United States Department of State

Madagascar United States Department of State

The most important human rights abuses included the inability of the government to provide rule of law, which resulted in security force abuse, including unlawful killings and mob violence; life-threatening prison conditions; and lack of judicial independence and judicial inefficiency, resulting in lengthy pretrial detention. Other human rights problems included intimidation of journalists and restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, and assembly; official corruption and impunity; societal discrimination and violence against women; child abuse and child marriage; discrimination against persons with disabilities and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community; trafficking in persons; and child labor, including forced child labor. The government did not always prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses, whether in the security forces or elsewhere in the government, and impunity remained a problem.