Wikileaks - adoption fraud - Madagacar
Illegal adoption, a problem identified in 2004, is no longer
considered a threat in Madagascar. With the revision of the 2007 law
to regulate adoption procedures, there have only been several cases
seen through the legal system this year, and no judgments have taken
place to date. The punishment for committing an illegal adoption,
which constitutes trafficking in persons, is forced labor for life.
The adoption of Malagasy infants is thus fairly well-regulated,
although the practices of adoption centers are sometimes not: UNICEF
recently reported a new practice in which the centers benefit
financially from pressuring families to put up their children for
adoption. The suspension of international adoption and stricter laws
for domestic adoption have also caused longer wait times, which is
particularly hard on children who were needlessly taken from their
families.
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Viewing cable 09ANTANANARIVO141, MADAGASCAR 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT
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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09ANTANANARIVO141 2009-03-02 13:54 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Antananarivo
VZCZCXRO6785
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHAN #0141/01 0611354
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021354Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2139
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 18 ANTANANARIVO 000141
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR G/TIP - RYOUSEY,
DEPT FOR G - ACBlank
DEPT FOR AF/E - BEYZEROV
DEPT FOR INL, DRL, PRM
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USAID
PARIS FOR RKANEDA
LONDON FOR PLORD
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB EAID MA
SUBJECT: MADAGASCAR 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT
REF: A) 08 ANTANANARIVO 164
B) 08 ANTANANARIVO 764
C) 08 STATE 132759
D) 07 ANTANANARIVO 0557
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: While Madagascar is not a confirmed source or
destination for internationally trafficked men and women, during the
year there were reports of labor and sex trafficking in persons
(TIP) within the country's borders. Cultural values, poverty,
corruption, lack of funding and capacity, and weak law enforcement
all hampered the Government of Madagascar's (GOM) efforts to combat
trafficking. A series of legislative achievements and hands-on
efforts in 2007 and 2008 have pushed the GOM's fight against human
trafficking into the field via training programs, victim assistance,
and awareness campaigns. This drive seems to have slowed in 2008,
however, as the laws have not been implemented effectively across
the country. A lack of statistics hampers efforts to monitor
results, but the evidence suggests that despite continued vocal
support from the national leadership, extensive work from the
international community, and engagement at the regional level,
change on the ground has been slow to come. END SUMMARY.
¶2. (SBU) The Embassy Point of Contact for TIP is Political Officer
Jeffrey Hulse. Mr. Hulse can be reached via email at HulseJA [at]
state.gov, by telephone at +261 20.22.212.57 , or by fax at +261
20.22.251.71. EmbOffs spent approximately 80 hours speaking with
contacts, researching, and writing this report; POL FSN spent
approximately 8 hours supporting those efforts. The POL/ECON Chief
and Defense Attache spent approximately two hours during the
clearance process.
¶3. (U) As requested in Ref C, Embassy Antananarivo submits the
following information, keyed to the questions in paragraphs 23-27
that are applicable to Madagascar's situation.
23: (U) THE COUNTRY'S TIP SITUATION
-----------------------------------
¶A. (U) The GOM and local NGOs are anxious to document the extent and
nature of trafficking, but lack of funding and institutional
capacity remain a significant impediment to these efforts. However,
in 2008, the GOM began collecting national level data, and
established several databases to facilitate the process. The U.S.
Department of Justice's International Crime Investigative Training
Assistance Program (ICITAP) funded the creation of a Criminal
Analysis Center, including a criminal network database, completed in
September 2008. UNICEF plans to link a new database created at the
Ministry of Justice with this police database. A database to track
foster care and adoptions was also installed by the Ministry of
Health and Family Planning in 2008.
The government's statistical agency, INSTAT, in collaboration with
the International Labor Organization's (ILO) International Program
on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), published the results of a
nationwide household survey that gave the first reliable figures on
child trafficking in at least a decade. Unfortunately, INSTAT does
not have technicians capable of doing an in-depth interpretation and
analysis of data. An international consultant, funded by UNICEF, is
in the process of analyzing the data; results will be published by
the end of March 2009. Data from a baseline study of child (5-18
years) victims of trafficking in high risk sites will be published
in September 2009 by PACT, a non-governmental organization (NGO)
that just initiated anti-trafficking activities this year.
In addition, each International Organization (IO) and NGO that works
on anti-trafficking projects either collects data in their
respective intervention zones or conducts studies to document the
welfare and treatment of vulnerable persons. Catholic Relief
Services (CRS) will compile statistics on knowledge, attitudes, and
behaviors of parents, vulnerable persons, and school youth in three
regions where they work; this will be available by June 2009.
A UNICEF study on the Migration of Children and Women between South
West Islands of the Indian Ocean (Madagascar, the Seychelles,
Mauritius, and the Comoros archipelago, including Mayotte) is
underway. The study was undertaken to provide information on the
possible linkages between child migration, trafficking, and sexual
exploitation. Findings will be available and shared with the GOM
ANTANANARI 00000141 002 OF 018
during the first trimester of 2009. However, preliminary results do
not indicate any cases of migrant labor from Madagascar to the other
islands.
¶B. (U) Madagascar may be a country of origin for internationally
trafficked women for domestic servitude or sexual exploitation,
outside of the Indian Ocean region. Though there is little concrete
proof, news sources and anecdotal evidence suggest that Lebanon may
be a destination country for trafficking of Malagasy persons. An
August 2008 report from Human Rights Watch on migrant domestic
workers in Lebanon showed that one Malagasy woman died at the age of
22; such workers are perishing at a rate of nearly one per week,
half from suicide. Forced confinement, excessive work demands,
employer abuse (including food and water deprivation), and financial
pressures were factors that contributed to these deaths. A news
article mentioned that Malagasy workers were recruited to work in
Lebanon in 1998, of which 55 were repatriated in 2002. Staff from an
IO working in Lebanon observed that several Malagasy women seen in
airplanes or at the airports in the country may have been
trafficked. Further investigation is warranted.
Illegal adoption, a problem identified in 2004, is no longer
considered a threat in Madagascar. With the revision of the 2007 law
to regulate adoption procedures, there have only been several cases
seen through the legal system this year, and no judgments have taken
place to date. The punishment for committing an illegal adoption,
which constitutes trafficking in persons, is forced labor for life.
The adoption of Malagasy infants is thus fairly well-regulated,
although the practices of adoption centers are sometimes not: UNICEF
recently reported a new practice in which the centers benefit
financially from pressuring families to put up their children for
adoption. The suspension of international adoption and stricter laws
for domestic adoption have also caused longer wait times, which is
particularly hard on children who were needlessly taken from their
families.
Trafficking within the country's borders occurred in 2008. Local and
national newspapers published many trafficking-related stories
across the country, several of which are referenced here. The
following anecdotes and national or project-level statistics
concentrate on the trafficking of children; unfortunately, there is
little information available on trafficking of persons over the age
of 18.
Child trafficking has been a longstanding problem that is currently
exacerbated by the rapid development of the mining and tourism
industries. The National Child Labor Survey in Madagascar, conducted
by ILO-IPEC in 2007, represents Madagascar's first reliable baseline
data on child labor. It states that 438,000 children (7% of all
Malagasy children ages 5-17 years, and 23% of all economically
active children) fall into the "worst forms of child labor"
category, which includes sex or labor trafficking. Of these, 91,000
were 5-9 years of age, 190,000 were 10-14 years of age, and 158,000
were 15-17 years of age.
Sex tourism is an increasing problem, particularly in coastal cities
and Antananarivo, resulting in pervasive prostitution that is
particularly visible in areas frequented by tourists. A 2007 study
carried out by the Ministries of Tourism and Health and Family
Planning, in collaboration with UNICEF, showed that commercial
sexual exploitation of girls, as well as non-commercial
exploitation, is significant in Nosy Be and Tamatave. Between 30 and
50 percent of female sex workers were under 18 years of age. Also,
in Nosy Be it was not unheard of for parents to "give" their
children to foreign men, or for Malagasy men to "give" their wives
to sexual tourists, in exchange for money.
A significant number of children work as laborers, domestic
servants, and prostitutes in and around Madagascar's various mines,
although it is unclear how many of these cases are considered
trafficking. The three largest locations of mine-related labor and
sexual exploitation are the salt mines around Tulear, the gemstone
mines surrounding the southern town of Ilakaka, and the granite
mines near Antananarivo. Many of these children work within the
family unit, often sifting through miners' discarded piles of dirt
in the hopes of finding stones; or in the case of adolescents, they
flock to the sites and willingly work for extremely low wages in the
mines, or become domestics or prostitutes by finding clients on
ANTANANARI 00000141 003 OF 018
their own.
Some traditional practices contribute to the trafficking of
children. For example, in the Ihosy (south central) region, it is a
traditional practice for parents to sell their daughters at age 12
into marriage, typically in exchange for cattle, to the highest
bidder. After one year of marriage, parents often force their
daughters to divorce and remarry to receive additional goods. Forced
marriage at an early age is considered a form of trafficking;
parents reap the benefits, while the young girls are often victims
of physical and mental abuse. This year over 120 young girls fled
from cities in the south because of forced marriage, abandoning
their families and homes and becoming involved in prostitution
primarily in the towns of Tulear, Ilakaka, and Sakaraha. Another
traditional practice, although now less common, is the disposal or
selling of a child within a set of twins, usually put up for illegal
adoption.
¶C. (U) The conditions into which victims are trafficked vary. While
some children working as domestics are well-treated and attend
school, others are neglected, exploited, and physically or sexually
abused. Children working in the mining and agricultural sectors, or
even as prostitutes, may endure dismal working conditions and are
poorly compensated. In cities throughout the country, young girls
and boys assist traveling vendors ("marchands ambulants") with the
loading and selling of their merchandise. In some cases, they stay
on working for the vendor as almost free labor; in others, they
hitch a ride to the final destination where they may be left behind
and not always paid for their work (see reftel D).
¶D. (U) There are two primary groups that are more at risk for being
trafficked in Madagascar: women and young girls for sexual
exploitation and domestic servitude, and young boys and girls for
forced labor, mining, and street vending. No specific groups or
categories of children are disproportionately represented in figures
reported by the ILO. Gender, ethnicity, and religion do not play a
role; the extent to which children in different regions are engaged
in certain activities is a result of economics and geography rather
than discrimination. For example, due to sex tourism, high numbers
of children exploited as prostitutes are found in coastal cities, as
well as Antananarivo. Child Protection Networks report that it is
common for children to be trafficked from the countryside and placed
as domestic servants in urban areas. In these circumstances, the
conditions that put women and children at most risk are illiteracy,
cultural traditions, and societal intimidation.
¶E. (U) There is limited information on the modus operandi of
traffickers. Post reporting relied heavily on anecdotal information
as well as a small number of studies. In the high-risk trafficking
zones outside of the capital Antananarivo, NGOs discovered that
traffickers operate on an individual basis, though there are
sometimes predetermined connections with foreigners who plan to
travel to the area. In Antananarivo, there are much larger agencies,
such as marriage or job recruitment establishments, and trafficking
networks who may sell trafficked Malagasy to unknown destinations
outside of the country. However, there are not any published
statistics or studies that have analyzed this phenomenon.
In the cases of sex and labor trafficking, victims are often lured
by the promise of lucrative jobs. Principal traffickers include
organized criminals, personal acquaintances, taxi drivers, and
distant family members. There are cases where parents are complicit,
tacitly endorsing the transaction, although some are unaware of the
poor working conditions that await their children.
Preliminary findings of a household-level child trafficking survey
indicate that there may be a network of traffickers recruiting
children from rural areas for employment as domestic workers or
prostitutes in urban centers. Trafficking of children can be found
particularly in places with rich mining, agricultural, fishing, or
traveling vendor sectors. For example, in Antsirabe, an industrial
and agricultural zone on the central plateau, many youth are
trafficked for domestic labor. It has also become more commonplace
for "businessmen" to lure young children with clothes or cell phones
in exchange for work. Even worse, they may lure parents into
entrusting their children to them; later, these children often
disappear and are sold into the trafficking market.
ANTANANARI 00000141 004 OF 018
Another emerging phenomenon in conjunction with the rise of foreign
companies is that young women are trafficked for the weekend. In
Moramanga, women are marketed to international workers at the local
Ambatovy mine as companions for the weekend. Though most government
officials and NGO contacts believe such recruitment is conducted by
individuals, there are growing observations of complicity within an
organized network, particularly among taxi/bus drivers.
A 2001 study carried out by the Ministries of Tourism and Health and
Family Planning with UNICEF showed that traffickers in Nosy Be and
Tamatave were mainly indigenous Malagasy persons, but could also be
foreign tourists and laborers. UNICEF reported that this remained
unchanged though there had been some positive behavioral change
observed among hotel operators, who have become more likely to
refuse room access to clients who sexually exploit children. UNICEF
plans to expand this study to other mining and tourist sites in the
country.
¶24. (U) SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS
¶A. (U) The President has expressed his commitment to eliminate
trafficking in Madagascar. Not only has he publicly assured the
legal protection of vulnerable persons (particularly in the fight
against trafficking) as a priority in the Madagascar Action Plan
(MAP), but in December 2008, the President conducted a field visit
to the high-risk trafficking city of Nosy Be and made strong
statements about the importance of protecting children against sex
tourism. Through its commitment to organizing prevention campaigns,
continue developing a database of cases, convene the
Anti-Trafficking Committee on a regular basis, and develop a
National Action Plan, the GOM acknowledges trafficking is a problem
and aims to retain its Tier 1 status.
¶B. (U) The government systematically monitored its anti-trafficking
efforts through the President's Inter-Ministerial Anti-Trafficking
Committee. At the regional level, Local Anti-Trafficking Boards
(LABs) are made up of 18-20 ministerial members, much like those in
the President's committee. The Committee and LABs are composed of
the following Ministries:
The Ministry of Justice: As the lead ministry in the
recently-adopted National Action Plan in the Fight Against All Forms
of Violence Against Children, the Ministry held meetings clarifying
the roles of each of the 30 responsible government actors. The
Ministry of Justice has started to rotate magistrates to different
jurisdictions around the country. The Ministry has also elaborated
standards of conduct, organized joint meetings between magistrates,
police and other key child protection stakeholders, and created a
number of new offices in the Ministry to tackle these critical
issues such as the Office of Integrity Promotion, Office of
Jurisdictions Control, Office of Communication and Office of Human
Rights and International Relations.
The Ministry of Labor: During the reporting period, the Ministry of
Labor continued implementing its 15-year National Plan to Combat the
Worst Forms of Child Labor, which often overlapped with anti-TIP
efforts. Regional Committees to Combat Child Labor (CRLTE) in the
north, southwest, and the east coast contributed to these efforts.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports: The Ministry of Youth and Sports
designed an internal three-year anti-TIP action plan for 2007 to
¶2009. Its activities contributed to end-of-project goals: to reduce
the number of TIP victims by 20 percent; to ensure 50 victims
receive social services; and to raise awareness among 500,000 youth
through social mobilization, radio and television, and other means.
The Ministry of Internal Security: The Ministry of Internal
Security continued the use of its "Morals and Minors" police
brigades to conduct both prevention and prosecution activities. At
present, such brigades are operational in Tulear, Ile Sainte Marie,
Nosy Be, Fort Dauphin, Morondava, Tamatave, Majunga, Diego Suarez,
Fianarantsoa, Ambositra, and Antsirabe. The eventual goal is to set
up such brigades in each of the 22 regions.
The Ministry of Interior: The Ministry of Interior continued the
UNICEF-financed birth registration campaign launched in 2005. Before
that time, Madagascar had no uniform birth registration system, a
weakness traffickers have exploited to traffic undocumented
ANTANANARI 00000141 005 OF 018
children. According to a 2003-04 study by INSTAT, 25 percent of
children in the country under the age of five were not registered.
Since March 2007, 80 percent of the population in 119 districts has
benefited from ministry-run awareness campaigns about the importance
and procedures of birth registration. Ministry technicians started
computerizing birth certificates in each of the 5,000-plus communes.
The Ministry issued retroactive birth certificates in over 119
districts.
The Ministries of Health, Education, and Culture and Tourism also
continued their TIP awareness-raising campaigns targeting children
and tourism industry workers.
¶C. (U) Though the GOM has improved the domestic legal framework, its
efforts to combat trafficking are hampered by limited capacity to
prosecute under the new law, the hesitation of the GOM to share
trafficking-related issues with the public, a disconnect between
central and regional level work, and cultural values and traditional
practices.
The prosecution of perpetrators of labor and sex exploitation
remains problematic, mainly due to deficient law enforcement,
weaknesses in the legal system, and weak penalties to deter
trafficking crimes. The Morals and Minors Brigade led the monitoring
of the application of the anti-trafficking law, but weaknesses
persist, including magistrates' difficulty using the law, delays and
deficient information on court decisions, absence of information for
victims and their families, the lack of a systematic transfer of
data to the central level; confusion in regional case reporting from
gendarmeries and police; and difficulties in handling child victim
cases in general, often due to the lack of birth certificates or
difficulty of obtaining medical-legal certificates for abuse.
According to Ministry of Justice (MOJ) officials, the law has been
actively disseminated to the 22 regions, and magistrates all over
the country have been trained in its use. However, lack of
precedent, lack of coordination among the ministries, and the lack
of a presidential decree mandating and codifying its use may be
hindering implementation of the law in practice. Without fully
implementing a system for tracking such cases, MOJ officials leave
open the possibility that individual jurisdictions may be using the
law, but the evidence suggests this is unlikely.
One NGO cited a lack of coordination between central and regional
level anti-trafficking planning and project/systems implementation.
Deficiencies in validation and leadership from the central level act
as a hindrance to the progress of the LABs. Also, without additional
funding, LABs can only commit to achieving ongoing objectives, but
will not be able to implement new measures that address gaps in
services.
There is societal and cultural acceptance of early sexual activity,
early childbearing outside of marriage, and prostitution as an
economic activity. The 2004 ILO contribution to the National Action
Plan to Combat Child Labor in Madagascar stated that "material
rewards and sexuality have always been strongly associated in
Malagasy society. A man's generosity towards a woman increases both
his standing as well as [that of] the woman receiving gifts. In some
parts of the country, girls from adolescence onward are expected to
take care of their own material needs beyond food and lodging. It
has traditionally been acceptable for girls to entertain male
friends in separate living quarters to obtain clothing or other
items. The step from this custom to overt sale of sex is small."
¶D. (SBU) In September 2008, the U.S. DOJ's ICITAP program concluded
a project to develop a central database for documenting and tracking
trafficking cases nationwide. Training on the program was conducted
both in the capital and in several high-risk regions, and it remains
a positive example of increased cooperation between the Gendarmerie
and the Police in this field. However, financial and legal issues
threaten to derail the project: although operational for several
months now, the center still lacks a presidential decree giving its
work legal standing, and the financial backing for its future
operations remains uncertain. The GOM can potentially use this
database to report its anti-trafficking activities or statistics,
though this has not yet occurred.
ANTANANARI 00000141 006 OF 018
¶25. (U) INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS
--------------------------------------------- -------
¶A. (U) In January 2008, the Malagasy Parliament adopted a law making
trafficking in persons, sexual tourism, and sexual exploitation
illegal. This comprehensive law stipulates sanctions for the
authors of such crimes, particularly when committed against
children, and prohibits both internal and transnational forms of
trafficking in persons including sexual and labor exploitation (see
appendix for full text). A full inventory of trafficking laws
includes the following:
- Anti-Trafficking Law no. 2007-038 (December 2007, adopted January
2008)
- Law prohibiting all forms of violence against children (August
2008)
- Decree 2007-563 on child labor, including the worst forms of child
labor, particularly articles 12 - 15 related to labor or sex
trafficking
- Law no. 2007-023 on Child Rights and Protection details protective
measures connected with abuse and exploitation
- Penal Code provision prohibiting pedophilia, statutory rape, and
procurement of minors for prostitution
- Penal Code [Decree 1111, (1966)] barring young adults under the
age of eighteen from nightclubs and discotheques
- Law no. 2007-022 stipulating the legal age for marriage is 18
years for both sexes
- Law no. 2003-044 of the Labor Code (July 2004)
- Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor (2003)
- Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and
Child Pornography (2001)
- Convention 138 on the minimum working age - set to 15 years
(2000)
The ILO and UNICEF believe certain penalties related to the
trafficking of children are considered to be inadequate to deter
such crimes. The ILO is working with the Malagasy government to
draft a new law with tougher sanctions.
¶B. (U) The prescribed and imposed penalties for trafficking people
for sexual exploitation are as follows:
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION - According to Article 334 of the Penal Code,
"Art. 334 quarter: Sexual exploitation, as defined by article 333
ter, is punishable by five (5) to ten (10) years of imprisonment and
a fine of four to 20 million Ariary (USD 2,000 to 10,000). Any
perpetrator committing sexual exploitation is sentenced to forced
labor for life if committed on a child aged below fifteen years of
age, regardless of gender.
PIMPING - According to Article 334-35 of the Penal Code, pimping
cases involving minors and/or the use of force carry a sentence of
five to ten years imprisonment and fines of four to 20 million
Ariary (USD 2,000 to 10,000). Pimping of adults carries two to five
years imprisonment with a fine of one to 10 million Ariary (USD 500
to 5,000). If pimping is conducted by an organized group, the
punishment is forced labor and four to 40 million Ariary (USD 2,000
to 20,000). If torture or barbaric acts are involved, the punishment
ranges from "forced labor" to life in prison. "Art. 334 ter: Anyone
who hires, involves in or abducts for prostitution, an individual
even if (s)he consents, is sentenced to two (2) to five (5) years of
imprisonment and a fine of one to 10 million Ariary (USD 500 to
5,000). If the violation has been committed on a child under fifteen
years of age, regardless of gender, the perpetrator is sentenced to
forced labor for life."
PIMPING PUSH from FAMILY - Article 335.2 states that the father or
mother or other ascendant, who encourages directly or indirectly
ANTANANARI 00000141 007 OF 018
child prostitution by letting a child live a liberal and independent
life, thus enhancing sexual exploitation and/or tourism on the
child, in a national or international setting, is sentenced to five
(5) to ten (10) years of imprisonment and/or a fine of four to 20
million Ariary (USD 2,000 to 10,000). The same sentences apply if
the perpetrator is either the brother or the sister of the underage
victim or any individual holding a similar position in the family,
i.e. any individual usually or occasionally living with the child
and having authority over the child."
PORNOGRAPHY - According to Article 346-47 of the Penal Code, use of
children in pornography carries a sentence of two to five years
imprisonment and a fine of one to 10 million Ariary (USD 500 to
5,000). If the child is under 15 years of age, this punishment
increases to three to ten years of imprisonment and a fine of four
to 20 million Ariary (USD 2,000 to 10,000).
CHILD LABOR - Penalties for trafficking provisions of the Child
Labor Law (Decree No. 2007-563) included in the Worst Forms of Child
Labor are mostly addressed through the Penal Code including up to
two years of imprisonment and fines up to MGA 2 million (USD
1,000).
¶C. (U) The law stipulates penalties for trafficking for labor
exploitation, labor recruiters who engage in recruitment of laborers
using knowingly fraudulent or deceptive offers, and employers who
switch contracts without the worker's consent as a means to keep the
worker in a state of service. Article 262 of the Labor Code
specifies that the penalties for trafficking for labor exploitation
and "contractual fraud" are one to three years of imprisonment and
one to four million Ariary (USD 500 to 5,000). While it is the
responsibility of labor inspectors to note the infraction, open the
investigation, and send the case to court, this rarely happens, as
it is difficult to catch an employer in the act.
¶D. (U) The prescribed penalties for rape or forcible sexual assault
are as follows:
RAPE - Under the Malagasy Penal Code, the minimum penalty for rape
is five years detention. If the rape involves a person less than
fifteen years of age, the penalty is five years forced labor.
STATUTORY RAPE - Article 331 of the Penal Code states anyone
attempting to have non-violent sex with a child under the age of 14
will be punished with five to ten years of imprisonment and a fine
of two to ten million Ariary (USD 1,000 to 5,000).
INCEST - Article 335.3 states that any sexual intercourse among
close parents or siblings up to the 3rd degree, in a direct or
collateral line, whose marriage is prohibited by the law; or any
sexual abuse committed by the father, the mother or any other
ascendant or any individual having authority over a child is
considered incest. Anyone who commits incest is sentenced to forced
labor for life if the act is committed on a child. In other cases
of incest, the perpetrator is sentenced to five (5) to ten (10)
years of imprisonment and a fine of USD 2,170 to 10,800 (4,000,000
to 20,000,000 Ariary).
¶E. (U) Though the new anti-trafficking law has been used in court on
several occasions, it has not yet resulted in a prosecution. Also,
there were no reports during the year of arrests specifically for
trafficking. However, traffickers may be prosecuted under provisions
prohibiting procurement of minors for prostitution, pedophilia,
pimping, and deceptive labor practices.
A centralized database in the Criminal Analysis Center (see 23A) was
established in September 2008 under the authority of the Secretary
of State (now Minister) for Internal Security; it is now
operational, but currently lacks the required legal standing for use
in court, and is generally limited to cases in Antananarivo.
Nevertheless, the GOM had difficulty providing information on
specific trafficking cases. Officials at the Ministry of Justice
must currently call each of the 36 jurisdictions to obtain
statistics on such cases.
There were several known cases of trafficking-related prosecutions
during the reporting period, although they did not use the specific
anti-trafficking law. According to UNICEF, in Fort Dauphin, six
ANTANANARI 00000141 008 OF 018
child abusers were in the process of being prosecuted in 2008. In
January 2008, a 60-year old man from Reunion was arrested for sexual
exploitation of a minor in Nosy Be. Four other people from Reunion
were considered accomplices and deported from the country. The
offense took place at a French-owned establishment in Nosy Be. A
foreign national was also imprisoned in Tamatave for sex tourism in
September 2008. Also, three French citizens' cases for indecent
assault or statutory rape were either dismissed or punished with
suspended sentences, while the case of a French-Vietnamese couple
being tried for pandering in January 2008 was dismissed for
inability to overcome reasonable doubt. The verdict is under appeal,
but has not yet been reexamined; the couple reportedly still
operates a hotel in Nosy Be.
Techniques such as electronic surveillance and undercover operations
are far too costly to be used by the GOM. The Ministry of Internal
Security established a Morals and Minors Brigade in six major cities
(see 24B). These specialized units respond to reports or complaints
concerning children. The Brigade of Morals and Minors' prosecution
activities included conducting traditional investigations of a
number of issues such as pimping, trafficking, and statutory rape.
¶F. (U) The National School of Magistrates and Clerks (ENMG) recently
included approved legislation on child protection in its curriculum
and the training of Magistrates, and conducted various Magistrate
trainings at the central and field levels. These efforts complement
trainings already conducted by the Ministry of Justice. In
collaboration with the ENMG and UNICEF, the French NGO Groupe
Developpement conducted trafficking legislation and child protection
trainings that benefited 216 stakeholders in four high-risk sites
and 1,500 people nationwide.
The Ministry of Justice, National Police, and Gendarmerie worked
with UNICEF to develop training modules on child rights and
safeguards for officials working in child protection networks. In
June 2008, the GOM completed a one-year program to train and assist
security forces in the protection of children, including how to
recognize, investigate, and prosecute instances of trafficking.
¶G. (U) The GOM is beginning to actively cooperate with other
governments in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking
cases. The GOM has judicial cooperative agreements with France
(Reunion) and Mauritius that are already being used as a basis for
multilateral TIP efforts. Also, the Police cooperated with
neighboring countries and Interpol in the investigation and
prosecution of trafficking cases.
¶H. (U) The 2008 anti-trafficking law (see appendix) allows the GOM
to extradite persons charged with trafficking in other countries and
permits the extradition of Malagasy nationals. To date, however, the
government has not extradited persons charged with trafficking in
other countries, nor has it permitted extradition of Malagasy
nationals.
¶I. (U) There are few examples as to how the government at any level
tolerates or is involved in trafficking. In one specific case,
officials in Tulear were issuing counterfeit identification cards to
young girls. As many as two out of three young girls in Mangil and
Ifaty (a beach destination 30km north of Tulear) are reported to
have fake IDs. With increased access to night clubs, this practice
perpetuates sexual exploitation of young girls by the foreigners or
other wealthy locals that frequent these locations.
In areas of high sex tourism, some local officials feel frustrated
by their institution's chronic lack of funding and resources for the
investigation and prosecution of foreign pedophiles, and therefore
develop a certain level of tolerance. Anecdotal evidence suggests
that local police and magistrates in tourist areas often hesitate to
prosecute foreign pedophiles due to corruption, pressure from the
local community, or fear of an international incident. Additionally,
numerous unregistered and unregulated small businesses create an
environment in which trafficking-related activities can go unnoticed
among other economic activities.
¶J. (U) Although some officials were punished in 2007 for colluding
with traffickers or accepting bribes to overlook trafficking crimes,
the Ministry of Justice was unable to report any such cases in 2008.
Several of the cases reported in last year's TIP report did result
ANTANANARI 00000141 009 OF 018
in suspensions being served (the district chief and the president of
the tribunal in Nosy Be, and the president of the tribunal in Fort
Dauphin) or officials being relocated (as in the case of a
prosecutor in Fort Dauphin), but no more severe punishments or new
cases have been reported.
¶K. (U) Prostitution is not a crime, though the legal minimum age is
15 years. However, related activities, such as pimping, are illegal
with greater punishment if conducted by an organized group or if
torture or barbaric acts are involved. Only clients of underage
prostitutes can be prosecuted. Perpetrators who commit sexual
tourism can be prosecuted with more harsh sentences if committed on
a child less than fifteen years of age. There is a regulation
(Decree 1111, (1966), of the Malagasy Penal Code) barring those
under the age of eighteen from nightclubs and discotheques and
subjecting offending owners to fines and jail terms. The regulation
is not enforced uniformly due to lack of capacity and resources.
¶L. (U) The government provided pre-deployment anti-trafficking
training to the 16 Malagasy soldiers deployed as part of a
peacekeeping mission in Sudan. There were no reports of Malagasy
soldiers engaging in severe forms of trafficking while on mission.
¶M. (U) Madagascar has confirmed a child sex tourism problem. The
GOM was unable to provide statistics as to the total number of
foreign pedophiles prosecuted during the year, though the
traditional countries of origin for sex tourists include: Mauritius,
Reunion, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland. The
Embassy is aware of at least one major case in Nosy Be of a foreign
pedophile (from Reunion) prosecuted in 2008, with others kicked out
of the country.
¶26. (U) PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS
--------------------------------------------
¶A. (U) A July 2004 UNICEF project proposal states that "the
government social welfare system is extremely limited due to a lack
of human resources with relevant background and experience, the lack
of government budget for activities, and low government salaries.
Most welfare services are provided by international and local NGOs
(like UNICEF)." While much of this still holds true, the GOM has
made steady progress since 2004 to rescue victims and assist their
reintegration.
A Child Rights Protection Network, which operates at the commune
level, was created by the Ministry of Health and Family Planning,
with support from UNICEF. In 2008, the network grew to include 65
communes (up from 14 in 2007), and UNICEF hopes to include the
participation of over 200 communes by the end of 2009. The Network
supports the coordination of several local level children's rights
and protection entities, including the police, the gendarmerie, the
Ministries of Education and Justice, and local authorities. The
Network works to identify abuse cases and assures that victims have
access to the appropriate social services available in each area. In
addition, all stakeholders play a role in monitoring and reporting
child rights violations and responding to the needs of the child. In
Antananarivo, the "fiansos", or child protection networks, and the
"celles de veille" (monitoring networks) are made up of neighborhood
representatives that identify and follow child abuse cases
(including potential trafficking victims) and inform the village
chiefs.
¶B. (U) USG assistance to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and PACT
have resulted in the development of four Welcome Centers in
Antananarivo, Tamatave, Tulear and Nosy Be, which provide shelter,
counseling, and reintegration assistance to victims of child abuse
and trafficking. Children are sometimes placed with foster families
as an emergency shelter and short-term housing arrangement. In
addition, civil society, NGOs, and churches made their premises
available for Child Protection Network activities - to be used as
listening and emergency centers for victims of trafficking. PACT
plans to establish emergency shelters for child trafficking victims.
Personnel at these centers will help place children back in schools,
provide professional training, and support vulnerable families by
coordinating microfinance opportunities or income-generating
activities. The GOM does not fund or operate any of these centers.
ANTANANARI 00000141 010 OF 018
The Ministries of Justice and Health and Family Planning
collaborated to establish counseling centers in Antananarivo and
Fianarantsoa for adult and child victims of a range of abuses,
including sexual and commercial exploitation. The GOM has also
established two Provincial Child Labor Monitoring Units in Diego
Suarez and Antananarivo; it is seeking resources to staff a third
unit in Tulear.
¶C. (U) The GOM does not provide funding at the central or regional
levels to support social, medical, or legal services for victims of
trafficking. However, assistance provided by the GOM was in kind -
technical assistance, office space, etc. to NGOs and IOs. The ILO,
one of the biggest donors to the Ministry of Labor, directly funded
NGOs to provide protection services for child labor and trafficking
victims. The USG (via USAID and DOL) and UNICEF provided a large
proportion of the funding for trafficking victim services.
Welcome Center physicians provided medical and psychological
counseling services, while Ministry of Labor inspectors taught
job-finding skills to rescued victims. The GOM provides shelter,
counseling, and reintegration assistance for victims through
counseling and Welcome Centers, funded by donors through the GOM's
Public Investors Program (PIP). While the GOM provides legal
protection for victims, it does not provide physical protection
outside of the Welcome Centers. Post was unable to access
information regarding the number of victims who benefited from
Welcome Center services.
The four UNICEF sites in Ambanja, Diego, Nosy Be, and Fort Dauphin
offer trafficking victims counseling, emergency housing/fostering,
police protection, legal services through specialized judges, and
referral doctors who can identify cases of abuse.
¶D. (U) The MOJ reported no foreign trafficking victims in 2008.
¶E. (U) The GOM does not provide long-term shelter or other resources
to victims of trafficking. However, centers funded or run by
UNICEF, CRS, PACT, and the GOM (through PIP) offer assistance and
often companionship throughout the entire process from
identification of a victim to court cases to transport home. At
these centers, rescued children under the age of 15 are reintroduced
to the educational system; children over 15 receive vocational
training and are placed with companies. In addition, certain
welcome centers provide reinsertion activities such as cooking and
embroidery classes, donation of materials such as sewing machines or
rickshaws, and school registration to help reintegrate victims of
trafficking.
In 2008, the GOM facilitated the reintegration of two young
trafficked girls who were recovered from a protection network in
Diego and returned to their families in Ambanja and Nosy Be.
Services included transport back to their home towns and the means
to enroll them in school.
¶F. (U) The GOM does not have a formal referral process. However,
NGOs or IOs managing welcome centers work within a network of
individuals committed to taking care of trafficking victims.
Concerned citizens refer victims to centers and then the centers'
social service personnel will determine what type of support is
needed (counseling, medical, police, legal) and provide
transportation and accompaniment. An established governmental
protection network, called the Child Rights Protection Network,
created by the Ministry of Health and Family Planning with support
from UNICEF, operates at the commune level with a three-pronged
approach: 1) prevention, 2) identification and
reinsertion/rehabilitation of child victims, and 3) prosecution of
perpetrators through law enforcement. The coordinated effort of
local level authorities from the police, gendarmerie, and Ministries
of Education and Justice, act as an informal referral system. The
need for such networks is illustrated by the increasing demand for
services from 2007 to 2008 in all UNICEF-funded sites: child victims
increased from 5 to 91 in Ambanja, 11 to 46 in Nosy Be, 0 to 18 in
Fort Dauphin, and an unrecorded amount to more than 200 cases in
Tamatave.
¶G. (U) The new central database to track criminal cases will be
helpful in the future in identifying trafficking victims (see 23A).
However, as in previous years, this report relied on NGO and IO
ANTANANARI 00000141 011 OF 018
studies and reports to estimate and extrapolate the total number of
trafficking victims. All of the identified victims were referred to
care facilities, though there is no method of tracking who gave the
referral, short of looking at individual records at each drop-in or
emergency care shelter/center. The GOM did not have functioning
government-funded assistance programs; 100% of the trafficking
victims were assisted through NGO or IO funded centers.
In 2007 and 2008, CRS project Aina ("Life" in Malagasy) identified
24 total trafficking victims seen over the last two years and
project Fitia ("Love") provided services to 203 trafficking victims.
UNICEF reported the reintegration of two female trafficking victims
in 2008. The 2007 National Child Labor Survey conducted by ILO
registered over 400,000 children that are involved in the "worst
forms of child labor", of which an unknown percentage would be
considered trafficking. A national level estimate of the total
number of trafficking victims in Madagascar will be available at the
end of March 2009 from the ILO.
¶H. (U) The GOM does not have a formal system to screen for potential
trafficking victims among high-risk persons or those involved in the
commercial sex trade. This is a gap that has been identified by NGOs
and regional LABs; unfortunately, without funding it is difficult to
move forward. Nevertheless, young girls who do not know that they
are trafficked do not consider it trafficking. Therefore, any
measures to screen for victims would have to involve the
characteristics of trafficking, not the term itself.
¶I. (U) Victims' rights are generally respected; they are not
detained, arrested, jailed, fined, or prosecuted for violations of
other laws. NGOs strive to respect the rights of trafficking
victims, especially the right to confidentiality. However, despite
NGOs' efforts to explain legal protection to women and girls, few
lodged official complaints or sought redress when their legal rights
were compromised due to illiteracy, cultural traditions, and
societal intimidation.
¶J. (U) The GOM encourages victims to assist in the investigation and
prosecution of trafficking. Victims may file civil suits or seek
legal action against the traffickers, and their right to seek legal
redress is not impeded.
¶K. (U) UNICEF developed a "Prosecution of Perpetrators" program in
order to train police, gendarmes, magistrates, and social workers in
the protection of children including how to recognize incidences of
trafficking, investigate cases, and prosecute offenders. Training
of the police and gendarmeries in the area of child protection was
also linked with a US Embassy project on investigation procedures
related to child sexual exploitation. Individuals involved in these
training programs received a training guide on identifying abuse, a
module on how to listen and support child survivors of abuse and
exploitation, and a booklet on legislation and procedures to support
the police and judges' work.
¶L. (U) There have been no cases of repatriated nationals who were
victims of trafficking in 2008.
¶M. (U) IOs and NGOs such as UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services (CRS),
PACT, Belle Avenir (a Malagasy NGO), Groupe Developpement (a French
NGO), and Enfants du Monde (a French NGO) have the GOM's endorsement
to provide basic services to trafficking victims.
UNICEF works in four high-risk locations: Ambanja, Diego, and Nosy
Be in the north, and Fort Dauphin in the south to provide youths and
their families with adequate information, education, and life skills
to prevent them from becoming victims of abuse, exploitation, and
trafficking. They have trained over 3,000 children, over half from
vulnerable families. Working in coordination with the Ministry of
Health, UNICEF expanded its financial support and technical
assistance to child rights and protection networks from 14 to 65
locations. These multi-sector networks bring together government
institutions, NGOs and law enforcement officials. Their main
activities include: monitoring cases of child abuse and reporting
them to the authorities, raising awareness of child rights and
protection, strengthening local coordination, assisting children and
their families with the legal process, and providing psycho-social
care, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
ANTANANARI 00000141 012 OF 018
Through Department and USAID funding, CRS worked with the Ministry
of Justice and civil society organizations from late 2006 to
November 2008. The two programs, Fitia and Aina (see 26G), assisted
victims and at-risk populations in Nosy Be, Tamatave and Tulear. In
addition, some support services were situated specifically around
mining companies Ambatovy, QMM, and Tirinomandites. Fitia provided
counseling and other social services to 203 trafficking victims who
visited one of four social service centers in Tulear, Tamatave, and
Nosy Be. Through the Fitia program, trafficking victims received
medical, psychosocial, and/or judicial support. Project Aina was a
two-year project that provided psychotherapy to 24 trafficking
victims in Nosy Be and Tamatave (18 female, 6 male, 14 for sexual
exploitation, 10 for labor exploitation). In addition, Aina's
implementing partners were safety net centers that take in and care
for trafficking victims.
PACT Madagascar, an international non-profit funded by the USDOL,
developed Kilonga ("Child" in Malagasy), a program started in 2008
to fight against child labor, aiming to reach 9,000 children who
already have been or may be at risk of being trafficked. Project
intervention zones include the regions with the highest prevalence
of the worst forms of child labor including Ft. Dauphin,
Fianarantsoa, and Antsirabe in the southern half of Madagascar;
Antananarivo, Moramanga, and Tamatave in the central highlands and
the east; and Diego in the north.
Groupe Developpement works throughout the country to provide the
following services for young female victims of commercial sexual
exploitation: psychosocial services, welcome center and night
shelters, remedial education, recreational alternatives, and
vocational training.
In addition to networks of local NGOs, there are several French NGOs
working specifically on issues affecting vulnerable children.
Enfants du Monde implements activities focusing on child
maltreatment and abuse, which includes trafficking. Belle Avenir
educates youth, reintegrates vulnerable children into schools,
coordinates a weekly trafficking film and debate, and provides
income-generating activities for victims (i.e. sewing for females
who were trafficked into prostitution).
¶27. (U) PREVENTION
------------------
(U) TIP awareness continues to increase in Madagascar through
aggressive information campaigns reaching thousands. In light of
the fact that many of the young people who fall into trafficking and
forced labor leave school prematurely and lack awareness of their
rights and economic alternatives, the government's prevention
campaigns took a holistic, empowering approach by addressing a
number of related issues that play a role in the overall problem.
Given the absence of educational or economic alternatives in most
areas where trafficking is prevalent, awareness programs sometimes
fall on deaf ears, though community members have started
acknowledging that trafficking exists and can identify cases.
¶A. (U) The Ministries of Justice, Education, Labor, Social
Protection, and Health and Family Planning (MOHFP), were involved
with a variety of major national TIP campaigns.
World Day Against Child Labor, including trafficking and sexual
exploitation of children, on June 12, 2008 was supplemental to
ongoing efforts. The day presented an opportunity to reinforce
social mobilization and deliver the message to the Malagasy public.
In addition, starting in May 2008, a national campaign against child
sexual exploitation and child maltreatment included key messages on
sex tourism in its communication materials such as posters, a short
film, and TV and radio spots.
The Ministry of Health and Family Planning: The MOHFP initiated
Local Anti-Trafficking Boards or LAB Committees that began operation
in 2007. Because of LABS' efforts to sensitize people on TIP-related
issues, many care centers received an increasing number of cases. In
partnership with the NGO Groupe Developpment, the GOM established a
national campaign against child sex tourism by printing thousands of
copies of posters posted in hotels in the main tourist sites in the
country. Information was disseminated to over 40,000 tourists
during major national events, and establishing messages in the
ANTANANARI 00000141 013 OF 018
"Passport to Madagascar" welcome booklet given to all incoming
travelers as part of the visa process include anti-trafficking
messages. Efforts at the local level continued to raise awareness,
sensitize, and mobilize individuals resulting in a more proactive
attitude by local leaders in the detection and follow-up of child
abuse cases.
The Ministry of Justice: The Ministry of Justice, with UNDP
support, launched a film as part of their TIP information and
prevention campaign. The film was widely distributed to sensitize
government, religious, and civic authorities. The Ministry of
Justice also started to permanently provide information through the
media and public gatherings. In collaboration with the Ministry of
Justice, CRS televised debates on TIP-related issues; organized a
competition with nationally and regionally famous singers; developed
a radio soap opera competition among youths mobilizing Ministry of
Education regional representatives, school directors, and teachers;
created and distributed 200 copies of a TIP bulletin; and developed
publications of 29 TIP articles in the press. In addition, peer
education mobilized youth associations, centers, and schools.
The Ministry of Labor: In May 2007, as part of the ongoing "red card
campaign" to raise awareness about the fight against child labor,
the government worked with the Malagasy Soccer Federation (FMF) to
conduct awareness campaigns around the country; this campaign
continued into 2008 with ongoing support from the FMF and ILO-IPEC.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports: The Ministry of Youth and Sports
designed an internal three-year anti-TIP action plan for 2007 to
¶2009. Its activities in 22 target zones included raising awareness
among youth through social mobilization, radio, television, and
training of youth educators.
The Ministry of Internal Security: Working closely with parent and
religious organizations, the Ministry of Internal Security has
continued its educational and awareness raising campaigns on child
exploitation, statutory rape, prostitution, and legislation
concerning the protection of minors, with a particular focus on
speaking to students in schools. As a result of these
awareness-raising initiatives, officials have noticed the number of
people stepping forward to file child-related complaints has
significantly increased.
¶B. (U) The GOM adequately monitors immigration and emigration
patterns from Ivato International Airport in Antananarivo, but does
not focus on trafficking. Madagascar is an island nation with 5,000
kilometers of porous and unprotected coastline. However, the
Ministry of Justice is not aware of any allegation of international
trafficking involving Malagasy victims.
Currently, border law enforcement agencies are not trained to screen
for potential trafficking victims. However, UNICEF plans to include
a specialized training for Air Madagascar (the national airline),
personnel working at ports, and bus and taxi associations (the best
opportunity for identifying victims of trafficking).
¶C. (U) Since 2004, the President-led inter-ministerial
anti-trafficking committee has been the principal coordination and
communication mechanism on anti-trafficking activities at the
central level. The committee includes representatives from the
Ministries of Labor, Education, Culture, Tourism, Youth and Sports,
Defense, Justice, Health/Family Planning, Foreign Affairs, Interior,
and Public Security. The government Committee for the Safeguard of
Integrity (CSI) that designs anti-corruption policy and BIANCO, the
independent anti-corruption bureau that was launched in 2004 to
conduct investigations and implement CSI directives, are members of
the anti-trafficking committee.
In practice, however, the Ministry of Justice leads the national,
regional, and local coordination and the follow-up of the
implementation of the National Action Plan to Fight Violence against
Children, including elements linked to anti-trafficking. Trafficking
issues are also addressed by the National Committee to Combat Child
Labor (CNLTE is the French acronym). The CNLTE features
representatives from the GOM, NGOs, and civil society. Additionally,
the National Social Protection and Risk Management Program is being
finalized and includes adequate measures for the reinforcement or
creation of systems and structures to provide early prevention,
ANTANANARI 00000141 014 OF 018
reinsertion, and rehabilitation services for children.
At the regional level in high-risk trafficking zones, local
interministerial anti-trafficking boards (LABs) coordinate
activities and develop action plans in order to combat trafficking.
These boards of about 20 members mirror the ministerial participants
of the President's committee. The regional level LABs have been
successful in improving anti-trafficking networking and social
services.
¶D. (U) The GOM adopted the National Action Plan to Fight Against All
Forms of Violence against Children in December 2007, covering for
the period from 2008 to 2011; this includes anti-trafficking
initiatives. The Ministry of Justice is leading the implementation
of this action plan. The National Action Plan to Fight Child Labor
is a comprehensive policy, including TIP, covering the 15-year
period from 2004 to 2019. The GOM created the National Committee to
Fight Child Labor (CNLTE) and its regional counterparts in October
2004 to coordinate and implement this plan.
¶E. (U) The GOM has taken a number of measures to reduce the demand
for commercial sex acts. The government continued with its national
awareness campaign by hanging posters throughout airports and hotels
and including a full-page warning in the customs booklet given to
arriving international passengers warning sex tourists of the
consequences. The government publicized the trials and convictions
of several sexual exploiters and pedophiles to dissuade future
would-be sex tourists.
¶F. (U) At time of reporting, there have been no confirmed cases of
Malagasy nationals being accused of participating in international
child sex tourism.
¶G. (U) Madagascar provided fewer than 100 troops to international
peacekeeping efforts.
TIP Hero
--------
Post nominates Commissaire Mandimbin'ny Aina Mbolanoro RANDRIAMBELO,
head of the Morals and Minors Brigade within the National Police,
for her dedicated work in building capacity, advocating for change,
and working with both Malagasy and international contacts to advance
the fight against Trafficking in Persons. Ms. Randriambelo is
extremely committed to her duties, and has the ability to motivate
teams of people both in Antananarivo and the outer regions who make
a difference in the country's ability to combat trafficking. She is
the lead person within the Ministry of Internal Security working on
this issue, and is recognized across the GOM and the international
community for her high-profile work at the national level, and
tireless public advocacy for this important cause.
Ms. Randriambelo has been vetted through CLASS, and has no visa
ineligibilities or otherwise derogatory information.
APPENDIX: TIP LAW
-----------------
The text of the law adopted in December 2007 making trafficking
illegal is as follows:
"The National Assembly and the Senate have adopted the Law during
their respective session on December 7, 2007, and
December 17, 2007, with the following content:
Article One.- The present draft law is designed to:
- implement prevention measures against trafficking in persons,
sexual exploitation and sexual tourism
- modify and complete some provisions of the Criminal Code so as
to:
rule over any form of trafficking in, sale of, abduction and
exploitation of persons; prevent and fight against trafficking
in persons; sanction traffickers; protect and assist trafficking in
persons victims by fully respecting their basic rights, specifically
to prevent women and children from becoming new victims.
CHAPTER ONE
ANTANANARI 00000141 015.2 OF 018
ON PREVENTION
Article 2.- So as to fight against trafficking in, sale of,
abduction and exploitation of persons, including children, the
programs, social initiatives and other measures of information,
education and communication to be broadcasted through the media
throughout the national territory by all authorized structures, as
well as the measures of coverage by the Government, are determined
by a decree issued by the Cabinet.
Article 3.- The cooperation of Non-Governmental Organizations, multi
and bilateral agencies, foreign Governments, and civil society with
the Government must be effective for the implementation of the
established programs and measures.
Article 4.- An office, to be established within the conditions
determined by a decree issued by the Cabinet will be in charge of
determining the types of valid and necessary transportation
documents, detecting the necessary means and methods used by any
individual or group to organize the trafficking of persons.
CHAPTER II
MODIFICATIONS OF THE CRIMINAL CODE
Article 5.- After article 331, an article numbered 331 bis is
included and worded as follow:
"Art. 331 bis: Anyone violating morals by exciting, enhancing or
facilitating, in order to satisfy anyone's passions, debauchery,
corruption or child prostitution regardless of gender, is sentenced
to forced labor for life."
Article 6.- After article 333 bis, three articles numbered 333 ter,
333 quarter and 333 quinto are included and worded as follows:
"Art. 333 ter:
¶1. A child is defined as a human being aged below eighteen years
old.
¶2. The phrase "trafficking in persons" refers to the hiring,
transportation, transfer, accommodation or welcoming of persons
through threats or use of force or other forms of constraint,
abduction, fraud, deceit, oppression or abuse of a situation of
vulnerability, or by offering or accepting payments of benefits in
order to have the consent of a person having authority over another
person for the purpose of exploitation or illegal adoption of a
child by an individual called trafficker.
¶3. Exploitation includes the exploitation of the prostitution of any
individual or other forms of sexual exploitation, non-compensated
work, forced labor or services, domestic work by children, slavery
or any practices similar to slavery, servitude or organ retrieval.
¶4. Sexual exploitation of a child, regardless of gender, for
commercial purposes refers to the action through which an adult
obtains services from a child to have sexual intercourse in exchange
for a compensation or a benefit in kind or in cash given to the
child or to one or several third parties as provided in articles 334
to 335 bis of the Criminal Code, with or without the child's
consent.
¶5. Sexual tourism refers to the fact that a native or a foreigner is
on travel, regardless of the purpose, and has sexual intercourse in
exchange for a financial compensation or any other benefits with
children or prostitutes, these latter themselves looking for sexual
intercourse in order to obtain any benefit.
¶6. Pornography featuring children refers to any representation,
regardless of the means, of a child performing explicit sexual
activities, genuine or simulated, or any representation of a child's
sexual organs, for mainly sexual purposes.
¶7. The phrase "sale of children" refers to any action or transaction
requiring the transfer of a child from a person or a group of
persons to another person or another group of persons in exchange
for compensation or any benefit.
ANTANANARI 00000141 016 OF 018
The displacement or non-return of a child is considered as illegal
when there has been a violation of custody rights allocated to an
individual, an institution or any other organization, alone or
jointly, according to the law applicable in the State where the
child had his/her usual residence immediately before his/her
displacement or non-return."
"Art. 333 quarter: Trafficking in persons, including children, as
well as sexual tourism and incest, constitute violations.
Is considered as a child trafficker:
¶1. Anyone who hires a child, transports him/her, transfers him/her,
or accommodates him/her in exchange for compensation or any other
benefit of promise of compensation or benefit, so as to make him/her
available to a third party -- even unidentified, in order to allow
the said child to suffer the violations provided for and sentenced
by articles 334 and following on sexual aggressions and attacks,
exploitation of mendacity, working or accommodation conditions
against his/her dignity, even if they use none of the means
stipulated in article 333 ter;
¶2. Anyone who proceeds to the illegal transportation and sale of
children, regardless of the form and the purpose, namely sexual
exploitation, forced labor, slavery, practices similar to slavery
and servitude, with or without the victim's consent;
¶3. Anyone who, knowing for a fact the existence of pimping, sexual
exploitation or sexual tourism, fails to disclose or notify the
facts to the relevant authorities, in compliance with the provisions
of article 69 and 70 of the law No. 2007-023 of August 20, 2007, on
children's rights and protection, is considered as an accomplice.
Acts of participation are considered as separate violations."
"Art. 333 quinto: The consent of victims of trafficking in persons
for exploitation is considered null and void, when any of the means
listed in article 333 quarter in used."
Article 7.- After article 334 bis, three articles numbered 334 ter,
334 quarter and 334 quinto are inserted and are worded as follows:
"Art. 334 ter: Anyone who hires, involves in or abducts for
prostitution, an individual even if (s)he consents, is sentenced to
two (2) to five (5) years of imprisonment and a fine of USD 540 to
5,400 (1,000,000 to 10,000,000 Ariary).
If the violation has been committed on a child under fifteen years
of age, regardless of gender, the perpetrator is sentenced to forced
labor for life."
"Art. 334 quarter: Sexual exploitation, as defined by article 333
ter, is punishable by five (5) to ten (10) years of imprisonment and
a fine of USD 2,170 to 10,800 (4,000,000 to 20,000,000 Ariary).
Any perpetrator committing sexual exploitation is sentenced to
forced labor for life if committed on a child aged below fifteen
years of age, regardless of gender.
If the sexual exploitation is committed for commercial purposes on a
child aged below eighteen years of age, the perpetrator is sentenced
to forced labor for life."
"Art. 334 quinto: Anyone who has sexual intercourse with a child in
exchange for any form of compensation or benefit is sentenced to two
(2) to five (5) years of imprisonment and a fine of USD 540 to 5,400
(1,000,000 to 10,000,000 Ariary).
Any attempt to commit this crime is subject to the same sentences."
Article 8.- After article 335, nine (9) articles numbered 335.1,
335.2, 335.3, 335.4, 335.5, 335.6, 335.7, 335.8, 335.9 are included
and are worded as follow:
"Art. 335.1: Any perpetrator who commits sexual tourism, as defined
by article 2, 4' of the present law, is sentenced to five (5) to ten
(10) year of imprisonment and a fine of USD 2,170 to 10,800
(4,000,000 to 20,000,000 Ariary).
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Any perpetrator who commits sexual tourism is sentenced to forced
labor for life if committed on a child below fifteen tears of age,
regardless of gender.
Pornography featuring children, regardless of representation and
means, or the detention of pornographic materials involving children
is subject to the sentences provided for by article 334 of the
Criminal Code."
"Art. 335.2: The father or mother or other ascendant, who encourages
directly or indirectly child prostitution by letting a child live a
liberal and independent life, thus enhancing sexual exploitation
and/or tourism on the child, in a national or international setting,
is sentenced to five (5) to ten (10) year of imprisonment and/or a
fine of USD 2,170 to 10,800 (4,000,000 to 20,000,000 Ariary).
The same sentences apply if the perpetrator is either the brother or
the sister of the underage victim or any individual holding a
similar position in the family, i.e. any individual usually or
occasionally living with the child and having authority over the
child."
"Art. 335.3: Any sexual intercourse among close parents or siblings
up to 3rd degrees, in a direct or collateral line, whose marriage is
prohibited by the law; or any sexual abuse committed by the father,
the mother or any other ascendant or any individual having authority
over a child is considered incest.
Anyone who commits incest is sentenced to forced labor for life if
the act is committed on a child.
In other cases of incest, the perpetrator is sentenced to five (5)
to ten (10) year of imprisonment and a fine of USD 2,170 to 10,800
(4,000,000 to 20,000,000 Ariary).
"Art. 335.4: Anyone who has violated the rules set forth by the
provisions of adoption law in order to commit an illegal adoption, a
fact that constitutes trafficking in persons, shall be sentenced to
forced labor for life."
"Art. 335.5: Any attempt of trafficking in persons, sexual
exploitation in any form, sexual tourism and incest that has been
manifested by the beginning of a completion, even if it has not been
suspended or if it only missed its effects because of circumstances
independent from the perpetrator's willingness, is considered as an
action in itself and shall be subject to the same sentences."
"Art. 335.6: The child victim of violations related to trafficking
in persons, sexual exploitation, sexual tourism and incest can, at
any time, notify or apply to the public prosecution or any other
competent authority, on the facts committed to him/her and claim
damages for the prejudice suffered."
"Art. 335.7: Concerning violations related to trafficking in
persons, sexual exploitation, sexual tourism and incest committed on
a child, the prescription period of the legal proceedings starts
only after the date on which the child reaches eighteen years of
age.
In case the perpetrator is detained prior to the trial, the deposit
of guaranty bond as provided by articles 346 and following of the
Criminal procedure code may not be used."
"Art. 335. 8: The sentences provided for the violations of
trafficking, sexual exploitation, sexual tourism and incest
committed on a child are pronounced immediately, regardless of the
means used to exploit or abuse the victim."
"Art. 335. 9.- The sentences pronounced for the crimes related to
the violations on trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation,
sexual tourism and incest committed on a child may not be
deferred."
Article. 9.- After article 335 bis, three articles numbered 335 ter,
335 quarter and 335 quinto, are included and are worded as follows:
"Art. 335 ter: Nationals and individuals having residence in
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Madagascar and who are involved in trafficking in persons, sexual
exploitation and sexual tourism in other countries are persecuted
and sentenced according to the provisions of the Criminal Code."
"Art. 335 quarter: The requests for extradition for individuals
searched for a legal procedure in a foreign State are completed for
violations provided for in the present law or so as to help execute
a sentence related to such violation.
The procedures and principles provided by the extradition treaty in
effect between the requesting State and Madagascar are applied.
In the absence of extradition treaty or legislative provisions, the
extradition is completed according to the procedure and in
compliance with the principles determined by the typical extradition
treaty adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its
resolution 45/116."
CHAPTER III
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 10.- Regulatory texts will be drafted to implement the
present law.
Article 11.- The present Law shall be published in the Official
Journal of the Republic of Madagascar.
It shall be executed as a State law."
MARQUARD
D