Benin
A combined view of Benin's UN General Assembly speeches, treaty commitments, and voting record.
The narrative paragraphs below are AI-generated syntheses of the data shown — the tables and figures themselves come directly from the underlying records, not from the AI.
Compare with another country →Speech history
Benin's General Assembly rhetoric has been consistently multilateralist over thirteen years, maintaining strong multilateralism scores (74–88) with only a notable exception in 2024, when the country pivoted toward pan-African identity and domestic achievement with sharp emotional intensity while abandoning institutional framing (multilateralism dropped to 34). Across most years, Benin has combined appeals for collective UN-led action on development, climate, and security with measured acknowledgment of its own governance reforms, though the balance has shifted: early speeches (2008–2014) emphasized concrete national statistics within multilateral calls, while later speeches (2016, 2023) became more procedural and reform-focused with fewer checkable commitments. The 2024 address marks a striking departure, prioritizing pride in national reforms and pan-African solidarity over the institutional multilateralism that had defined the previous decade, though 2025 returned to familiar multilateralist terrain with calls for UN and Security Council reform paired with development metrics.
| Session | Multilateralism | Emotional intensity | Concreteness | Self-accountability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | High | Medium | High | High |
| 2011 | Very High | High | Medium | Medium |
| 2013 | Very High | Low | High | Medium |
| 2014 | High | Low | High | Medium |
| 2016 | High | Low | Low | Medium |
| 2018 | Very High | Medium | Medium | High |
| 2019 | Very High | Low | High | High |
| 2020 | Very High | Low | Medium | Medium |
| 2021 | High | Low | High | High |
| 2022 | Very High | Low | Medium | Medium |
| 2023 | Very High | Low | Low | Medium |
| 2024 | Low | High | Medium | High |
| 2025 | Very High | Medium | High | Medium |
Treaty status
Full treaty record →Benin has ratified all 24 tracked treaties across all four thematic domains, demonstrating comprehensive and consistent commitment to international legal frameworks. The country shows particular strength in environmental treaties (11 ratifications, including the Paris Agreement, all Montreal Protocol instruments, and desert-combat conventions), human rights instruments (5 ratifications covering torture, women's rights, disability, children, and civil-political rights), and transnational governance (arms control treaties, the International Criminal Court statute, and maritime/anti-corruption conventions). This universal ratification record indicates no ideological or strategic withdrawal from any major multilateral legal instrument and reflects alignment with the UN's broadest normative agendas, from climate action to arms control to criminal accountability.
Arms control & security
- Arms Trade TreatyRatified
- Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban TreatyRatified
- Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their DestructionRatified
- Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear WeaponsRatified
Environment & climate
- Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their DisposalRatified
- Convention on Biological DiversityRatified
- Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone LayerRatified
- Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeRatified
- Minamata Convention on MercuryRatified
- Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone LayerRatified
- Paris AgreementRatified
- Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International TradeRatified
- Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic PollutantsRatified
- United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in AfricaRatified
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeRatified
Human rights
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or PunishmentRatified
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against WomenRatified
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with DisabilitiesRatified
- Convention on the Rights of the ChildRatified
- International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsRatified
International justice
- Rome Statute of the International Criminal CourtRatified
Trade & governance
- United Nations Convention against CorruptionRatified
- United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized CrimeRatified
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the SeaRatified
Voting record
Full voting record →Benin's voting record shows overwhelming alignment with General Assembly consensus, with 4,422 yes votes against only 39 no votes across 5,458 recorded votes (81% participation rate). The four notable dissents spanning 1973–2007 are sparse and scattered across diverse topics—nuclear-free zones, ocean law, UN staff accommodation, and missile treaty compliance—with no discernible ideological pattern, suggesting these exceptions reflect procedural or minor substantive disagreements rather than systematic principled opposition. This near-consensus voting profile, combined with high participation, portrays Benin as a reliably cooperative member with minimal interest in high-profile dissent.
Notable dissents from consensus
Declaration and establishment of a nuclear-free zone in South Asia : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
1974-12-09 · voted N · 99% voted yes
Oceans and the law of the sea : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
2007-12-22 · voted N · 99% voted yes
Standards of accommodation for official travel of United Nations staff : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
1973-12-18 · voted N · 98% voted yes
Preservation of and compliance with the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Sytems : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
2001-11-29 · voted N · 94% voted yes
Human development
Full HDI record →Human Development Index: 0.515 (Low), ranked #173 globally in 2023.
Combines life expectancy, education, and income into one comparable score, 0 to 1. Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2025 — deterministic figures, not AI-generated.
1990–2023