The country’s Justice Minister Landy Mbolatiana Randriamanantenasoa is defending the law, after Amnesty International urged the island nation to stop it.
Hundreds of rapes
To AFP, she says that Madagascar is a sovereign country that has every right to change its laws. She adds that 600 rapes against minors were registered in the country last year and that the minimum sentence, until now, has been five years in prison.
– When the rapes started to increase again, we had to act, says Landy Mbolatiana Randriamanantenasoa.
More steps to go
The new law is “cruel, inhuman and degrading” – and will not solve the problem of pedophilia, according to Amnesty International.
However, the law must first be approved by the country’s highest constitutional court before President Andry Rajoelina can sign it.