A/HRC/22/9 Benin planned to extend free schooling to the secondary cycle and further reduce the illiteracy rate to get rid of certain stereotypes. 55. Mexico noted the strengthening of legal instruments aimed at preventing and punishing violence against women, as well as the national policy for the promotion of gender equality. It recognized Benin’s recent accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. It made recommendations. 56. The delegation of Benin highlighted that, following the adoption of the Child Trafficking Act, implementing decrees had been adopted to combat child trafficking, and awareness-raising campaigns had been conducted by the Ministry of Family Affairs, NGOs and technical and financial partners. Awareness-raising activities had also been organized for judges to ensure that the crime was severely punished. The delegation reported that 5,430 children, 80 per cent of them girls, had been given physical protection and psychological support in 2010. There were also local committees to combat child trafficking, and surveillance brigades to combat child trafficking had been set up in border towns. 57. The delegation said that the other measure to combat child trafficking internally was birth registration. To that end, more than 2 million birth certificates had been issued since 2008 as part of the large-scale Civil Status Census (RAVEC). In order to avoid forgery, the Beninese Government was working on computerizing the civil registration system. 58. In addition, the delegation noted that, in its plan of action for 2012–2013, the Government had set out its intention to increase efforts to prosecute and convict human traffickers; to finalize and promulgate the act criminalizing all forms of trafficking in persons; to improve the collection of data on application of the act; to train police officers to identify victims of trafficking among the public; and to increase efforts to raise public awareness of issues related to human trafficking. 59. The delegation recalled that regulations prohibited corporal punishment in school and family environments, and that the perpetrators of such acts were prosecuted. 60. With regard to the acts of torture observed in police stations and gendarmeries, the delegation recalled that the legal provisions in force in Benin prohibited the use of torture in all procedures. The perpetrators of proven acts of torture or other ill-treatment that had been inflicted during a judicial investigation were prosecuted and subject to criminal and disciplinary sanctions. Recent decisions by the Constitutional Court had established that acts of torture had been committed by members of the police and gendarmerie. In addition, the delegation indicated that the inspection of places of preventive detention should soon be formalized following the establishment of the national mechanism for the prevention of torture prescribed by the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. The act establishing the mechanism had been adopted, but a number of details remained to be clarified in relation to its functioning, in particular the promulgation of the new Code of Criminal Procedure and the adoption of its implementing decrees. 61. The delegation recalled, in respect of the particular case of violence against “witch children” in certain regions of the country, that a national forum on the issue had been held, resulting in specific proposals aimed at effectively combating the phenomenon. The delegation also noted that awareness-raising sessions had been organized in the regions concerned with a view to ensuring better protection of the right to life. 62. With regard to measures taken to combat female genital mutilation, the delegation noted that the legislation in force in Benin punished all forms of female genital mutilation. However, in order to effectively combat the pockets of resistance that remained in certain regions of the country, information and awareness-raising sessions were regularly organized by State bodies and civil society in order to better protect girls’ health. GE.12-18655 9