Thursday, March 8, 2007

No misconduct on Youth Ship –Youth Ministry

As the Youth Ship nears the end of its journey on the 11th of this month, there have so far been no incidents of sexual misconduct onboard, Deputy Director of Ministry of Youth and Sports Mohamed Fazeel has said.
The Youth Ship is on a round trip of the Maldives carrying 50 passengers comprising a male and female participant from each atoll and 8 officials. The participants are aged 18 to 25 years.

According to Fazeel, rumors of misconduct on the ship are baseless and malicious. There are strict regulations to prevent undesirable behavior, he said.

“The regulations are very strict. Anyone violating them will be evicted. The alleged homosexual acts are impossible on the trip. And since there are equal numbers of male and female participants the chances of homosexuality are narrow,” said Fazeel.

According to him the participants go about their normal day to day life activities during the trip. They may tease each other a bit and have some fun, which is just part of normal life.

“In our day to day routine we may mingle with each other. For instance if someone gets sea sick during rough seas, someone may hold and help him/her. This is not a problem,” he said.

According to Fazeel, throughout the trip they never slept onboard overnight, except one occasion when they could not reach a port due to rough weather.

According to one participant, Aminath Sudha, Villingili, GA, she hasn’t noticed any misconduct during the trip. There was just friendly fun just as in a family.

“For fun we may touch someone’s head or shoulders. Sometimes we may hold hands together and tease one another. But no acts of sexual misconduct were there,” said Sudha.

According to Noonu Atoll participant Amjad Hussein, who is president of the northern sector of IDP, the alleged misconduct during the trip is a baseless rumor spread by people motivated to gain political mileage. 
 
 

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