The country’s High Constitutional Court validated the measure by requiring the surgical castration of the convicts.
At the beginning of February, Madagascar passed a law to impose chemical or even surgical castration sentences on convicted child rapists. Last Friday, the High Constitutional Court validated the measure and even… went further, reports the French newspaper Le Monde. From now on, rapists of children under 10 will “always” be surgically castrated. For older victims, the sanction will be left to the discretion of the judges.
The body, seized to validate the text pushed by President Andry Rajoelina, therefore went further. While the government wanted a gradation of castration according to the age of the victims – only chemical for those who raped minors aged 13 to 18, the HCC considered that this difference was contrary to the objective of the law.
Amnesty International had called for “repealing” this text, affirming that chemical or surgical castration “constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” and “will not resolve” the issue of child rape.
This measure is also, according to the NGO, “not compatible with Malagasy constitutional provisions against torture and ill-treatment, as well as with regional and international standards relating to human rights”.
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