Moldova passes law for mandatory castration of child sex abusers

The government of Moldova enacted a law Tuesday that sees that men convicted of sexually abusing children be subject to mandatory castration.

The law was approved by a majority in Parliament after lawmakers said the country was becoming a magnet for sex tourists, said the Associated Press.

According to the BBC, five of the nine people convicted for sexually abusing children in the impoverished Eastern European nation in the past two years have been foreigners.

"The Republic of Moldova has been transformed in recent years into 'a tourist destination' for Western pedophiles and there have been cases where rapists have repeatedly offended even after they served prison time," said Valeriu Munteanu, a Moldovan Liberal Party member as quoted by the Scotsman.

Although the law applies to those convincted of child sex offences, the courts will rule separately on those convicted of rape who may also face castration.

The law was criticized by the Council of Europe, according to the Associated Press, which said chemical castration should involve consent, offenders be informed of the procedure and that a public debate ensue before decisions are made.

In an interview with the Associated Press, a Council of Europe representative, Johan Friestedt, said: "There should be free and informed consent before the commencement of treatment. There is a tendency to adopt such laws without much public debate."

Similar laws have been proposed and even passed all over Europe.

In the Czech Republic and Poland, child sex offenders and rapists can be punished through castration and in Russia, a bill is moving through the Duma that would seek to castrate repeat sex offenders.

Even in France, a bill was brought before the National Assembly but was later shelved after it failed to pass a constituational committee.