2024-02-11 15:20:07
The Madagascar Parliament’s adoption of a law allowing the authorities to chemically or surgically castrate those convicted of child rape sparked criticism from international human rights organizations, but was met with support from local activists.
The government said that this punishment was an appropriate deterrent to curb “rape culture.”
The Parliament of Madagascar, an island country located in the Indian Ocean with a population of 28 million people, adopted the law on February 2, and the Senate approved it last week.
The law must now be ratified by the Supreme Constitutional Court, and then signed by President Andry Rajoelina, who first raised the issue last December.
Madagascar’s Minister of Justice, Landi Mbulatiana Randriamanantinaso, said the law was a “necessary step” due to the increase in cases of rape once morest children.
She added, “We recorded 600 cases of rape once morest minors in 2023, in addition to 133 cases last January.”
The minister added, “Madagascar is a sovereign state, and it has the right to amend its laws to suit the circumstances and achieve the general interest of the people. The current penal code is not sufficient to curb the perpetrators of these crimes.”
The text of the law states: “Surgical castration will be implemented for those guilty of raping a boy or girl under the age of ten.”
“Those convicted of raping children between the ages of 10 and 13 years will be punished by surgical or chemical castration, and rapists of children between the ages of 14 and 17 years will be punished by chemical castration,” according to the law.
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