Madagascar’s justice minister defended a new bill Friday to castrate child rapists, with the measure deemed “cruel, inhuman and degrading” by Amnesty International.
The upper house Senate approved the measure permitting chemical and surgical castration after it had been voted through by the National Assembly earlier this month.
Amnesty International urged Antananarivo to drop the proposed law, saying it would not resolve the problem of paedophilia.
But Justice Minister Landy Mbolatiana Randriamanantenasoa said Madagascar “is a sovereign country that has every right to amend its laws”.
“Faced with the resurgence of rape, we had to act,” she added, saying there were 600 rapes of minors recorded last year.
Up till now the minimum sentence for child rape was five years’ imprisonment, the minister added.
The bill introduces a penalty of surgical castration for “perpetrators of rape committed on a child under the age of 10”.
It allows “chemical or surgical” castration for rapists of children aged between 10 and 13 and chemical castration for rapists of minors aged between 13 and 18.
The measure must still be validated by the High Constitutional Court before President Andry Rajoelina can sign it into law.
