Madagascar court sentences man to be castrated for raping child

A court in Madagascar has sentenced a man to surgical castration for the rape of a child in 2024, a judicial official said, in the first such measure on the Indian Ocean island.

The case arose from the rape and attempted murder of a six-year-old girl in Imerintsiatosika, a municipality 30 km west of the capital Antananarivo, Didier Razafindralambo, the attorney general at the Court of Appeal, said on Thursday.

"The person prosecuted in this case was sentenced by the Court to life imprisonment with hard labour, accompanied by castration," he said in a video statement released to media by the Ministry of Justice.

The punishment was introduced last year as part of a 2024 law in Madagascar addressing rapes of minors aged 10 and below. The government said it introduced the law because the courts had recorded many such cases.

"Today's decision is a strong and significant response from the justice system, intended also to serve as a warning to anyone with similar malicious intentions," Razafindralambo said.

Surgical castration has been carried out on some sex offenders in the Czech Republic and Germany with the consent of the defendant. Louisiana last year became the first U.S. state to mandate the procedure for some sex crimes against minors.

Chemical castration, carried out via the ongoing administration of drugs and reversible, has been introduced as a punishment for sex crimes in several U.S. states and countries including Poland and South Korea. Britain is considering mandating its use.

Human rights organisations argue that both practices are unethical and that efforts should be focused on encouraging survivors of abuse to come forward, protecting them from retaliation and wider prevention efforts.