JJ Robinson – Page 106 – Minivan News

Custodial abuse sparks Cabinet clamp down on “culture of torture”

Cabinet has appointed a committee to reform the Maldives Police Service (MPS) after allegations that the institution continues to have a “culture of police torture”.

The committee includes the Attorney General Husnu Suood, Minister of Human Resources, Youth and Sports Hassan Latheef, and Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad, a human rights lawyer. The Cabinet also elected to appoint Minister of State Principal Collector of Customs Mohamed Aswan as Minister of State for Home Affairs, giving him a mandate to reform the police service.

The decision to form the committee was made following the new government’s first emergency cabinet meeting, held on Saturday shortly after DhiTV aired a story showing six men claiming they had been arrested and tortured in Atolhuvei detention centre. The men, several of whom displayed bruises to the TV station, alleged that police kept them face down, cuffed their hands and feet behind them, tied the cuffs and jumped on them.

The president’s press secretary Mohamed Zuhair said the decision to form the committee was not made “in response to a particular incident”, and was instead an attempt to implement reform after public complaints about the culture of the police force.

“All the cabinet ministers appointed to the committee are lawyers and will listen to any allegations and those made by the police as well,’ he said, adding that the committee would act “as a bridge” by speeding up the resolution of existing complaints.

Clash with PIC

Shahindha Ismail from the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) and former head of the Maldivian Detainee Network said she was unaware of why the committee was set up “because the police integrity commission has a mandate to investigate everything the committee was set up to do. They are duplicating our work.”

The PIC had “more powers by law [than cabinet] to conduct investigations,” she said. “I wish the government would give more thought to letting the PIC carry out its mandate. Right now we are stuck because of our financial difficulties, we have to go to the finance ministry for everything. We’ve sent reports on this to the president, because if the government want us to do our job they have to allow us to do it.”

Shahindha said while no one had made a complaint to the PIC, she “has a slight idea” that cabinet’s response was due to six people who were alleging they had been beaten in custody.

“When police took them to the criminal court to extend their detention periods [two] showed the judge marks and bruises on their bodies, saying they were beaten,” Shahindha said.

“My sense is that the beatings were quite severe because the judge apparently ordered them to be released because he felt they were not safe in the hands of the police – upon their release they contacted the media while they were in hospital.

“The original arrests were related to the physical sexual harrassment of women, and these people are no longer in police custody,” she added.

Shahindha said she had asked police for an official report into the matter “but they have not submitted it.”

Police spokesman Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam said the MPS was not commenting at this stage.

“A culture of torture”?

The government’s decision was surprising not only because it risked duplicating the work of the PIC, but because “these [beatings] appear to happen every day. I don’t know what’s special about this incident, I’m guessing the beatings were very severe,” Shahindha said.

Incidents of police brutality were usually confined to a minority of field officers, she said.

“I wouldn’t call it a culture any more. We find during our investigations that senior police are unware of what goes on in the field as to brutality. The problem is that some of the field officers are still carrying it around. It has reduced quite a lot, but now they do it inside and don’t let people see, unlike during the demonstrations when police used to beat people in broad daylight. Now it happens either in police vehicles or detention centres.”

She was positive about the appointment of Aswan to the new role of State Minister for Home Affairs, “although I would like to know more about the committee’s mandate.”

Zuhair said the committee’s aim was police reform following “public complaints about the culture of the force”, and “nothing to do with police integrity.”

For his part, Aswan said he had only just taken up the new post after being on holiday for two weeks and was still gathering information. The appointment was “sudden”, he said, adding that while he believed his law enforcement experience would be very valuable for his new role, he had “mixed feelings” about leaving his customs portfolio.

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Jellyfish sting inspires first book on dangerous Maldives marine life

The waters surrounding the Maldives have an international reputation for spectacular diving that entices hordes of visitors to the country every year.

Much of the credit for this goes to the prolific marine life, which ensures even the sharks are friendly – a flailing tourist is a difficult meal when all a shark has to do is open its mouth for the fish to swim inside.

But when injuries at the fins, spines, teeth and tentacles of marine life do occur, local medical facilities have proven ill-prepared to deal with them.

When local marine biologist Verena Wiesbauer Ali visited an island doctor following a nasty sting from a Pelagia panopyra (Purple Jellyfish), he asked her why she had eaten one.

“I had swam through a soup of jellyfish and the itching was so bad I couldn’t sleep,” she recalls.

The doctor treated the symptoms with an IV and some anti-histamines, but later told her there was little literature available on the country’s dangerous or toxic marine life.

“His diagnosis was ‘fish stinger’,” she says. “I felt sympathetic so I took in a photo of the jellyfish the next day and the doctor began to ask a lot of other questions.”

Much of the literature Verena found was in German, and the treatments were varied. Conventional wisdom, such as applying vinegar to a jellyfish wound to deactivate the poison, was not always the case: “If you apply vinegar to the sting of a Portugese Man o’ War, it can have the opposite effect,” Verena discovered.

Researching further she did find a great many local stories along the lines of “‘there’s an animal this shape and this wide, and if you touch it your arm will fall off.'”

Assembling a team of doctors and marine biologists, including Dr Jens Lindner and Dr Reinhard Kilinger, she decided to write the Maldives’ first reference to dangerous, venomous and poisonous marine animals.

“We felt the need for a doctor’s reference that gives a detailed description of symptoms and recommendations for medical treatment,” she says, adding that one important inclusion was a Dhivehi reference dictionary for the local names of different species and dangerous seafood, such as sea urchins.

Beyond medical applications, Verena says the authors tried to make the book accessible “for anyone coming into contact with the sea, from snorkelers and divers to tourists and marine biologists.”

It includes information and treatment instructions for creatures like lion fish (“from a group known as scorpion fish that have quite strong venom – the display they make by spreading their fins is to show prey ‘I’m poisonous'”), sharks (“there are 35 species in the Maldives, including tiger sharks which can be more aggressive”,) and sting rays.

“Sting rays lie on the sea floor feeding on mollusks,” Verena explains. “They will move away from a person, but if stepped on they have venomous spines in their tail that can be fatal, as with [Australian TV personality] Steve Irwin. Most people are hit in the shin, but the spine is serrated and it normally has to be pushed through the limb; you can’t pull it, although now we can operate it out.”

Even seemingly-harmless surgeon fish can cause painful injuries: “They have a blade at the base of their tail fin.”

At a presentation on the book to doctors and nurses at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) today, president of the Maldivian Medical Association Dr Azeez Yoosuf noted that while Male’s roads caused more injuries than the country’s waters, “there is a lot of inappropriate treatment of injuries caused by marine creatures.”

“We come across island hospitals where wounds caused by sting rays have been nicely stitched up, but because of the toxins the wound becomes necrotic. It’s better to keep the wound open, but the tendency is to stitch it,” he explains.

Surgeon fish injuries were surprisingly common, he added. “You can safely swim through a school of surgeon fish. But curious tourists sometimes try to pat them and get a big cut on their hand, which can become a problem because the [tail] can be covered in a lot of slime.”

As for the tremendously poisonous stonefish, “we don’t have the anti-venom, it’s only available in Australia. We just treat the pain.”

Despite their fearsome reputation, shark attacks were very rare, he said.

“The only shark bite I’ve seen was on someone who caught one and tried to get the fishhook out by putting his hand in the [live] shark’s mouth.”

The traditional treatment for jellyfish stings, he noted, was “hot urine or alcohol.”

“Dangerous Marine Animals – Biology, Injuries & Medical Treatment” (Kikinger, Lindner, Wiesbauer-Ali 2009) is printed and published in the Maldives and is available directly from the publisher Atoll Images, Ma. Shah, Dhidhi Goalhi, Male’ (3341643).

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Forced labour and discrimination rife in the Maldives, claims report

Forced labour is a “serious problem” in the Maldives and a sign that the government is not fulfilling its obligations as a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), claims a report into the country’s labour and trade union policies by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The report, produced for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in October, found a “relatively large number of forced labour-type situations among migrant workers and female domestic workers in the Maldives.”

“Domestic workers, especially migrant female domestic workers, are sometimes trapped in situations of forced labour and are in many cases forbidden from leaving the employers’ home through threats and other means,” the report said, citing figures from the 2009 report of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives.

“It is estimated that the number of migrant workers has almost tripled during the past five years and there are more than 80,000 migrant workers in the country, equivalent to
around 26 per cent of the population. While many are not in a situation to be defined as bonded labour or forced labour, many other labourers from neighbouring countries pay
large sums as commissions to receive employment in the Maldives and often are not in a position to quit their job before they have paid back the sums of money borrowed.”

“I think there’s some truth in it, particularly with female workers from Sri Lanka and India finding themselves in situations where they are not being paid, or not able to limit their working hours,” said President of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) Ahmed Saleem.

Children were particularly at risk, the report noted, with some of those migrating to Male from the outer islands for educational purposes finding themselves forced to work as informal domestic workers in exchange for accommodation and food.

“The house work done by such children is not voluntary in the cases where their continued stay in such houses depends on such children obediently doing house work as required by the owners of houses,” the report found, adding that child labour was also reported in the fishing industry.

Saleem said he had not heard of such practices in the fishing industry, but noted that when people living on the islands sent children to study in Male “many places will provide food and pay expenses, and in return the [child] may feel obliged to do work.”

There were many advertisements for such arrangements in local newspapers, he observed.

Workplace discrimination

The report also lambasted the government for failing to implement the prohibitions in the Constitution and Employment Act against workplace discrimination, especially regarding women.

“Women face discrimination at the workplace and in society, a problem which the government has failed to address in any satisfactory way,” the report said.

“At certain workplaces it is not permitted to get married or pregnant as this would lead to a termination of employment or change of job, and the complete absence of child care facilities forces many women to leave their job once their first child is born.”

Aishath Velezinee, member of the Judicial Services Commission, questioned whether this occurred and noted that the Maldives’ lack of childcare facilities stemmed from the culture historically relying on extended families for this purpose.

“Until lifestyles and ways of living began to change, there hasn’t been a need for it,” she said.

As for sexual harassment, another area highlighted in the report, “it exists but there is also a bill being drafted. I would say the state is addressing the issue.”

Discrimination based on sex was similar to that based on perceived cultural and profession hierarchies, she said.

“People don’t seem to understand the concept; they see [discrimination] as a cultural thing. It is a big issue: we don’t seem to understand the discrimination as it is meant in the Constitution or as it is expected in a democratic country.”

Even in the Supreme Court, she said, junior staff were made to take off their shoes and either wear slippers or go barefoot to protect the soft marble floors while senior staff could wear shoes.

The report also noted that women were prevented from working at many resorts because of their remote locations, as it was not considered socially acceptable for young unmarried females to stay on resorts for long durations.

“Traditionally women are disadvantaged in the Maldives, particularly in the application of Shari’a law in matters such as divorce, education, inheritance, and testimony in legal proceedings,” the report said, a state of affairs Velezinee admitted was “true”.

Saleem however observed that the Maldives treated women far better than other Islamic cultures, “where many [women] would describe themselves as slaves and sex objects.”

“Maldivian women have had voting rights since time immemorial. I’m not saying anything is perfect, but I think we have done more than other Islamic countries,” he said.

Collective bargaining

Furthermore, the report claimed that the Constitution and Employment Act contained no provisions allowing workers to collectively bargain, and despite the presence of active workers’ organisations such as the Tourism Employees’ Association of Maldives (TEAM) and the Teachers’ Association of the Maldives (TAM) the country had yet to formally recognise any trade unions.

“Strikes have been suppressed and encountered violent reactions from the the police [in the past],” the report said, observing that “freedom of association is still far from common practice.”

The right to collective bargaining “should be integrated [into the Constitution and Employment Act] now the Maldives is a member of the ILO,” the report urged.

“It must be the primary priority of the Maldives to ratify and fully implement the eight core ILO conventions and bring its labour law and practice in line with international labour standards.”

Saleem agreed: “Everyone knows the Employment Act needs changes. The Labour Ministry has said it will look at the recommendations we made [on the subject], but it has been two months. It’s time the government made it a priority – the Labour Minister has a lot of work to do.”

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European Commission hands Maldives €6.5 million for climate adaption

The European Commission has pledged €6.5 million (US$9.36 million) to help the Maldives adapt to the effects of climate change and mitigate the impact, and provide technical support.

The new Climate Change Trust Fund will be administered by the World Bank in a deal cemented between President Mohamed Nasheed and World Bank President Robert Zoellick at Copenhagen.

“The European Commission has given the money to the World Bank and asked them to manage it,” noted Minister for the Environment, Mohamed Aslam. “I believe the contract is already signed and the World Bank office in Sri Lanka informed me they were receiving it by courier today.”

The money was not part of the US$30 billion pledged at Copenhagen by developed nations to help developing countries adjust to climate change, Aslam emphasised, and was the fruition of an ongoing program “long before the [Copenhagen] accord.”

“We just happen to be the first country receiving this money,” he said.

While the money was not enough to begin tackling the problems facing the capital, he said, it would make a difference to coastal protection and “soft engineering” projects to help smaller islands suffering severe beach erosion.

“We will also invest it in developing sewerage and water systems on islands,” he said, adding the government had yet to decide which islands to help.

Food security was another priority for the money, Aslam said, and an issue that affected the entire country regardless of geographic location.

“It’s more about trying to find a climate-sound method of agriculture for the country,” he said.

A delegation from the World Bank will arrive in the Maldives in January to meet with the government and discuss how the money should be spent.

“Adapting to climate change will cost a lot more than €6.5 million,” Aslam noted, estimating the figure was more in the realm of US$4.6 billion.

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Finance ministry snubs parliamentary committee

Finance Minister Ali Hashim failed to appear before parliament’s internal affairs committee today, after he was called to clarify the manner in which independent institutions in the Maldives are funded.

Hashim was asked to appear after institutions including the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), the Election Commission (EC) and the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) complained to parliament that they lacked financial independence and must “beg” for funds from the Finance Ministry.

“He left the country,” said independent MP Mohamed Nasheed, the committee’s chair. “He said he was preoccupied during the first time we set, so we sent him a formal letter rescheduling the meeting for this morning at 11:15am. He didn’t respond and we learned he had left the country.”

Nasheed said the committee had instead asked the State Finance Minister Ahmed Assad to appear, “but he said he was in another meeting. I said he should give this one priority, so he sent two junior officers.”

Nasheed said the committee had decided to invoke article 99 of the constitution and force Hashim to attend the next committee meeting after 9 January. That article allows: “the People’s Majlis or any of its committees the power to summon any person to appear before it to give evidence under oath, or produce documents.”

“If he doesn’t appear, we’ll make a report to parliament questioning his confidence,” Nasheed warned. “He’s being irresponsible and it’s so unnecessary and uncalled for.”

Hashim was unavailable when Minivan News attempted to contact him.

A question of independence

Independent institutions are currently required to seek approval from the Finance Ministry for all funding, a situation they argue undermines their ability to function independently of the executive.

“It is actually a problem,” explained Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem. “We haven’t had financial independence and we have to seek approval from the finance ministry to run programs. The money has already been budgeted and there is no need for us to be overseen by the finance ministry.”

During a meeting between the parliamentary committee and the heads of independent institutions, HRCM President Ahmed Saleem complained that the process undermined the commission’s integrity by leaving it unable to pay bills on time.

“We just got the money yesterday to pay for an invoice received two to three months ago,” he said. “This undermines our credibility.”

Saleem noted that while the PGO had yet to have a request for its money denied, the EC had not been so lucky.

“97 per cent of the finances we had allocated for training this year are still untouched and it is already December,” complained Mohamed Farooq from the EC.

“We don’t get any finance for our programs unless the Finance Ministry approves it. They are the ones who decide if we should conduct training programs.”

The prosecutor general, HRCM, EC and ACC “are all reading from the same script on this issue,” Nasheed said.

“Even when their budgets have been approved they still have to ask for permission, because the money is not physically transferred to a separate account.”

Furthermore, he said, the ministry’s decision to reduce the salaries of staff in independent institutions by 15 to 20 per cent “was made in violation of the laws used to create those institutions.”

The finance minister had previously suggested a percentage of the institution’s budgets might be made available, “but that still doesn’t solve the issue,” Nasheed argued.

“They see this as encroaching on their independence. If there is less money available then the budgets of these institutions should be subject to quarterly review and adjusted by parliament.”

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Majlis budget “doesn’t add up” says president

President Mohamed Nasheed has criticised the budget passed by parliament, claiming that it contains “some recommendations that will be difficult for me to follow.”

The 2010 mid-term budget was passed by the Majlis last week, after recommendations totalling Rf800 million (US$62 million) were added following a parliamentary committee review. These included restoring civil servant salaries and subsidies for sectors ranging form fishing to agriculture and private media.

“When I looked at the recommendations, I saw that most of them were, in my view, for us to do things right,” Nasheed said, “[but] it has to be kept in mind that the budget is made up of numbers; it is a mathematical transaction. If things are to be done for political reasons, the numbers won’t add up.”

“I would like to assure the Majlis members and the people that the implementation of the budget will be based on what they said,” he said, but added that some of the recommendations “might be in violation of laws… and the government cannot implement them.”

The President’s remarks were met with outrage from members of the Majlis, who have interpreted his comments as an attempt to undermine parliament’s role in the governance of the country.

“Neither the president nor the finance ministry has the discretion to implement the budget contrary to what was passed by the People’s Majlis,” said a statement from the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), highlighting article 96(b) of the Maldives constitution.

That article reads: “The People’s Majlis may approve or amend the budget submitted by the Minister of Finance as it deems fit.”

The DQP accused the president of disregarding the constitution, claiming his remarks were “something only a dictator would say” and that he was “unable to digest a democratic system with separation of powers.”

“The people’s representatives will decide how the people’s money will be spent. After the people’s representatives make a decision, the president does not have the discretion to implement the budget any other way,” the party said.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP for Vilumaafannu, Ahmed Nihan, insisted that parliament had worked within the law when making ammendments to the budget.

“The constitution clearly gives us the right to make amendments [to the budget],” he said. “We made those amendments, including subsidies for fishermen, agriculture and a little amount independent media. The president doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Nihan accused Nasheed of “playing hide-and-seek with democracy”.

“I’m sure he’s lying. We’ve worked within the law,” he said, when asked if any of the recommendations would prove unconstitutional.

Asked where the additional Rf800 million would come from, Nihan replied “taxation”, observing that “after Copenhagen [Nasheed] said all the finances we need have been arranged with overseas parties.”

During his homecoming press conference, the president joked that “the bulk” of $30 billion in short-term aid promised by the developed world at the UN’s Climate Change Convention in Copenhagen would be given to the Maldives.

“I can say now with confidence that we will provide water, sanitation, electricity and build harbours in all islands,” he promised. “God willing, we will not face difficulties with money now.”

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Government transferred tsunami money to Denmark, alleges budget committee

Money intended to rebuild houses in Meemu atoll Kolhufushi after tsunami damage was instead sent to another country via telex transfer, chairman of budget review committee Ahmed Nazim alleged last night.

Nazim claimed that Rf 256 million (US$20 million) allocated to the reconstruction project in the supplementary budget on 20 April 2009 had been sent overseas 18 days earlier.

“This was done in violation of the budget passed by the People’s Majlis,” reads the budget committee report.

The Rf256 million was originally earmarked for purchasing shares of the Maldives Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC), but was reallocated to construct houses in Meemu Kolhufushi and Thaa Madifushi, two islands devastated by the tsunami.

“The amount was still included in the budget proposed 18 days later and even when the item was changed, we note that the government did not provide this information to the Majlis,” Nazim said. “This has to be looked into further. We will investigate and find out how this happened.”

During last night’s debate, Maafanu West MP Abdullah Abdul Raheem said the Rf 256 million was telexed abroad on two separate occasions on 2 April.

“I don’t know where it was sent yet, but I believe it was sent to Denmark,” Raheem said.

The transfer was not so much suspicious as “a matter of misleading the parliament,” Nazim claimed.

“The government submitted the budget requesting Rf256 million to purchase MWSC shares from two companies. Now we know that money was transferred before the budget was tabled in the Majlis,” he said.

During his presentation of the budget report, Nazim was interrupted by a point of order from MDP MP Ahmed Hamza who accused him of misusing the time to present the budget report on unrelated matters.

“These things have been written in the report and can be seen by the members,” Nazim responded. “This is not something I am saying on my own. This is the truth. No matter how much you try to hide the truth, it can’t be done.”

The budget review committee had also found that the government failed to conduct a research study into universal health care in the first six months of 2009, and had sold its shares in telecoms provider Dhiraagu without seeking parliament’s approval.

Responding to the accusations in parliament today, Finance Minister Ali Hashim said MPs had been “repeatedly informed” of how the funds were used.

“The transaction occurred before the revised budget was passed under an agreement signed by the government,” he said. “I have informed Majlis about this before as it was stated in the agreement.”

The agreement was made with a foreign company to purchase shares of MWSC, he said, adding the government has secured funds to rebuild houses for displaced victims of the tsunami.

Moreover, said Hashim, the majority stake of Dhiraagu was sold in accordance with the constitution and the financial regulations.

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Childline inundated with calls in first month

The Maldives’ new children’s helpline has been inundated with calls despite only being launched in mid-November, on the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“We haven’t even started advocacy work and already we’ve received 400 calls in the first month,” said Munzir Ismail, consultant at the Department of Family and Gender. The Child Helpline call centre had been expecting around 270 calls.

Half the calls were requests for information, guidelines and procedures while 37 provided information leading to cases, 15 involving sexual abuse. Four of those calls were made by children themselves, three to report sexual abuse.

“This is the first time [the department] has received any cases from a child,” Munzir said. “Before the helpline we were notified by letters, government agencies and especially the police. But there’s never been a case reported by a child.

One call involved a child ringing up “to say she had been exposed to a lot of sexual abuse in a house and her parents had moved her for her studies. She had told her parents but nothing was done.”

The girl was relocated with a guardian, he said.

“I wasn’t expecting kids to call in the first month, but feedback from them has been that they think this is a good service. There is a lot of harassment in some households, physical and emotional, and for some children it can seem like the end of the road,” he explained.

Interestingly, almost 60 per cent of the calls were made from the atolls. 18 were prank calls while 14 had been silent, Munzir said, suggesting that perhaps children “were being hesitant.”

The social workers tasked with responding to the calls were mindful of making visits that would place the child in a position they might not want to be in at home, he said.

“We try to establish regular contact with the child if counsellors are required.”

The next step for the project was establishing advocacy programs and conducting awareness campaigns and workshops in the atolls on subjects like rights and sexual abuse, Munzir said.

“The Child Helpline is currently operating as a referral and intervention service, and while we have been using departmental counsellors we don’t have the capacity to offer a counselling service,” he added. “We are hoping to work with NGOs to operate the call centre and expand the service, and we’re willing to offer training.”

The toll free Child Helpline number is 1412

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Gratuity scheme to generate income for marine park

Luxury resort Diva Maldives has introduced a voluntary gratuity scheme to encourage guests to contribute to the whale shark conservation.

The resort is located in the Maldives’ first regulated Marine Protected Area (MPA), Fenmaadhiguran, which is home to a globally significant number of whale sharks. The resort claims that the income from the gratuity scheme will allow improved business, education and employment opportunities for the local community.

The 42 kilometre MPA was opened in July after lobbying by the conservation charity Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme. The charity claims the MPA will protect important species and habitats in the area from overfishing, unregulated tourism and pollution.

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