promotion of respect, dialogue and reciprocal tolerance with a view to peace and to national
cohesion.
Article 37
Public property shall be sacred and inviolable. Each Beninese citizen must respect it scrupulously
and protect it. Any act of sabotage, vandalism, corruption, diversion, dilapidation or illegal
enrichment shall be suppressed under conditions provided by law.
Article 38
The state shall protect the rights and legitimate interests of Beninese citizens in a foreign country.
Article 39
Foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Benin shall have the benefit of the same rights and
liberties as the Beninese citizens, and this under the conditions determined by law. They must
conform to the Constitution and to the laws and regulations of the Republic.
Article 40
The state has the duty to assure the diffusion and the teaching of the Constitution, of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, of the African Charter on Human and Peoples'
Rights of 1981 as well as all of the international instruments duly ratified and relative to human
rights. The state must integrate the rights of the individual into the programs of literacy and of
teaching in the various scholastic and university academic cycles and into all the educational
programs of the Armed Forces, of the Public Security Forces and of comparable categories. The
state must equally assure the diffusion and teaching of these same rights in the national
languages by all the means of mass communication, and particularly by radio and television.
TITLE III: EXECUTIVE POWER
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Article 58
The President of the Republic, after consultation with the President of the National Assembly and
the President of the Constitutional Court, shall be able to take the initiative of the referendum on
any question relative to the promotion of and the reinforcement of human rights …
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Article 66
In case of a coup d’état, or a putsch, of aggression by mercenaries or of any action by force
whatsoever, any member of a constitutional agency shall have the right and the duty to make an
appeal by any means in order to re-establish the constitutional legitimacy, including recourse to
existing agreements of military or defence co-operation. In these circumstances for any Beninese
to disobey and organise himself to put a check to the illegitimate authority shall constitute the
most sacred of rights and the most imperative of duties.
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TITLE V: THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
Article 114
The Constitutional Court shall be the highest jurisdiction of the state in constitutional matters. It
shall be the judge of the constitutionality of the law and it shall guarantee the fundamental human
rights and the public liberties. It shall be the regulatory body for the functioning of institutions and
for the activity of public authorities.
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Article 117
The Constitutional Court shall rule obligatorily on:
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