Search Results for “human trafficking in madagascar”

Source: Human trafficking in Madagascar

Madagascar ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2005.
In 2010 Madagascar was a source country for women and children subjected to human trafficking, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. An estimated 6,000 Malagasy women were currently employed as domestic workers in Lebanon, with a smaller number in Kuwait. Many of these women came from rural areas and were often illiterate or poorly educated, making them more vulnerable to deception and abuse at the hands of recruitment agencies and employers. Detailed information regarding situations of forced labor and other abuses experienced by Malagasy domestic workers in Lebanon came to light during the year. Numerous trafficking victims returning to Madagascar reported harsh working conditions, physical violence, sexual harassment and assault, confinement to the home, confiscation of travel documents, and withholding of salaries. Eight deaths were reported among this population in 2009.
Children, mostly from rural areas, were subject to conditions of domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor in mining, fishing, and agriculture within the country. Most child trafficking occurred with the involvement of family members, but friends, transport operators, tour guides, and hotel workers also facilitated the enslavement of children. A child sex tourism problem exists in coastal cities, including Tamatave, Nosy Be, and Diego Suarez, as well as the capital city of Antananarivo; some children were recruited for work in the capital using fraudulent offers of employment as waitresses and maids before being forced into the commercial sex trade on the coast. The main sources of child sex tourists were France, Germany, and Switzerland. Parents sold young women into marriages, some of which were short-term, often for significant sums of money.
In 2010, the Government of Madagascar did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it made significant efforts to do so. Since the March 2009 coup, combating human trafficking received little attention in Madagascar; the focus on the abuse of domestic workers in Lebanon did not result in any commensurate governmental response to the problem. The government's anti-trafficking efforts were insufficient and decreased during the year - especially in the areas of prosecuting trafficking offenders, identifying and protecting victims, and raising public awareness of the problem - while the prevalence of officials' complicity in human trafficking became more evident. Lack of political will, institutional capacity, and relevant training remained significant impediments to improved anti-trafficking performance, particularly impacting the effectiveness of law enforcement activities; the government failed to investigate or prosecute traffickers in 2009.
The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in the "Tier 2 Watchlist" in 2010, 2017 and 2023.