Human Trafficking in [Madagascar] [other countries]
Street Children in [Madagascar] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Madagascar] [other countries]
 

Child Prostitution

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

Democratic Republic of Madagascar [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Democratic Republic of Madagascar [map] is an island nation located in the Indian Ocean, and separated from E Africa by the Mozambique Channel. It is the world's fourth largest island. The country also claims several small islands including Juan de Nova, Europa, the Glorioso Islands, Tromelin, and Bassas da India. Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo. Madagascar is the world’s ninth-poorest country (according to rankings from the World Bank) with 70 % of the population struggling to survive on less than US$1 a day. The country’s widespread poverty poses a formidable threat to the physical, educational and social development of its children.

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National Plan of Action

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Commercial sexual exploitation is a problem in most of Madagascar’s urban areas and sex tourism is prevalent in small coastal towns and villages.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

CHILDREN - Child prostitution was a problem. According to a continuing study conducted by the International Labor Organization's International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), there were approximately 700 to 800 child prostitutes in the city of Nosy Be and more than 2 thousand in Toamasina. Some child prostitutes reported earning several times the average per capita monthly income. Acute poverty and lack of family support were the primary reasons that children engaged in prostitution.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2003

[65] While welcoming the adoption of Act 98-024 of 25 January 1999 amending the Penal Code, the Committee is concerned about the increasing number of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution and pornography. Concern is also expressed at the lack of programs for the physical and psychological recovery and social rehabilitation of child victims of such abuse and exploitation.

ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action [DOC]

[B] COUNTRY UPDATES – MADAGASCAR – There has been an increase in CSEC and especially sex tourism particularly in the capital and in the province of Antsohy. The increase has been remarkable in the last ten years and is attributed to poverty and the increase in the tourism industry. Most of the victims of CSE are reported to be school ‘drop-outs’. Child prostitution involving mainly fishermen as clients is another phenomenon is also been reported on the increase. There are also talks about a pedophile network operating in the country.

Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - Reports to Treaty Bodies

The Committee further expressed concern about the lack of free primary education; the increasing number of street children and the lack of a strategy to address their needs; the increasing number of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution and pornography; the lack of judges and criminal courts for minors; the sentencing of children aged 16 and 17 as adults; the limited possibilities for the rehabilitation and reintegration of juveniles following judicial proceedings.

Madagascar Launches Campaign To End Child Sex Exploitation

At the official launch of a national campaign to end child sexual exploitation in Madagascar, UNICEF and ILO presented the resumes of three studies that highlighted the sexual exploitation of children in Madagascar. According to the UNICEF-sponsored study, between 30 per cent to 50 per cent of all sex workers in two of the country's main cities, Nosy Be and Tamatave, were children under the age of 18.

Madagascar Trafficking in Person Report - 2004

The studies found that a significant number of Malagasy children, mostly girls between the ages of 13 and 18, engaged in prostitution. The report indicated that much of that activity was without the involvement of any third party, although there were some cases of encouragement or facilitation by family or other third parties, including taxi and rickshaw drivers, friends, or traditional (often older, female) pimps/procurers. The studies cited social, economic, and cultural factors as influencing the incidence of child prostitution. Malagasy cultural practices, for example, permit minors to choose sexual partners, even among strangers, and to accept gifts or money from them without any social stigma. The report also noted that prostitution has traditionally been seen here as a normal activity and legitimate source of income.

CEACR 2005/76th Session - Comments made by the Committee of Experts

The Committee notes that, in 2002, ILO/IPEC carried out a "rapid assessment" concerning the scope of the phenomenon of the sexual exploitation of children in Madagascar, in the towns of Antsiranana, Toliara and the capital, Antananarivo. This study reveals the existence of the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Both girls and boys are affected. Generally speaking, boys and girls are "recruited" in the street or in nightclubs. However, boys in Antsiranana also have contact persons - generally hotel receptionists - who transmit offers or requests between the boys and their clients. Furthermore, according to the National Action Plan to Combat Child Labour, the commercial sexual exploitation of children occurs in most of the urban areas of Madagascar. Certain locations in particular, such as tourist towns and coastal villages, are affected. Most of the clients involved in the commercial sexual exploitation of children are Malagasy nationals. The use of intermediaries varies between 15 and 47 per cent in the three cities of Antananarivo, Antsiranana and Toliara. The average age at which children start work in this sector varies between 13 and 15.

Travel Guides - grets's Madagascar Page

WARNINGS OR DANGERS: CHILD PROSTITUTION - Child prostitution is a major problem in Madagascar and we found some disturbing evidence of this. Post cards for sale in certain hotels showing girls aged 9-10 with the words 'My name is...., I am 9 1/2 years old and I live in Tana'. Picture cards of young boys in swimming trunks, again with similar wording. Bars with large pictures of children on the walls, mainly pre-teen girls with very little clothing. Walking along the beach at Ifaty we are approached by girls as young as 6, leaning back seductively whilst spreading their legs, asking 'you want picture?'

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Human Trafficking in [Madagascar] [other countries]
Street Children in [Madagascar] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Madagascar] [other countries]