Since the beginning of President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom’s leadership of the country in 1979, the Maldives people’s thrust for democracy have been thwarted. Instead of change and reform as promised, the government rules with a strong hand. With a population of 318,000, the people have been suffering many unlawful detentions, arbitrary trials and political repression of the opposition. The international community seems to be more fascinated with the scenic oceanic beauty of the country and are not aware about the political as well as human rights conditions underneath the natural beauty.

Since the beginning of President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom’s leadership of the country in 1979, the Maldives people’s thrust for democracy have been thwarted. Instead of change and reform as promised, the government rules with a strong hand. With a population of 318,000, the people have been suffering many unlawful detentions, arbitrary trials and political repression of the opposition. The international community seems to be more fascinated with the scenic oceanic beauty of the country and are not aware about the political as well as human rights conditions underneath the natural beauty.

There is significant concern from ordinary people of the country as their voices are not being heard by the international community due to lack of information flow and media independence. This was being reflected in the frustration of Mr. Hamid, former political detainee and journalist of Haveeru; one of the pro-people daily news paper of Maldives. In his language “the global nations should not forget the people in a beautiful land rather their efforts would make the land more beautiful with free people.”

FORUM-ASIA visited Maldives in a four-day mission – from 17-20 July to identify the human rights challenges. FORUM-ASIA South Asia coordinator Shekh Mohammad Altafur Rahman; met several civil society groups including lawyers, editors of major news papers, political leaders and detainees, various NGOs, national human rights commissions, and ordinary citizens.

The president of Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), which is the main opposition party of the Maldives, Mr Mohammad Nasheed has clearly mentioned in his interview that there are a lot of differences among the ruling party members and the opposition. The civil society is not organized yet to form a strong and united platform to establish a constructive bridge between people and government. All the national institutes are plagued with inherent problems due their poor mandate and procedural lacking. However, the government is promising political reform and more people’s access to the policy formulation.

It has been observed that most of the people are sharing similar kinds of opinion regarding the human rights concerns in the Maldives. According to the people the major human rights concern in the Maldives are as follows:

1. Serious types of political repressions on opposition leaders,
2. Lack of transparency in judicial process and incidents of limited scope of justice before the court, e.g. summery trials, no scope to file complain direct to the court and limited recognition of human rights in the judicial process.
3. Serious concerns of unlawful detentions as well as violation of human rights in detention centers by the state force.
4. There are unspecified numbers of detention without trials, where detainees are alleged to be facing ill-treatments.
5. Lack of independence and sufficient mandate for the national human rights commission.
6. Limited press freedom and harassment of journalists.

Viewing the barriers towards the achievement of human rights in the Maldives, there is an urgent need for initiative from both the governments and opposition. Necessary communication and release of political detainees are vital for having a positive environment in order to progress towards meaningful democracy. In addition to that the civil society has emphasized on the following issues as urgent factors:

1. To have international court observers to observe the court process.
2. Access to the jails and detention centers by human rights NGOs for jail monitoring.
3. To empower the national human rights commission with sufficient mandate and authority.
4. Ensure fair appointment of judges and establish ombudsman.
5. To establish independent election commission and conduct election with sufficient international observers.