United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The UNODC Regional Office in East Africa (ROEA)

Madagascar Upscaling Efforts to Counter Child Sexual Exploitation 

Antananarivo (Madagascar), 22 April 2021 –Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is posing a significant threat to human security in the East African region, including in Madagascar.

Criminal networks are increasingly exploiting people, including vulnerable children, especially from disadvantaged rural and coastal areas through sexual exploitation and forced labor in domestic service, mining, fishing, begging and agriculture.

Beyond, TIP, Child Sex Tourism (CST) is a serious violation of the rights of children and a unique type of criminal activity that presents significant challenges to criminal justice institutions in developing and implementing effective responses to prevent and counter such crimes.

To support the Government of Madagascar in countering and preventing TIP, Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and CST, UNODC recently facilitated a 2-day hybrid training workshop for Malagasy criminal justice practitioners to increase their knowledge on these crimes, but also to enhance the capacity of criminal justice practitioners to effectively respond to CSE and CST, including with a victim-centred approach. The workshop also discussed the need to effectively criminalize all forms of TIP and the need for harmonization of legislation to effectively criminalize CSE and CST crimes.

During the 2-day workshop, UNODC presented the international legal framework aimed at countering transnational organized crime (TOC) and TIP. UNODC also facilitated discussions on rights of child victims of TIP and other forms of sexual exploitation as well as the existing Anti-TIP legislation in Madagascar.

The Ministry of Tourism of Madagascar presented the measures that the government is currently undertaking to prevent and counter CST.

UNICEF Madagascar delivered a presentation on the rights and protection of child victims of TIP, and ECPAT France (covering Madagascar) delivered a presentation on CSEC and CST, focusing on definitions of these crimes, solutions to prevent and counter these criminal activities, and how to enhance cooperation with relevant stakeholders in countering these crimes, including the private sector. Additionally, ECPAT also presented their 24-point checklist against which new and existing legislation can be tested to ensure that it meets all legal requirements to effectively protect children against these crimes.

In order to effectively prevent, counter and prosecute TOC and TIP – including CSE and CST – while protecting and assisting the victims of such crimes, it is critical for Member States in Eastern Africa to continue to strengthen their legislation, but also national coordination and international cooperation to counter these crimes across jurisdictions.

The webinar was presented as part of the regional project on Enhancing Effective and Victim-Centred Criminal Justice Responses to Trafficking in Persons in Eastern Africa, funded by the U.S Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. This project is being implemented by UNODC as part of its regional Countering Transnational Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Programme within the framework of the UNODC Regional Programme for Eastern Africa (2016-2021).

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Johan Kruger – Johan.Kruger@un.org

Head of Transnational Organized Crime, Illicit Trafficking and Terrorism Programmes

UNODC Regional Office for Eastern Africa