Madagascar’s justice minister defended a new bill Friday to castrate child rapists, with the measure deemed “cruel, inhuman and degrading” by Amnesty International.

The upper house Senate approved the measure permitting chemical and surgical castration Wednesday after it had been voted through by the National Assembly earlier this month.

Amnesty International urged Antananarivo to drop the proposed law, saying it would not resolve the problem of pedophilia.

But Justice Minister Landy Mbolatiana Randriamanantenasoa told AFP that the large Indian ocean island “is a sovereign country that has every right to amend its laws”.

Up till now the minimum sentence for child rape was five years’ imprisonment, the minister added.

The bill, seen by AFP, introduces a penalty of surgical castration for “perpetrators of rape committed on a child under the age of 10”.

It allows “chemical or surgical” castration for rapists of children aged between 10 and 13 and chemical castration for rapists of minors aged between 13 and 18.

The measure must still be validated by the High Constitutional Court before President Andry Rajoelina can sign it into law.

Amnesty’s regional director Tigere Chagutah said legal castration was “inconsistent with Malagasy constitutional provisions against torture and other ill-treatment, as well as regional and international human rights standards.”