employment. Several individuals and civil society organizations reported ethnic profiling by police against ethnic and religious minorities. On 9 December, the government agreed on a draft bill amending the law on legal gender recognition. If passed, the draft law would allow transgender people to obtain legal recognition of their gender on the basis of their informed consent and without fulfilling any medical requirements. demonstrators, causing at least one death. Prisons remained overcrowded. ARMS TRADE The authorities continued to arbitrarily restrict the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, including by banning several opposition group demonstrations, taking retaliatory measures against organizers of peaceful demonstrations, and using excessive and arbitrary force against protesters. In the context of the presidential elections, in January and February the authorities banned at least three peaceful demonstrations by opposition groups. Supporters of the ruling party were able to hold demonstrations. In February, the authorities banned a demonstration by human rights groups to protest against the unlawful killing of a member of the military. In March, security forces shot and killed one man and injured nine other people, including two children, at a demonstration in Bantè (Collines department). According to eyewitnesses, the demonstration was largely peaceful until the security forces started firing at the crowd with tear gas and live ammunition. In July, the security forces used tear gas and batons to disperse a peaceful demonstration by students in Cotonou, injuring at least 20 people. At least nine students were arrested following the demonstrations and detained for several weeks before being released. Twenty-one students presumed to have participated were banned from registering at the university for five years. In August, the university decided to invalidate the academic year for all the students in the faculty where most demonstrators were studying. In October, the Regional governments continued to grant licences to sell arms to parties involved in the conflict in Yemen, in particular to Saudi Arabia. In 2014 and 2015, Saudi Arabia reportedly accounted for by far the highest value of arms export licences from the Wallonia region. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS In March, Belgium ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). In June, the authorities adopted a new binding policy framework which identified tackling gender-based and domestic violence as a priority for police and prosecutorial authorities. In May, the National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology said that 70% of reported domestic violence incidents did not lead to a prosecution and that the current prosecution policy has not been effective in reducing the numbers of recidivists of domestic violence. BENIN Republic of Benin Head of state and government: Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon (replaced Thomas Boni Yayi in March) The authorities continued to restrict the rights to peaceful assembly and expression. Excessive force was used against peaceful Amnesty International Report 2016/17 BACKGROUND Patrice Talon was elected President in March. Benin became the eighth AU member state to allow NGOs and individuals direct access to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. FREEDOMS OF ASSEMBLY AND EXPRESSION 85