Maldives adopts UPR report

Via Maldives Traveller

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the Maldives' Universal Periodic Review (UPR) outcome report on 16 March 2011. The session was webcast live from Geneva, Switzerland and special viewing was arranged by the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives at classroom number one, Dharubaaruge. Members and media personnel attended the viewing, which also welcomed the general public.

The adoption of the UPR comes as a major milestone in Maldives since matters of human rights have long been in question in the archipelago, which has a population of over 300,000. Ongoing efforts to strengthen policies regarding the issue is anticipated to take a turn for the better.

The Universal Periodic Review system

Under the system, each Member State of the UN must undergo a review of its human rights situation every four years. Ms. Iruthisham Adam, Maldives Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, welcomed the UPR process as “a unique and useful exercise”. She remarked that the introduction has “encouraged us to think and act in different ways in the sphere of human rights”.

The system is a three-phase cycle, completed every four years. After the outcome report, an assessment process ensures that the current status of human rights in Maldives is ascertained with the help of statistics, experts and local organisations. The ensuing reports from different executive factions are then reviewed and recommendation and strategies are implemented, upon which the process is repeated again.

It is a state-driven process, under the guidance of the Human Rights Council of the UN. The process provides opportunity for each of the 192 Member States to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.

As one of the main features of the Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed.

It was created through the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 by resolution 60/251, which established the Human Rights Council itself. The UPR is a cooperative process which, by 2011, will have reviewed the human rights records of every country.

According to the UN, no other universal mechanism of this kind exists. The UPR is one of the key elements of the new Council which reminds states of their responsibility to fully respect and implement all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The ultimate aim of this new mechanism is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the UPR "has great potential to promote and protect human rights in the darkest corners of the world.”

Adoption of UPR by Maldives

The first part of the outcome report of the Maldives contains the views of states on the human rights record of the island nation. In it the international partners of Maldives warmly welcome the significant human rights achievements of recent years and encourage the country to continue its efforts to consolidate democracy and strengthen fundamental freedoms. Member States also made recommendations for improvement.

126 recommendations were tabled initially for Maldives, 100 of which the island nation accepted to implement before its next review in four years time. The outcome report was adopted on 16 March 2011, and the live web-cast of the proceedings were viewed at the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives; members of the commission applauded as representatives of Maldives at the council announced their compliance to the system.

According to Ambassador Adam, “these accepted recommendations cover a wide-range of important issues and when implemented, will make a significant positive contribution to human rights in the Maldives”.

A few of the steps that the Maldives has agreed to take are: Ratifying the two remaining conventions to which the Maldives is not yet party (Convention on Enforced Disappearances, and the Convention on the Human Rights of Migrant Workers); strengthen the Maldives compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; and working with the judiciary to strengthen independence, professionalism and capacity.

Other improvements Maldives will be working on attaining are adopting a legislation designed to improve human rights protection in the country, and strengthening the practice of economic, social and cultural rights. The latter also encompasses areas of health, education, employment, trafficking, drug-rehabilitation, and juvenile delinquency.

Over the next four years, each strategy to handle these issues will be reviewed to identify what more could be done for further improvement. Some of these schemes are anticipated on solving the labour issues in the island nation, which still persists at the various resorts sprinkled throughout the archipelago.

The rejected recommendations include abolishment of the death penalty and corporate punishment; freedom of religion and conscience; and gay rights. The Maldivian government says that these could not be immediately allowed in the 100% Muslim nation.

But by working on the sections where Maldives is able to, the government believes all levels of tolerance can be achieved in the long run. Ambassador Adam says: “It is extremely difficult to introduce principles of freedom of conscience into the country. Notwithstanding this, the Maldives fully understands the importance of tolerance and understanding across all walks of life – including religion. We have therefore decided as a first step, to accept recommendation 100.91 and to begin domestic awareness-raising and open public debate on religious issues".

Posted in: Report