This document is produced by Transparency Maldives with the purpose of communicating and bringing to the attention of the international community issues of governance in the Maldives.
Former Civil Service Commission President Fahmy’s Case
The Supreme Court on March 14, 2013, Thursday ruled the removal of former Civil Service Commission (CSC) President Mohamed Fahmy Hassan from his post by the Parliament as unconstitutional.
Fahmy filed the case at the Supreme Court alleging that he had been dismissed as President of CSC in violation of the constitution. Parliament in November had passed a motion to remove Fahmy from his post over allegations of sexually harassing a female employee with 38 MPs voting in favor of the motion.
The Parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee has also voted to reinstate Fahmy as the head of CSC.
Former President Nasheed’s Trial
The next trial hearing of former President Nasheed over the unconstitutional arrest and detainment of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed has been scheduled for April 4, 2013, Thursday.
The European Union (EU) had declared that it would be difficult to consider the Maldives upcoming presidential elections credible unless former President Mohamed Nasheed is allowed to contest. The government had however criticized the statement by the EU as unacceptable and unfortunate.
Whilst, Speaker of Parliament and Judicial Services Commission (JSC) member Abdulla Shahid has accused the JSC of composing the bench of Judges residing over Nasheed’s case outside of its legal mandate.
Minister for Home Affairs Dr Jameel has claimed it is a religious obligation to bar former President Mohamed Nasheed from contesting the upcoming presidential elections, scheduled to take place on September 7, while speaking at rally held by the Progressive Party of the Maldives.
The government calls on the international community to not favor candidates
Minister of Environment and Energy Dr Mariyam Shakeela former acting minister for the Ministry of Gender and Human Rights called on the international community to not interfere with the internal matters of the state and favor a certain candidate at a United Nations Human Rights Council meeting.
She said that it is in the national interest of the Maldives to hold a free, fair and inclusive election in which all political parties, including small parties are allowed to participate and stressed that the government has no intention of preventing any party from joining the Presidential race.
Human Rights Ambassador labels Amnesty as biased
The Human Rights Ambassador of the President’s Office Ahmed Ibrahim Didi has accused international NGO Amnesty International of being biased and fabricating stories about the human rights situation in the Maldives and of releasing reports about the Maldives without conducting any studies or research.
The Anti-Corruption of the Maldives reveals corruption level in Maldives unchanged
The Ant-Corruption Commission of the Maldives has revealed that levels of corruption in the country have remained unchanged during the past year in its annual report.
Forgeries, fraud and dead people appearing on party membership forms
The Elections Commission (EC) has said it has noticed a rise of inconsistencies on membership forms submitted by certain political parties including forged documents, forms with false information and even forms filed under the names of dead people.
President ratifies political parties bill, 11 parties dissolved
President Dr Mohamed Waheed has ratified the Political Parties Bill which states that parties who do not meet the required 10,000 members will no longer be recognised as such in the Maldives.
Only five political parties remain that meets the requirements of the bill. They are the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Adalath Party (AP), Jumhoory Party (JP) and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).
The President also ratified the controversial Parliament Privileges Bill, which the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) claims will undermine the ability of Maldivian journalists to protect their sources.
Government opens Male’ Immigration Shelter
An immigration shelter intended to temporarily house unregistered and illegal immigrants is now up and running in Male’ as part of the government’s efforts to provide a more humane means of tackling immigration problems in the country.
With civil society, industry bodies and international experts continuing to raise concerns about the treatment and number of unregistered foreign workers in the Maldives in recent years, the country has come under increasing pressure to safeguard rights of migrants and curb people trafficking.
The Maldives has appeared on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for three years in a row.
Human Rights Ministry sends orphans to mental disability centre without psychiatric evaluation
The Ministry of Gender, Family and Human Rights has admitted transferring two children from the Villlingili island orphanage Kudakudhunge Hiya to the Centre for People with Mental Disability on the island of Guraidhoo, without determining if they were in fact special needs children.
The Ministry confessed to transferring the 18 year-olds two of eight children sent to the Guraidhoo centre without a doctor’s consultation.
Please call Transparency Maldives Advocacy and Communication Manager Aiman Rasheed (790 8967) for questions and clarifications.