Workplace HIV/AIDS education session for Maldives Ports Limited, 2011

NARRATIVE REPORT This workshop was conducted to assess needs of the Maldivian workplace in regard to HIV/AIDS and convey the societal significance of HIV/AIDS in the workplace as part of the company policy for the benefit of both employers and their employees. Since its inception, in 1988, the Society for Health Education (SHE) continues to explore options and means to enhance the quality of life of Maldivian families. The organization reaffirms its commitment to sustain these initiatives, and to further increasing public awareness on issues that influence family well-being. Effectiveness of health promotion initiatives will be ensured...

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Posted in: Health / HIV

Amnesty declares imprisoned blogger a prisoner of conscience

Amnesty International has declared imprisoned blogger Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed a prisoner of conscience, and called for his “immediate and unconditional” release. The controversial blogger was arrested on December 14 following his participation in a ‘silent protest’ on Human Rights Day, calling for religious tolerance in the Maldives. A group of men attacked the protesters with stones, and Rasheed was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) with a fractured skull. He was subsequently arrested for questioning over his involvement in the silent gathering, and the Criminal Court granted police a 10 day extension of detention for the...

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Posted in: News,Society

Maldives must “better assist those who live under repressive regimes”: Ambassador to the EU tells ‘Freedom Online’ conference

Maldives Ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, Ali Hussain Didi, has attended the Freedom Online Conference at The Hague, Netherlands. Representatives from Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Estonia, Ghana, Indonesia, the Republic of Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, the European Commission, UNDP, NGO’s, cyber activists and internet companies attended the event. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton delivered a keynote speech at the opening session of the conference, hosted by Google and Free Press Unlimited. “This is an urgent task. It is most urgent, of course,...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion,Society

Protesters calling for religious tolerance attacked with stones, threatened with death

Police are investigating a violent attack on a ‘silent protest’ calling for religious tolerance, held at the Artificial Beach to mark Human Rights Day. Witnesses said a group of men threw rocks at the 15-30 demonstrators, calling out threats and vowing to kill them. One witness who took photos of the attacked said he was “threatened with death if these pictures were leaked. He said we should never been seen in the streets or we will be sorry.” Among those injured in the attack was Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed, a controverisal blogger whose website was recently blocked by the Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry...

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Posted in: News,Society

Maldives among the most corrupt nations

Ali Nafiz | Haveeru Online | Dec 03 The Maldives remained among the most corrupt countries in the world with a 2.5 score in Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), according to the 2011 CPI report published by Transparency International. The country, which received a 143 ranking last year, is ranked 134th alongside Cameroon, Eritrea, Guyana, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan and Sierra Leone. The Maldives' score, however, was a slight improvement to last year's 2.3 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean). In a statement, Transparency Maldives said the poor performance shows the failure of state bodies in...

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Posted in: News

Religious NGOs to hold “protest to protect Islam” on December 23

By Ahmed Nazeer | December 1st, 2011 | via Minivan News A coalition of religious NGOs have claimed that 100,000 people will join a protest in December “to protect Islam”, and called on “all Maldivians to take part”. Speaking to the press at the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) studio, President of the NGO Coalition Mohamed Didi said that more than 127 local NGOs, music clubs, political parties and Island Councils would take part in the protest on December 23. According to MNBC, Didi said the protest was not a movement against the government but a movement “against all un-Islamic ideas.” Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion

SE Asia should focus on keeping kids HIV-free: WHO

HIV/AIDS is shifting profile from a “life-threatening emergency to a manageable chronic disease,” finds an annual report on the Global Response to HIV/AIDS. The report was released in honor of World Aids Day on December 1, 2011 by World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in collaboration with international partners. The report analyses the health sector’s prevention, treatment and care to those infected in low- and middle- income countries using data through 2010. Among the recommendations for South East Asia was to eliminate childhood infection by...

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Posted in: Health / HIV,Society

Intravenous drug use raises AIDS spectre in Maldives

Thirty years since the first reported cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in 1981, the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been unprecedented, especially in terms of global and national initiatives. Substantial progress has been made, such as a 31 percent reduction in the number of new infections between 2001 and 2009 in South-East Asia. A revolutionary new approach to treatment endorsed by UNAIDS and WHO, which includes improved, lower-cost drugs, simplified HIV diagnostic technologies, improved delivery systems, and innovations  in prevention of HIV infection, give hope for achieving universal access to prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS, even in resource-constrained settings. Yet, the challenge is far from over. HIV still remains a formidable...

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Posted in: Health / HIV

“Don’t give in to fanatical minority”, Reporters Without Borders urges government

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have issued a statement urging the government “not to give in to the fanatical minority” and to do “all it can to ensure the media are free to tackle any subjects they choose.” The statement came in response to the Islamic Ministry’s ordering of the Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) to block the website of controversial blogger, Ismail Khilath “Hilath” Rasheed, on the grounds that it contained anti-Islamic material. “The increase in acts of religious intolerance is a threat to the Maldives’ young democracy”, RSF said its statement, requesting the “immediate reopening of [Hilath’s] blog.” RSF...

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Posted in: News,Society

Blog crack-down “is just the beginning”, warns censored blogger

The website of controversial Maldivian blogger Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed has been shut down by Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The Ministry made the request on the grounds that the site contained anti-Islamic material, a CAM statement read. CAM Director Abdulla Nafeeg Pasha told Minivan News the Islamic Ministry has the power to regulate website content. Pasha did not wish to comment on the procedures for closing down a website, but said “if the ministry tells us to shut it down, that’s what we do. We do not make the decision.” Once closed, Pasha explained, a website can only...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion

IDLO Co-hosts the First Regional Roundtable Dialogue on HIV and Law in South Asia

Kathmandu, Nepal - In collaboration with the legal apex body for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARCLAW), UNDP, UNAIDS and the World Bank, IDLO co-hosted a South Asian Regional Roundtable Dialogue on HIV and the Law at the Yak and Yeti Hotel, Kathmandu from 8 - 10 November 2011. The Roundtable was a direct follow up to the Asia Pacific Regional Dialogue of the Global Commission on HIV and Law convened by the UNDP in February 2011 in Bangkok. It supported commitments to advance human rights to reduce stigma, discrimination and violence related to HIV as well as the region-specific commitments, which were...

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Posted in: Health / HIV

Motion of No Confidence Against HRCM

For failing to protect the human rights of citizens, a motion of no confidence against the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) is being considered by the MDP Parliamentary Group, said Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Mustafa to Minivan News yesterday. When HRCM was approached regarding the situation of Homosexuality in June 2011, they quoted growing religious extremism as the reason why the Queer community of Maldives was being ignored by them. They have failed to answer e-mails and phone calls since regarding this matter. “We have noticed that the HRCM members that we appointed have failed to protect the rights...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion

Fact Sheet: HIV AIDS as of October 2011

Enhancing the Response to HIV/AIDS in the Maldives HIV/AIDS Situation At the end of 31 December 2005, a total of 13 HIV cases among Maldivians, and 168 HIV cases among expatriate workers have been reported. Of the 13 HIV-positive cases reported among Maldivians, 10 were sailors, two were the spouses of these sailors, and one was a resort worker who travelled abroad with a foreign tourist. Eleven HIV cases were male. All infections were acquired through heterosexual route of transmission. Compared to many countries in the region it has a very low prevalence of HIV. The challenge for the Maldives is to ensure it remains a low HIV prevalence country...

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Posted in: Health / HIV,Report

Why minorities tend to make more noise

Via Hilath.com | October 8th, 2011 It’s common sense that when you are a minority (like a Maldivian Christian, Wahhabi, atheist, gay, lesbian, etc) your sense of survival will be more heightened especially if the majority of the people are seen as trying to force you to bend to their will by making it a must in the Maldives’ Constitution that all Maldivian Citizens be strictly Sunni Muslims and cannot belong to either other Muslim denominations like Sufism and Shiittism and other religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. So Mr. Ibrahim Mohamed could be forgiven for writing this opinion...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion,Society