Madagascar

The Committee takes note of the current and unfolding political crisis in the State party, which is currently led by a transitional government, and the negative effect this has had on the development and implementation of relevant legislation, policy and programmes for children.

In Madagascar, freedom of expression is restricted and children's opinions are not included in political decisions. Twins are subject to prejudice, resulting in abandonment and death. The predominantly poor have additional problems accessing health care and education.

The Committee is concerned about high levels of teenage pregnancies and low levels of contraceptive use. To improve the situation, the Committee recommends that the State party continue and strengthen efforts to ensure access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health services and improve sexual and reproductive health education in all schools.

The Committee recommends that the State party urgently address the high level of discrimination against children with disabilities and take all available measures to ensure that the rights of such children are realized. In particular, the Committee recommends the State party to eradicate impunity for abuse of children with disabilities by ensuring investigation, prosecution and appropriate sentencing of perpetrators of such abuse as well as expand and strengthen awareness-raising activities for the community at large, aimed at combating prejudice and discrimination against children with disabilities. The Committee further recommends to strengthening the monitoring of situations of children with disabilities in the home, including training social workers on detecting signs of sexual abuse and take all available measures to improve the access to education for children with disabilities. Madagascar should also strengthen implementation of programmes and policies on inclusive education to improve the numbers of children with disabilities who have access to education as well as increase access to appropriate health care for children with disabilities, including by providing training in relevant skills to health-care workers and encouraging families to access health-care services for children with disabilities.

The Committee urges the State party to conduct a rapid assessment of the health system, in particular at the community level, to urgently review its functioning and ensure that priority areas, including maternal- and infant-mortality-reduction activities, have secure and consistent funding. The Committee also urges the State party to strengthen social and financial support to children at risk of malnutrition and improve the systems at community level to monitor child growth and undertake relevant nutrition interventions through basic health centres in order to detect and address acute and chronic malnutrition. In addition, the Committee urges to expand and strengthen preventive programmes against malaria with a particular focus on protecting mothers and children and strengthen programs to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS with a particular focus on adolescents and prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Madagascar should also ensure access to adequate maternity health-care services and access to emergency obstetric care to all pregnant women, particularly those living in rural and remote areas, and ensure that such centres are provided with adequate human, technical and financial resources.

The Committee notes the lack of information on any regulatory framework regarding social and environmental responsibility of business corporations and industries to prevent possible negative impact of their activities on children.

The Committee is concerned that exploitation of natural resources, including through the mining sector, extractive and forestry industries and the tourism sector, does not always benefit the local community, including its children, and brings such harmful effects to families and children as economic exploitation of children and sex tourism, resettlement of communities without appropriate services and harm to the environment and wildlife.
The Committee recommends that the State party establish and implement regulations to ensure that the business sector complies with international and domestic standards on corporate social responsibility. In doing so, the Committee encourages the State party to focus on the protection of the rights of the child and to investigate and provide remedies in reported cases of abuse by corporations and their executives.

The Committee urges the State party to establish special jurisdiction for children, including child-friendly courts and other procedures as well as ensure that children and adults are separated in prison. Madagascar should also ensure that the judiciary apply child-friendly procedures to protect and respect the best interest of the child as well as that judiciary, prosecutors and other relevant professionals receive systematic and specialized training in juvenile justice. In addition, the Committee urges Madagascar to ensure that children in prison are provided with appropriate nutrition, health services and access to education and to establish a programme of reintegration of children after release from prison or institutions.

The Committee notes the programmes by the State party to protect twins, particularly in the region of Mananjary, against ill-treatment and discrimination. However, the Committee remains seriously concerned about persistent traditional beliefs that twins bring bad luck, and the continued practice of ill-treatment, rejection and abandonment of twins in the Mananjary region, leading, in some cases, to the death of children. The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures to stop the ill-treatment, rejection and abandonment of twins, including through legislation and increased awareness-raising in the society at large, which should involve traditional leaders. In addition, the Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures to ensure that the placement in institutions of twins must be a measure of last resort.