United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects 2022, Online Edition. Estimates 2021.
(1) Adopt legislation to criminalize all acts of violence against women, specifically criminalizing domestic violence, including marital rape, child and/or forced marriage and all forms of sexual abuse, and formulate a comprehensive strategy to ensure the implementation of legislation;
(2) Adopt and implement legislation requiring that gender-based violence against women in the domestic sphere be taken into account in child custody proceedings or visitation decisions and raise the awareness of the judiciary with regard to the relationship between that kind of violence and the development of the child;
(3) Ensure that women and girls who are victims of violence have access to effective redress, including compensation, and to protection, and that perpetrators are prosecuted and adequately punished;
(4) Guarantee resources for finalizing and implementing the national strategy to combat gender-based violence;
(5) Provide adequate assistance and protection to women who are victims of violence by establishing shelters and providing counselling and rehabilitation to victims, especially in rural areas, and through the coordination of interventions, the provision of support services and cooperation with non-governmental organizations and international partners;
(6) Continue to raise public awareness through the media and educational programmes and to implement mandatory capacity-building programmes for law enforcement officials, health-service providers, teachers and traditional chiefs on gender-sensitive support to victims, and ensure that victims are destigmatized and encouraged to report incidents of domestic and sexual violence against women;
(7) Collect statistical data on violence against women disaggregated by age, nationality and relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, and undertake studies and/or surveys on the extent of violence against women and its root causes.
(1) Put in place a comprehensive national strategy with proactive and sustained measures targeted at women and men at all levels of society, including traditional leaders, to combat discriminatory stereotypes such as the concept of “the head of the household” and the perpetuation of “the father's name and estate” and harmful practices, in particular child and/or forced marriage, sale of wives, girl markets (tsenan'ampela), bride price (moletry) and polygamy;
(2) Make effective use of the Criminal Code and the anti-trafficking law to punish all perpetrators of harmful practices.
(1) Ensure the equal rights of women and men in all matters relating to marriage and family relations, as well as to inheritance, divorce and custody of children without further delay;
(2) Increase knowledge and awareness of the law on marriage, ensure its enforcement, facilitate the registration of all marriages to protect the rights of women in de facto unions and enforce the prohibition of polygamy;
(3) Carry out wide-reaching awareness-raising and education campaigns to change attitudes and behaviour about practices relating to marriage and family relations among traditional leaders and the population in general;
(4) Conduct awareness-raising campaigns targeting women and girls to make them aware of their rights with regard to family relations and marriage.
Child and/or forced marriage
(1) Adopt all measures to combat child and/or forced marriage in a sustained manner while tackling the root causes;
(2) Disseminate and raise awareness about the law prohibiting marriage under 18 years of age, including by raising public awareness of the harmful effects of child and/or forced marriage on girls' mental and reproductive health and the pursuit of their education;
(3) Strengthen awareness-raising and sensitization activities on the harmful impact of child and/or forced marriage for women and girls, in cooperation with traditional or religious leaders and the media, in order to encourage change conducive to the elimination of this harmful practice, including making girls and women aware of their right to freely enter into marriage.
(1) Ensure sufficient human, technical and financial resources for the effective implementation of Law No. 2014-040 to combat trafficking in persons, its national plan of action and the national database on trafficking and also ensure the speedy functioning of the National Bureau to Combat Human Trafficking;
(2) Continue its efforts to ensure international, regional and bilateral cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination to prevent trafficking through information exchange and to harmonize legal procedures aiming at prosecution of traffickers;
(3) Provide continuing capacity-building programmes for law enforcement officials on the identification of and provision of assistance to victims;
(4) Carry out nationwide education and awareness-raising campaigns about the risks and criminal nature of trafficking;
(5) Address the root causes of the trafficking and exploitation of women and girls, including poverty, in order to eliminate their vulnerability in this regard and strive to ensure the recovery and social integration of victims by providing them with adequate assistance, rehabilitation and shelters (see also CEDAW/C/MDG/CO/5, para. 21).
<u><a target="_blank" href="https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2F…, CEDAW Committee, Concluding observations on the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Madagascar, CEDAW/C/MDG/CO/6-7.</a></u>
Country snapshot is under development.