Madagascar: the difficult fight against sexual corruption in academia

Audio 02:27

According to the investigation by the Malina investigation network, sexual corruption in higher education is a common practice but remains very taboo within Malagasy society.

© RFI / Sarah Tétaud

By: Sarah Tétaud Follow

7 min

When a person in authority abuses their power to obtain a sexual counterpart, this is called sexual corruption.

Transparency International Initiative Madagascar has taken it upon itself to fight this scourge anchored in the country's universities, but is now facing a whole series of blockages.

Publicity

From our correspondent in Antananarivo,

“He 

was a very smart person;

he never acted in front of a witness and he did not make direct advances to me.

He told me all the time stories, anecdotes, “

that a girl has done very well because she slept with her teacher

 , says Tsiky *. This young woman from a disadvantaged background and today the 29-year-old suffered repeated harassment between 2012 and 2014 from one of her teachers at the private university of Majunga.

An excellent student, her grades however plummeted in the subjects taught by this teacher who expected sexual favors from her.

“ 

I asked him why I had all the bad grades and he said '

it's because you didn't take my advice

.

At one point, I almost gave in, because for me, my studies were the only way out of my social environment.

But then I was like, “

If I'm pregnant, what am I going to do?

“So I said no until the end.

But I did not file a complaint, because it is his word against my word. 

"

► Read also: Support for victims of sexual violence, a Malagasy team rewarded

Information that never deceives

As a result, Tsiky narrowly misses the major and fights, five years later, still against her anxieties, after-effects of a sexual corruption to which she refused to submit.

“ 

Even today, I'm afraid of him, I'm afraid of his hold.

Especially for my professional career because it's everything for me, and all my family,

 ”she says.

It is impossible to know the extent of the plague, because the statistics do not yet exist.

But for Liantsoa Rakotoarivelo, project manager for the fight against sexual corruption within Transparency International Initiative Madagascar, there is information that does not mislead: “ 

Following our investigation, the students say that it is a practice.

So who says practical, says something common.

 "

Convince victims to file a complaint

The stake in this fight is to convince the victims to file a complaint.

But unlike another type of corruption, financial for example, sexual corruption, in addition to being a taboo subject in Malagasy society, remains intangible and the collection of tangible evidence can be very difficult.

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The project led by Liantsoa Rakotoarivelo therefore aims, among other things, to better equip victims to help them file a complaint.

“ 

We are going to hit hard on communication, that is to say we will try to explain, to inform people of what sexual corruption is.

And then make a bad buzz, that is to say point the finger at the establishments in which the practice exists.

But also name the teachers who are corrupting once we have gathered all the concrete evidence.

Last thing: to try to equip the students with hidden cameras, because the best way to prove the existence of this corruption, it is the flagrante delicto, with videos, voice recordings, or photos

 ”, explains Liantsoa Rakotoarivelo.

However, the NGO is now confronted with the reluctance of donors, who are still reluctant to finance projects which, they say, “touch 

such a sensitive form of corruption

 ”.

Last December, a Malagasy investigative network, Malina,

threw a stone in the pond

by revealing the persistent existence of this form of corruption within the country's universities.

Across the island, the network has collected testimonies stating " 

a sexual intercourse against the assurance of going to the next level of study

 ", " 

of a night with the student against an internship which will launch her career. 

", Or"

 a fellatio against the free books of the program.

 "

* The first name has been changed

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  • Madagascar

  • Education