Benin is a land of the future for Afro-descendants. A Government bill plans to recognize Beninese nationality to these people with African origin, particularly linked to the slave trade.
The bill was validated in Council of Ministers this May 8, 2024 by the government of Patrice Talon to grant the possibility to Afro-descendants to connect to their lands of origin from where their ancestors were deported, as part of the vile slave trade. The Beninese government is convinced that “most Afro-descendants wish to find a link with their original kingdoms or, failing that, with the Republics which replaced them”. Or, “it is difficult, despite the memorial archives, to obtain details on the identification of the victims of this trafficking, their destinations and their subsequent fate due to the fragmentary nature of these archives and the varied trajectory of the deportees”.
How to prove Afro-descendants?
He postulates that he is Afro-descendant“any person who, according to their genealogy, has sub-Saharan African ancestry deported from the African continent as part of the slave trade.” Moreover, “proof of Afro-descendants is provided by the applicant by means of any civil status or official documentation, all testimonies established by authentic act, a DNA test carried out by an approved structure in Benin or by any other technical or scientific means”.
If the law is adopted by the National Assembly, people who meet the defined criteria will be able to access Beninese nationality. This would be an acquisition by “reconnaissance” Who confers all rights and obligations except political rights and access to the Beninese public service.
In addition to its decision to remove the entry visa to Benin for African nationals in force since 2016, Benin, through its new measure, reinforces its pan-Africanist policy at a time when the African Union recognized the Diaspora as the sixth region of the African continent.
