Madagascar

38.8% of girls in Madagascar are married before their 18th birthday and 12.7% are married before the age of 15.

11.2% of boys in Madagascar are married before the age of 18 and NONE are married before the age of 15.

The highest rates of child marriage are found in Atsimo Andrefana (66%), Atsimo Atsinanana (60%), et Sofia (54%), Melaky (54%) and Betsiboka (51%).

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

In Madagascar, child marriage is exacerbated by:

Poverty: Madagascar has one of the highest poverty rates in the world. Girls living in rural areas and in poorer households tend to marry at a younger age. Marriage is often used as a way of reducing a girl’s perceived financial burden on her family.

Harmful practices: Despite the adoption of a new law setting the minimum age for marriage at 18, such is rarely enforced in rural areas. Customary laws and traditional social practices still favour child marriage. The arranged marriage of children take different forms according to the ethnic community and the region of Madagascar, but it is often led by the parents who receive a bride price (moletry) in exchange for their underage daughter. The practice of Tsenan'ampela (girl markets) has also been reported, where a marriage can be arranged to last one night, a few days or more.

Level of education: Girls with lower levels of education are much more likely to marry before the age of 18. A 2015 studyfound that an additional year of schooling in Madagascar delays marriage by 1.5 years.

Madagascar has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals The government did not provide an update on progress towards this target during its Voluntary National Review at the 2016 High Level Political Forum. The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2021 High Level Political Forum. In this review, the government raised that despite the legal minimum age being 18 years for both boys and girls there are still cases of child marriage in Madagascar. In 2018, 74% of women between the ages of 20 – 24 were married and 34% of women between 15 – 19 years. The government aims to establish emergency shelters for children who are affected by child marriage and violence.

Madagascar co-sponsored the 2013 Human Rights Council procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage and the 2017 Human Rights Council resolution on recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts. In 2014, Madagascar also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Madagascar co-sponsored the 2013, 2014 and 2018 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Madagascar ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1989, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2021 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the government implement a national strategy to combat child marriage 2018-2024 that focuses on regions with high rates of child marriage. The Committee recommended that with the support of religious leaders, judges, prosecutors and local authorities awareness raising campaigns be developed on the harmful effects of child marriage on the mental health and well-being of girls

During its 2014 Universal Periodic Review Madagascar supported recommendations to improve constitutional and legislative protection related to child marriage.

In 2005 Madagascar ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage. In 2004 Madagascar signed, but has not yet ratified, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, including Article 6 which sets the minimum age for marriage as 18.

Madagascar is one of 20 countries which has committed to ending child marriage by the end of 2020 under the Ministerial Commitment on comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents and young people in Eastern and Southern Africa.

In 2019, at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, Madagascar committed to intensify prevention and victim support measures to end gender-based violence including child marriage.

Madagascar is a partner country of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

In 2015, the Ministry responsible for Women’s Advancement launched the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa. The campaign plans to work with partners, the police, policy-makers, women’s associations, local communities and traditional leaders to end gender-based violence, including child marriage.

In 2018, to implement Madagascar’s commitment to the African Union End Child Marriage Campaign, Madagascar adopted a National Strategic Plan on Child Marriage (2018-2024), developed with the support of UNICEF and UNFPA. With an accompanying budgeted plan, the overall objective of the strategy is to reduce the prevalence of child marriage from 41.2% to 21.2% over the seven-year period and ensure that all villages are declared free of child marriage. More specifically, the strategy aims at:

Strengthen the commitment of local authorities, communities and families to prevent and protect children from child marriage through behavioural change.

Strengthen children's capacities to protect themselves from marriage and early pregnancy.

Strengthen the capacities and commitment of services to protect children from marriage, including the care of children during pregnancy.

Harmonise and coordinate actions to end child marriage.

In 2007, the government changed the minimum age of marriage to 18 for both girls and boys. Previously, girls could be married at 14 and boys at 17.

However as per the Law on Marriage and Matrimonial Regimes 2007, marriage can be allowed by the President of the Court of the First Instance before the age of 18 if parents ask for it, and when the tribunal receives the formal consent of the person to be married.