Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Madagascar.htm
Madagascar is a
source country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced
labor and sexual exploitation. Children, mostly from rural areas, are
trafficked within the country for domestic servitude, commercial sexual
exploitation, forced marriage, forced labor for traveling vendors, and
possibly forced labor in mining, fishing, and agriculture. Some child sex trafficking
occurs with the involvement of family members, friends, transport operators,
tour guides, and hotel workers. A child sex tourism problem exists in coastal
cities, including Tamatave, Nosy Be, and Diego
Suarez, as well as the capital city of Antananarivo; - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check
out a later country report here and possibly a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular
interest to you. Would you like to
write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Gem industry in
need of regulation UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, Ilakaka, 17
September 2003 www.irinnews.org/report/46200/madagascar-feature-gem-industry-in-need-of-regulation [accessed 19
February 2011] One of the most
disturbing aspects of The report noted
that children are often exposed to very serious dangers and can, for example,
die of suffocation if the mine caves in. Dominique Rakotomanga,
who works for IPEC in the capital, ***
ARCHIVES *** Anti-human
trafficking campaign empowers women and protects children in Madagascar Christi Boyd, Special
to Presbyterian News Service, 10 January 2020 [accessed 11 January
2020] Fabienne realized it would
be better for her to return to her home, but she faced many obstacles: “The
agency didn’t allow me to return to Madagascar. The agency wanted me to stay
and work. Then the people at the agency beat me and forced me back to work.”
Complicating Fabienne’s situation was the fact that
her passport had been confiscated upon her arrival at Kuwait’s airport, and
Madagascar has no diplomatic representation in Kuwait to advocate on her
behalf. Eventually, she escaped and ran to the French Embassy, where staff
helped her find temporary shelter. Fabienne is one of 235
trafficked Malagasy women rescued from working against their will in Lebanon
or Kuwait over the past decade with the help of the Rev. Helivao
Poget. Ottawa family
building school in Madagascar to prevent child trafficking High poverty rates
often force Malagasy children into exploitation Elise von Scheel · CBC News · Jun 18, 2017 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/madagascar-child-trafficking-1.4166199 [accessed 2 November
2019] An Ottawa family is
building a secondary school in Madagascar in hopes of preventing child
trafficking in the African country. Blake and Catherine
Potter, along with their four children, are hosting garage sales, selling
lemonade and making lip balms to raise money to build a school in the village
of Ambatomirahavavy, Madagascar. Their goal is to
raise $5,000 to contribute to construction materials, food and school
supplies for the children. The Potter family is building the school with the
Madagascar Cooperative Foundation, an organization that works to end poverty
in the country. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Madagascar U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/madagascar/
[accessed 15 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Union
representatives charged that working conditions in some garment factories
were akin to forced labor. Setting production targets instead of paying
overtime allowances became a general practice among EPZ companies. Workers
were assigned higher targets each time they reached the previous goals,
obliging them to work more hours to avoid sanctions like salary withholding
or even dismissal for low performance. Media and union representatives
reported additional abuses perpetrated in call centers run by offshore
companies and reported that managers required employees to work overtime
beyond legal limits. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Child labor was a
widespread problem. Children in rural areas worked mostly in agriculture, fishing,
and livestock herding, while those in urban areas worked in domestic labor,
transport of goods by cart, petty trading, stone quarrying, artisanal mining
for gemstones such as sapphires, in bars, and as beggars. Mica mining and
sorting was an industry rife with child labor abuses. Children also worked in
the vanilla sector, salt production, deep-sea diving, and the shrimp
industry. Some children were victims of human trafficking. Forced child labor
occurred, including child sex trafficking and forced labor in mining,
quarrying, begging, and domestic work. The results of the 2018 Multiple
Indicator Cluster Survey indicated 47 percent of children were involved in
child labor, including 36 percent of those between five and 11 years old. In
addition, 32 percent of children between ages five and 17 worked in dangerous
environments or occupations. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
OF CHILDREN Employers often
abused and raped young rural girls working as housekeepers in the capital. If
the girls left their work, employers typically did not pay them, so many
remained rather than return empty-handed to their families and villages. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/madagascar/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 8 July
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Most people work in
subsistence agriculture, making advancement in the local economy extremely
challenging. According to the US
State Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Malagasy
government does not scrutinize officials implicated in trafficking. The
report also noted that the government does not provide services to survivors
of trafficking. However, Madagascar has made some recent progress in
arresting those accused of trafficking; two were arrested in March 2019, and
another three were held in December. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 19 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 3 May
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 630] Children in
Madagascar, predominantly girls, are lured by peers, family members, and
pimps to engage in commercial sexual exploitation, particularly in tourist
locations and mining areas. (19; 2; 3; 25) Children as young as age 10 are
also involved in mining gold, stones, and sapphires in the regions of Analamanga, Anosy, Ilakaka, and Vakinankaratra.
Children in the mining sector suffer from respiratory problems and diseases
such as diarrhea and malaria, and are also at risk of injury from collapsing
mines. (8; 21; 17; 22; 23; 19; 25; 5) In addition, children working in the
production of vanilla in Madagascar are exposed to toxic substances and
extreme temperatures, and transport heavy loads and work for long hours. (6;
7; 9; 16; 32; 15). National birth
registration campaign launched UN Integrated Regional
Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/50124/madagascar-national-birth-registration-campaign-launched [accessed 9 March
2015] The The UNICEF and world
legislators urge action against child exploitation Agence France-Presse www.aegis.com/news/afp/2004/AF040461.html [accessed 19
February 2011] "More than two
million children throughout the world are victims of commercial sexual
exploitation," said UNICEF director Edwin Judd. "Children are bought, sold, traded,
and bartered or see no alternative but to sell themselves. The sex trade has
no borders. Children from rich as well as poor countries are exploited,"
he said. Judd said that, according to
UNICEF research, between 30 percent and 50 percent of prostitutes in Tim Healy, BBC News,
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3633087.stm [accessed 19
February 2011] Police in The eight accused
Malagasy men are alleged to be part of an illegal adoption ring that offers
financial incentives of up to $800 for every young baby they find. Mr Rakotondravao said this can be partly attributed to poverty
as poor young single mothers are prepared to give up a child in return for
cash. Efforts to stop
child trafficking UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/51422/madagascar-efforts-to-stop-child-trafficking [accessed 9 March
2015] In the past year
police have reportedly smashed five networks dealing in the illicit adoption
of children aged between two months and 10 years, mainly destined for UNICEF Press www.unicef.org/media/media_18223.html [accessed 19
February 2011] At the official
launch of a national campaign to end child sexual exploitation in Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 3 October 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/madagascar2003.html [accessed 19
February 2011] [42] The Committee
is concerned that there is very little interest in simple adoption in the
State party leading to various types of informal adoption such as
“god-parenting” that are not conducive to full respect for children’s rights. The Committee further welcomes the
establishment of the inter-ministerial commission on inter-country adoption,
but remains concerned that inter-country adoptions are not properly followed
up. [61] While
welcoming the adoption of Act 98-024 of 25 January 1999 amending the
Penal Code and other efforts undertaken by the State party to combat
child trafficking through a national program, and in particular the
adoption of a travel document with five other countries of the region, the
Committee is deeply concerned at the number of trafficked children who are
exploited in the State party and in neighboring countries. The Protection
Project – Madagascar [PDF] The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS),
The Johns Hopkins University www.protectionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Madagascar.pdf [accessed 24
February 2016] A Human Rights
Report on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8. 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61578.htm [accessed 10
February 2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– The law does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, and there
were reports of trafficking in women and girls for prostitution between the
country and the neighboring islands of There were several
cases of kidnapping, and politicians from the south claimed that children were
being sold for up to $3,200 (16 million ariary) for
overseas adoption or forced labor. During the year the
government took several steps to combat trafficking. In May the government
passed a new adoption law, in part to protect children from being trafficked
under the guise of adoption. The government also continued to construct
welcome centers for the victims of trafficking and forced labor. The
government listed the fight against trafficking as one of its key objectives
and created a strategy during the year to address child labor and trafficking
in each part of the country. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/madagascar.htm [accessed 19
February 2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor CHILD
LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT - Forced or bonded labor by children is prohibited
under the Labor Code. The Penal Code prohibit engaging in sexual activities of any type with children
under the age of 14, and the production and dissemination of pornographic
materials showing minors is illegal.
The government does not have comprehensive legislation prohibiting
trafficking in persons. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
