COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD CONSIDER REPORTS OF MADAGASCAR ON SALE OF CHILDREN AND CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT
The Committee on the Rights of the Child today considered the initial reports of Madagascar on how the country is implementing the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Optional Protocol on children involved in armed conflict.
Introducing the reports, Noeline Ramanantenasoa, Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice, stated that Madagascar had placed children’s rights high on its agenda, and made remarkable progress in strengthening the legal and policy framework to protect children. The Government of Madagascar had broadened the jurisdiction of the courts in order to enhance protection against the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as to penalize the perpetrators. In addition, the State party had innovated the complaint mechanism, making it possible for child victims to bring their cases to the attention of the competent authorities. Despite progress made over the years, the country continued to suffer from the effects of climate change on delivering basic social services and education. Among other problems, the lack of financial resources had diminished the coordination efforts and organization of awareness-raising campaigns. However, the Government was striving to meet its international obligations and was committed to adopting every appropriate measure for the effective implementation of the Protocol.
Under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Experts noted that Madagascar had made a great deal of progress in recent years, but many challenges still remained. They asked about measures to protect vulnerable girls and boys from sexual exploitation, actions to prevent child pornography, international adoption procedures, and extradition and gaps in the legislation. Reporting mechanisms for sexual violation, creation of a central data collection system, and elimination of school drop-outs were also raised. On the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, questions were asked about children in the Armed Forces, the presence of military schools and how the age of potential recruits into the Armed Forces was determined in the absence of official birth certificates.
Hatem Kotrane, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur for Madagascar, thanked the delegation for the quality of the dialogue, expressing hope that the Committee’s concluding recommendations would assist the State party in addressing challenges and the legislative reform. To make further progress, Madagascar needed to bring the legislation into life, especially in addressing child trafficking, and prostitution and other forms of sexual violence.
The delegation of the Madagascar included representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Education, and the Ministry of Population, Social Protection, and Promotion of Women, and the Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee will next meet in public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 29 September to consider the initial report of Cuba under the Optional Protocol on the sale on children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/CUB/1), and the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/CUB/1).
Reports
The initial report of Madagascar under the Optional Protocol on the sale on children, child prostitution and child pornography can be read here: (CRC/C/OPSC/MDG/1), and the initial report under the Optional Protocol on involvement of children in armed conflict is available here: (CRC/C/OPAC/MDG/1).
Presentation of the Reports
NOELINE RAMANANTENASOA, Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice, said that the information contained in the report and replies to the list of issues clearly showed that Madagascar had placed the subject of children high on its agenda. In the recent years, the State party had made remarkable progress in strengthening the legal and policy framework to promote and protect the children’s rights.
On the sale on children, child prostitution and child pornography, Madagascar had made significant progress, meeting its international obligations, and creating legislative and institutional reforms. Furthermore, Madagascar had become a party to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families.
In order to enhance protection against the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Malagasy criminal procedure had broadened the jurisdiction of the courts, and penalise the perpetrators. Under article 335 of the Criminal Code, nationals and residents who engaged in trafficking, sexual exploitation or sexual tourism in other countries should be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the provisions of the Penal Code.
Addressing forced marriage and worst forms of labour were the newest amendments to the law. With a view to eliminating child marriage practices which persisted despite the setting of the minimum age of marriage at 18 years, the Outreach Department of the Ministry of Justice had organized public awareness-raising campaigns in the capital city on the adverse impact of child marriage. In addition, Article 12 of Decree No. 2007-563 concerning child labour prohibited the employment of children in bars, clubs, casinos, gambling venues and cabarets. In the implementation process, several child victims had been rescued, and put into schools or vocational training programmes.
On protection systems to child victims, a further innovation had been introduced by article 335, paragraph 6, which made it possible for child victims to bring their case to the attention of the competent authorities. Thanks to that innovation, currently it was possible to lodge a complaint against offenders who were the perpetrators or accomplices in the offences covered by the Optional Protocol.
Despite progress made over the years, Madagascar was still confronted with difficulties, such as the effects of the climate change in delivering basic social services and education. Lack of financial resources was also a big obstacle in developing coordination efforts and organising awareness raising campaigns. However, Madagascar was working tirelessly to strengthen its rule of law and eliminate corruption. Furthermore, the State party needed to fully implement the reforms and national action plan, targeting to combat violence against children and strengthen the jurisdiction of the National Commission.
Despite the deep social and political crisis besetting Madagascar since the end of 2008, the country had striven to meet its international obligations deriving from both Optional Protocols. Although the State party had not been faced with situations of armed conflict where children under the age of 18 had been involved, it was committed to adopt every appropriate measure for the effective implementation of the Protocol.
Questions by Experts
HATEM KOTRANE, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur for Madagascar, thanked the delegation for presenting a very detailed report on the national efforts. The legal framework was theoretically in line with the Optional Protocol. However, the implementation was not very successful as the early school drop-out rate, as well as the level of sexual exploitation of children, had remained the same.
There were several action plans to combat human trafficking, sale of children and child pornography. Did the State party plan to extend its national plan and cover all the topics listed in the Optional Protocol?
What kind of measures had the Government taken to ensure the effective monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of children’s rights, an Expert asked.
What kind of measures had the Government taken to raise awareness on the both Optional Protocol as well as the Convention of the Rights of the Child?
One Expert inquired information about the steps taken to increase the low rates of birth registration, with a view to ensuring the registration of all children at birth.
What kind of measures were taken by the State party to penalise child prostitution and sexual exploitation?
Another Expert asked whether the national legislation explicitly defined and established as offences all the acts covered in article 3, paragraph 1 (c) of the Optional Protocol, including possession of child pornography.
What resources had been allocated to implement the recommendations made by the Committee regarding the Optional Protocol and the Convention?
What was the progress made towards the establishment of a system of data collection, which would cover all the offences referred to in the Optional Protocol?
Question was asked about plans by the State party to encourage reporting of cases to tackle violence against children.
What kind of measures were taken by the Government to guarantee confidential access to help lines by children?
With regards to protection measures, an Expert stated that there were legal centres acting as the Ombudsman, supporting children and adolescents. How did such centres coordinate with other institutions and services?
Regarding the adoption, an Expert was concerned that there was no proper law regulating the registration of domestic and international adoption. What had been done by the Government to combat the sale of children through illegal adoption?
Replies by the Delegation
Despite the financial difficulties and budget cuts, both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education had managed to get more financial resources for the programmes and policies related to children.
Turning to the legal advice centres, a delegate noted that there were some limitations on the constant social and psychological support. However, the Government was working to make improvements by providing trainings and allocating financial resources.
The provision of helplines was intended to encourage reporting of cases of child abuse, including sexual exploitation and trafficking in children. In 2008, the 805 helpline had been set up in collaboration with the Telma, Airtel and Orange telephone companies. It had been replaced by the 147 helpline in 2011. At present, the helpline covered 11 large towns where the level of risk was high.
With regard to data collection, a delegate noted that the Ministry of Justice had worked in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund to introduce a mechanism for collecting and tracking data on abuse, trafficking, prostitution and child pornography. The implementation of that mechanism, which was expected to take two years, and to serve to remedy the shortcomings in data collection at both the central and local levels. There were also plans to introduce a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating actions undertaken to protect children’s rights.
The National Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, approved in March 2015, comprised multi-year awareness-raising and training programmes against human trafficking, including the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The plan targeted children and their families in urban and rural settings, as well as police officers in Madagascar. As part of the programme, the Ministry had translated the Convention as well as the Optional Protocol. The Government had also carried out a training programme for the police officers, informing them on the Convention.
Madagascar intended to implement the recommendations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child by showing greater efforts to issue birth certificates, and criminalizing illegal adoption, and investigating, prosecuting and convicting those responsible. In order to combat trafficking in children, the national adoption authority ensured that the proper procedure had been followed to prevent illegal adoptions in which intermediaries earned improper financial gain. Community outreach workers held periodic awareness-raising sessions for people living in places where the child protection network operated. The sessions focused on the protection for children, sexual exploitation of children and trafficking in children.
Follow-up Questions by Experts
How did the State party ensure effective monitoring of international adoption, an Expert asked.
One Expert asked for further information on the training of staff and officers.
Another Expert was concerned about the inexistence of central data collection service. How did the State party ensure the reliability of the data?
What had been done by the Ministry of Education to stop school drop-out? Was there a specific policy or programme, targeting to prevent children from dropping out?
Question was asked about measures taken by the State party to ensure the reporting of all forms of violence, especially sexual violence against children.
An Expert inquired whether there was an assessment and data on the number of girls sexually abused, including those forced to work as prostitutes.
What kind of measures were undertaken by the State party to eliminate corruption? Was there a specific mechanism to address the issue, an Expert inquired.
One Expert stated that prostitution of boys had increased in recent years. How did the State party ensure that the policies did not solely focus on girls but also on boys?
Replies by the Delegation
With regard to school drop-out, the delegation informed that the Ministry of Education had initiated a policy aiming to reduce the number of children who had dropped out at a very early stage. The policy had enabled the reintroduction of 42,000 children to schools in 2015.
Non-enrolment in school or dropping out of school early contributed to the resurgence of child prostitution and the sexual exploitation of children as a whole. In response, measures had been taken to enrol and persuade children to remain in school. The measures involved the distribution of school kits, provision of free school canteens and free primary education.
On the sexual violence, a delegate said the Act No. 2007-023 defined abuse, prescribed measures for the protection of children at risk of moral harm or victims of abuse, and specified reporting procedures. Further, Article 67 of the Act defined abuse as all forms of violence, assaults, physical or psychological brutality, abandonment or negligence, ill-treatment or exploitation, including sexual violence perpetrated against children by their parents, legal representatives or any other person. Under the same Act, any person who committed acts of sexual abuse against minors was liable to aggravated penalties.
Regarding the reporting of violence, Article 69 provided for mandatory reporting to the administrative or judicial authorities by parents, family members, neighbours, friends, local authorities, and others. Persons failing to do so would be subject to the penalties, under the Criminal Code. In all cases, children themselves might report any abuse of which they were victims. In addition, failure to report trafficking, sex tourism and incest constituted an act of complicity pursuant to Act No. 2007-038.
At present, Madagascar had no central database in which all data on trafficking in children, child prostitution and child pornography were compiled. Each Ministry and institution had collected their own data. In order to better combat the scourge of child sexual exploitation and trafficking, it was vital to identify its exact scale, extent and underlying causes. Therefore, reliable and credible data was necessary in order to draw up a policy and plan of action that included preventive measures in order better to protect children.
Madagascar also had a National Plan of Action to Combat Human Trafficking, including the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Child prostitution was one of the deep concerns. In an effort to control it, legislative reforms had been introduced via Act No. 2007-038; the penalties specified there had been incorporated into the Criminal Code.
The delegation stated that poverty was one of the root causes of the exploitation of children for commercial purposes, prostitution and child pornography. That was why the Government of Madagascar planned to combat the phenomenon of poverty through the implementation of the National Development Plan.
The study on child prostitution conducted by the non-governmental organization Groupe Développement in the cities of Antananarivo, Mahajanga and Nosy Be in 2011-2012 had showed that children entering into prostitution in those cities were between 13 and 17 years old. The research had revealed that, in 56 per cent of cases, children cited financial reasons to explain their entry into prostitution. 85 per cent of those surveyed had stated that they wished to leave prostitution. In Antananarivo, child prostitution was primarily linked to survival.
The research conducted by the International Labour Organisation on child victims of sexual exploitation in the cities of Antsiranana, Toliara and Antananarivo had revealed that the average age of entry into prostitution was 13 for girls and 12 for boys. The Antananarivo Vice and Minors Protection Squad had confirmed that child victims of sexual exploitation tended to be increasingly young and that their number was continuously growing.
Turning to the corruption, the delegation said that the Government had developed a new independent office, solely focusing on the anti-corruption.
Questions by Experts on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict
One Expert said that Madagascar had ratified the Convention in 1991 and the Optional Protocol in 2004. However, there was no coordination policy or programme with regard to the implementation of the Protocol. How did the Government ensure the effective coordination between institutions?
Question was asked about current training and awareness-raising programmes concerning the provisions of the Optional Protocol.
One Expert inquired whether students in military schools were trained to handle arms. Did students have the right to leave such schools without notice without embarking on a military career? Did students in military schools have access to a mechanism allowing them to submit complaints in complete confidence?
Another Expert said that the age of recruitment was 18. What kind of mechanisms were available for children, previously members of dahalos, for their reintegration into the society?
Follow-up Questions by Experts
An Expert asked if there was a law prohibiting children from participating in criminal gangs and other armed groups.
What kind of reintegration measures were undertaken by the Government following the disarmament of dahalos? How many children had been involved in that group?
What steps did the State party take to raise awareness about the Optional Protocol?
Replies by the Delegation
In an effort to prevent similar occurrences in future, operations had been conducted with the support of traditional leaders and army official to disarm the dahalos. Around 6,000 of them had laid down their arms publicly pledging to desist from further crime and to assist the law enforcement agencies in putting an end to such activities. During the deposition of weapons, it had not been possible to identify children who had been involved in those attacks. After the dissolution of the dahalos, they had been exempt from prosecution and given social support.
The minimum age for recruitment into the Army to perform national military service was set at 18, even in cases in which a total or partial mobilization had been declared. Similarly, the minimum age of admission for civilians into any branch of the Military Academy was also 18.
In case of children without birth certificates, doctors were responsible for checking whether the child was a minor or not.
There was no specific law addressing children participating in armed groups. However, according to the Criminal Code, if there was forced recruitment, child was considered as a victim and would not be judged. However, in case of a voluntary recruitment, the child was considered as guilty.
Concluding Remarks
HATEM KOTRANE, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur for Madagascar, thanked the delegation for the quality of the dialogue. He expressed hope that the Committee’s concluding recommendations would assist the State party in addressing challenges and the legislative reform. The Committee believed that the State party attached great importance to the issue, but it was critically important to bring the legislation into life. Accordingly, Madagascar needed to do much more, especially in the area of child trafficking, prostitution and other forms of sexual violence.
NOELINE RAMANANTENASOA, Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice, thanked for the comments and questions, and said she hoped the delegation’s explanations and clarifications had helped the Committee gain a better understanding and a more complete picture of children’s rights in Madagascar. In order to fully ensure the promotion and protection of children’s rights, the Government would take all the suggestions into consideration.
BENYAM DAWIT MEYMUR, Chairperson of the Committee, thanked the State party representatives for their detailed answers to the questions. He encouraged the delegation to ratify the Third Optional Protocol. Despite existing challenges and shortcomings, Madagascar had managed to make progress. Mr. Meymur said that he looked forward to receiving the upcoming reports, and sent his best wishes to the children of Madagascar.
For use of the information media; not an official record
CRC15/042E