Constitutional Court, 11 January 2001, Decision No. DCC 01-009
Constitution of the Republic of Benin
Preamble
(…) We proclaim our adherence to the principles of democracy and Human Rights as defined in the 1945 Charter of the United Nations and in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which was adopted in 1981 by the Organization of African Unity and ratified by Benin on 20 January 1986, and whose provisions form an integral part of the present Constitution and of Benin law and have a higher authority than domestic law; (…)
Article 7
The rights and duties proclaimed and guaranteed by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which was adopted by the Organization of African Unity in 1981 and ratified by Benin on 20 January 1986, form an integral part of the present Constitution and of Benin law.
Article 147
Treaties or agreements which have been ratified by the established procedure shall, upon their publication, have a higher authority than the laws, provided that each agreement or treaty is applied by the other party.
Benin
Reference to international law to strengthen a decision based on domestic law
Ratified treaty1
Wrongful detention and inhuman and degrading treatment/ Action before the Constitutional Court for violation of the Constitution/ Reference to international law to strengthen a decision based on domestic law
A citizen of Benin had been imprisoned without cause and then deprived of water, food and visits for four days. He affirmed that he had been beaten by his co-detainees and had received insults and death threats from the superintendent who had gaoled him. He brought the matter before the Benin Constitutional Court to have these acts declared unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court referred to the relevant articles of the Constitution; it found that Article 182 of the Constitution had been violated and referred to Article 53 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to underline the serious nature of this violation.
“Whereas it transpires from analysis of the elements of the case that the plaintiff was taken into custody with malice aforethought; that the deliberate nature of this improper and arbitrary detention was the result of the acknowledged intention of the Police Superintendent (…) to “deprive him of his liberty in order to correct him”; that, consequently, despite the denials of the Superintendent, the conditions in which the applicant was arrested and taken into custody constitute inhuman and degrading treatment within the meaning of Article 18 of the Constitution and Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
On these grounds the Constitutional Court of Benin ruled that the acts of the Police Superintendent constituted a violation of the Constitution and of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
1 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981.
2 Article 18 of the Constitution of Benin: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to ill-treatment or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. No one shall have the right to prevent a detainee or accused person from undergoing an examination by a physician of his choice. No one shall be detained in a penal institution unless he falls within the scope of a penal law in force. No one shall be detained for a term of more than 48 hours unless the creed by the decision of a magistrate, to whom he must be presented. This term may only be extended in exceptional cases provided by law and must not exceed a period of more than eight days.”
3 Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: “Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation and degradation of man, particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited.”
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