenty (20) years. In all cases where child trafficking has occurred with use of a means listed in
Article 23 of this Act or when the victim has been submitted to any of the acts mentioned in Article 24 below, or the offenders are punishable by life imprisonment. The culprit is punished by imprisonment in life, if the child has not been found before delivery of the conviction or has been found dead.
Article 22
Whoever knowingly uses in the Republic of Benin, labor of a child from child trafficking, regardless the nature of the work, shall be punished by a fine of five hundred thousand (500,000) francs to five million (5,000,000) francs and imprisonment for six (06) months to twenty-four (24) months or one of these penalties."
Article 3:
Forced labour is absolutely forbidden. Forced labour is a work or service required from an individual under menace of any punishment and for which he did not offer himself freely.
Article 303
Shall be punished by a fine of FCFA 140,000 to 350,000 and imprisonment for two months to a year, or one of these penalties: a) offenders with the provisions of Article 3 on the prohibition of forced labor.
Article 3 Forced Marriage
All marriages or concubinages contracted or decided without the free and informed consent of the two parties concerned.
Article 31
Any person who is guilty or complicit in a forced marriage or arranged or forced a concubinage, as defined in article 3 of the present law is punished by imprisonment from 1-3 years and a fine of 500,000 francs to 2,000,000 francs.