Briefing Paper

A Survey of Crime Victims in Benin

“This victim survey raises a number of issues about crime control strategies in the country. The government should improve its crime-fighting strategies, in both rural and
urban areas in order to ensure the security of citizens. Such measures should go hand in hand with the formulation of socio economic upliftment policies. The country’s urbanisation rate averages about 2% per annum and this slow pace implies more challenges for policing rural areas, as well as for bringing justice institutions closer to the rural citizens. Law enforcement agents need to increase their presence in
all provinces, especially in the rural provinces that experience higher levels of livestock and property theft, as this high prevalence is partly due to a deficit in policing.”