What are "autonomous regions?" Background: A student of mine has been
assigned to represent Benin on a committee to deal with autonomous
regions at a
mock United Nations in Bolivia. Searching the web we can find many
references to autonomous regions, but no clear discussion of just
exactly what they are, and why the UN is dealing with them.

Hello there

The simple definition is that of a self governing region within a
larger state.

However, that definition may be oversimplified for what you are
looking for.

Many modern conflicts are not between states but within states.  These
conflicts are caused by tensions between the state and minority groups
living within the state.  These groups may have a culture and
lifestyle which is different than that of the state and these people
demand the right to protect their identities.

"These tensions are partly due to the territorial changes and the
emergence of new states which followed the two world wars and the
collapse of the old communist system, and also reflect the inevitable
development of the concept of the nation-state, which, hitherto,
viewed national sovereignty and cultural homogeneity as essential.

"Autonomous status may be applied to various systems of political
organisation and means that autonomous entities are given specific
powers, either devolved or shared with central government, while
remaining under the latter’s authority." - Quote from "Positive
experiences of autonomous regions as a source of inspiration for
conflict resolution in Europe"

There is more than one form of autonomy recognized by international
law.  Some autonomous regions leave all foreign diplomatic
responsibility with the state and a few others have their own
international relations.  That is the reason a simple definition may
not work for you.

The website I quoted above gives the complete legal definitions of
what autonomy is, how it is set up, and what the different forms may
take.  I am going to send you there for the simple reason there is a
great deal of information and it would be highly impractical to
paraphrase it in order to reproduce it here.  There is also a limit as
to the amount which may be quoted.
http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc03/EDOC9824.htm - The
website belongs to the Council of Europe

Among other things, the UN deals with rights violations within
autonomous regions.  These violations may be committed by the state
within which the region lies or may be committed by the autonomous
region itself against sub-minorities living within it.  Various UN
Human Rights treaties grant the authority the UN uses to involve
itself in such matters.  In some autonomous regions such as those of
Cyprus, the UN itself is responsible for establishing and maintaining
security zones.  The UN Peace Force ensures security in villages of
mixed Greek and Turk populations.

Benin is unique in its own right.  Since 1955, it has had six
constitutions and no two of them have had the same approach to dealing
with autonomous regions.  Because of Benin's history (at one time the
country had three presidents at once because one would not satisfy the
Benin people) the situation there is one the UN is watching quite
closely.

Since Benin is the country your student is representing, I figured
he/she should go armed with as much information about the situation as
possible.  Here is a full 21 page report on what happened, what might
happen, what is happening and what should happen.
http://www.kas.org.za/Publications/SeminarReports/Traditionallocalparticipation/DEHOUMON.pdf
- This is a PDF file, Acrobat Reader needed
If you do not have Acrobat Reader, here is the HTML file
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:3_WwrT0tgfkJ:www.kas.org.za/Publications/SeminarReports/Traditionallocalparticipation/DEHOUMON.pdf+Benin+autonomous+region&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8
- - I hope this long url works for you.

There is an enormous amount of material in the report and I'm sure any
or all of it might be important to the mock UN session in Bolivia. 
The author of the report is Paul Dèhoumon, Project Coordinator, Konrad
Adenauer Foundation Cotonou, Benin

Search - google

Terms - autonomous regions, autonomous republics, autonomous regions
defined, autonomous republics defined, benin, benin autonomous
regions, benin autonomous collectives, un treaties autonomous regions,
un responsibilities autonomous regions

If I may clarify anything before you rate the answer, please ask.

Cheers
digsalot

Gave us all we needed, and no more. Which was good, since this was to
give a student a good start in researching the topic. We'd give a rip
if we could afford it. The initial $10 was "not in the budget," so to
speak.