20th Session of the Universal Periodic Review
Statement by the Delegation of the United States of America
Geneva,
November 3, 2014
Thank you Mr. President.
The United States welcomes the Malagasy delegation to the UPR Working Group.
We commend Madagascar for the election earlier this year, the country’s first democratic election since the 2009 coup d’état. We also welcome the new administration’s commitment to form a representative government and begin to address the reported human rights violations endemic under the previous regime.
We remain concerned about Madagascar’s high levels of corruption and security force abuses. Reports of security forces using excessive force are particularly concerning. Anti-corruption efforts are undermined by weak rule of law, limited freedom of information, and threats of harm to government officials and whistleblowers. We are also concerned about discrimination against women in the nationality law, which limits their ability to confer nationality onto their children, as a child born to a citizen mother and a foreign father must declare his/her desire for citizenship by age 18.
We recommend that Madagascar:
- Undertake a comprehensive reform of the judicial system, including the establishment of a credible system of accountability for security force abuses;
- Follow through on recommendations articulated in the recent assessment of anti-corruption efforts undertaken by the Ministry of Justice and United Nations Development Programme, including ensuring the physical safety of anti-corruption officials and whistleblowers and encouraging civil society participation in the judicial reform process;
- Reform its nationality law to ensure that all citizens have equal right to confer nationality to their children and the children born to citizen mothers are no longer at risk of statelessness.
Thank you.