Madagascar

The world's fourth biggest island is situated just off the East-African coast. The country is home to around 21 million people of mixed Asian and African origin, many of whom live in crippling poverty.

Due to its geographic location, Madagascar is frequently hit by natural disasters. In 2000 and in 2004, tropical cyclones caused heavy flooding, leaving thousands of Madagascans homeless.

Major export commodities include vanilla, rice, cocoa and coffee. In spite of the fact that Madagascar is a potentially prosperous country, blessed with fertile soil, minerals and oil reserves, it remains one of the poorest. The vast majority of the country's population have not been able to participate in Madagascar's increased wealth.

Situation of the children in Madagascar

Demographically speaking, Madagascar is a fairly young nation: Around 44 per cent of the population are less than 14 years old. Many children grow up without parental care and protection. In the streets of the capital, thousands of young Madagascans roam the streets begging, engaging in child prostitution, cleaning car windows or selling merchandise.

While in most African nations HIV/AIDS tends to be the major reason that drives children into orphanhood, figures show a rather different picture for Madagascar. Out of a total of 910,000 orphans, 11,000 children have lost their parents due to AIDS.

Although the infant mortality rate has dropped significantly since the early 1990s, it is still high at 51 per 1,000 live births.

Although primary school enrolment has increased significantly over recent years and is now at 98 per cent, the Madagascan education system is marked by generally high drop-out and repetition rates. 

Lack of funds, further aggravated by the EU foreign aid freeze policy, and discontinuity in educational reforms pose a threat to the adequate education of children.
After donor funding came to an end in the wake of the military coup in 2009, many poor families now have to pay either partially or completely for the primary school education of their children.

Child labour is an issue tightly associated with the problems in the country's education sector. Although the government of Madagascar has introduced laws to combat many of the worst forms of child labour, the problem persists. Thousands of children between 5 and 14 years of age work in agriculture.

Children as young as eight engage in the production of wine, tea, cocoa, cotton and vanilla. Many of them have to use dangerous machinery and inhale toxic fumes on a daily basis. Child domestic servants work 12 hours a day or more. Most of them never receive a salary.

The commercial sexual exploitation of young boys and girls, particularly in tourist areas, is a sad reality in Madagascar. Additionally, human trafficking and in particular child trafficking has become a common phenomenon in Madagascar. It is a source country for both domestic and international trafficking. Young girls are recruited near airports and are trafficked abroad, where they have to work in private households.