UNICEF condemns intimidation of children and teachers in Madagascar

Teachers and their pupils in Madagascar suffered threats and intimidation yesterday, prompting the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to call on Malagasy authorities, parties and people to “respect the fundamental rights of children and to abstain from all actions that put children in peril.”

UNICEF also condemned the abusive behaviour against schoolchildren in at least one lower secondary and one upper secondary school in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar and its largest city, maintaining that “all schools must be havens of peace and security.”

“According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child below the age of 18 years has the right to personal respect and to physical and psycho-social well-being in the context of the family, community and school,” UNICEF said in a statement released by its office in Madagascar today.

The agency said that its mission is to defend children’s rights, basing its work on the articles and principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in effect in Madagascar since 1991.

The statement read that “UNICEF is continuing its work for the survival, well-being, development and protection of all children in Madagascar,” where recent political unrest led to several deaths.

Earlier this year, at least 68 people died in riots that erupted amid a dispute between the country's President, Marc Ravalomanana, and Andry Rajoelina, the Mayor of Anatananarivo.