Magascar’s first review – 7th session  – 15 February 2010

Madagascar was reviewed for the second time by the UPR Working Group at the 7th session on 15 February 2010. On 17 February 2012, the Report of the Working Group (A/HRC/14/13) was adopted. Chile recommended;

  • 8. To consider adopting measures to counter discrimination against the descendants of slaves and the persistence of the caste system (Chile);

This was partly accepted with the following explanation:

In response to that recommendation, it may be specified that:

  • Article 8 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination based on origin; consequently all Malagasy citizens are protected against any discrimination based on being the descendant of a slave.
  • Historically, Madagascar is not a destination country for slaves. Therefore, there are no descendants of those who were exported to and exploited on large-scale plantations as in other countries.
  • Accordingly, it is physically impossible to identify the descendants of slaves in Madagascar.
  • The caste system does exist but does not imply discrimination based on belonging to a particular caste, as evidenced by the fact that many persons are married to someone from a different caste.
  • Therefore it would be unnecessary to introduce specific measures to eliminate a form of discrimination that does not exist.
  • However, Madagascar intends to implement an economic policy to combat widespread poverty that affects the whole population, regardless of origin or caste.