Madagascar is an island nation located in the southeast of the African continent. The population of this country is approx 2,88,12,000 with 5,87,041 square kilometers area. Official languages are Malagasy and French. Ethnically many communities live in Madagascar, and none is the majority. Religiously, 84% are Christian, 7% do not believe in any religion, and 4% believe in traditional religion.
There is nothing much to mention in Madagascar's constitution. Associations and political parties which threaten the unity of the State and which advocate totalitarianism or ethnic, tribal or religious separatism are prohibited. This is the positive side. Now let's discuss the negative aspects. Preventive detention is legal in Madagascar.
Admirable Articles of Madagascar's Constitution
Article 8
The right of all persons to life is protected by the Law. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of life. Death is not considered as inflicted in violation of this Article in the cases where it would result from recourse to the force rendered absolutely necessary, in view of assuring the defense of all persons against illegal violence.
No one may be submitted to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading penalties or treatments.
In particular, it is prohibited to submit a person without their free consent to a medical or scientific experiment.
Article 9
All persons have the right to liberty and may not be subject to arrest or arbitrary detention.
No one may be prosecuted, arrested or detained except in cases determined by the law and accordingly to the forms prescribed by it.
Any individual made a victim of illegal arrest or detention has the right to reparation.
Article 13 (Part of it)
The State guarantees the plenitude and the inviolability of the rights to defense before all the jurisdictions and at all the stages of the procedure, including that of the preliminary investigation, and at the level of the judicial police or of prosecution.
Article 14 (Part of it)
The associations and the political parties that jeopardize the unity of the Nation and the republican principles, and that advocate totalitarianism or segregation of ethnic, tribal or religious character, are prohibited.
Article 77
The sittings of the National Assembly are public. A record is held and its publication is assured within the conditions specified by the law.
The National Assembly sits in closed session at the demand of one-quarter of its members or of the Government. A record of the ordered decisions is written.
Facts of Madagascar's Constitution
Preamble (Part of it)
The sovereign Malagasy People,
Affirming its belief in Andriamanitra Andriananahary,
Resolute to promote and to develop its heritage of society living in harmony and respectful of otherness, of the wealth and of the dynamism of its cultural and spiritual values through the « fanahy maha-olona »,
Convinced of the necessity of the Malagasy society to recover its originality, its authenticity and its Malagasy character, and to inscribe itself in the modernity of the millennium while conserving its traditional fundamental principles and values based on the Malagasy fanahy that includes « ny fitiavana, ny fihavanana, ny fifanajàna, ny fitandroana ny aina », and privileging a framework of life allowing a « living together » without distinction of region, of origin, of ethnicity, of religion, of political opinion, or of gender,
Conscious that it is indispensable to implement a process of national reconciliation,
Convinced that the Fokonolona, organized in Fokontany, constitutes a framework of life, of emancipation, of exchange and of participative dialog of the citizen,
Article 10
The freedoms of opinion and of expression, of communication, of the press, of association, of assembly, of circulation, of conscience and of religion are guaranteed to all and may only be limited by the respect for the freedoms and rights of others, and by the imperative of safeguarding the public order, the national dignity and the security of the State.
Article 13 (Part of it)
Preventive detention is an exception.
