Month: March 2010

HRCM annual report on human rights reveals concerning statistics

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) held a press conference this morning to present their annual report for 2009 on human rights in the Maldives.

The press conference was led by President of the Commission Ahmed Saleem and Vice President Mohamed Zahid.

The Commission expressed concern and regret that when MPs debate on bills presented at the People’s Majlis, they sometimes ignore the Commission’s comments.

The report mentions complaints made by the public directly to the HRCM.

Out of 490 total complaints made in 2009, 322 were resolved and 168 are still pending.

The highest number of complaints, 139, were job-related cases. The HRCM said most of these complaints were from people working at resorts. Thirty-seven of these cases are still unresolved.

The second highest number was relating to housing and property rights, the HRCM having received 57 complaints last year, 26 of which are still pending.

Police-related complaints amounted to 55, and eight were related to violence (all of these being marked as ‘resolved’).

Two complaints were relating to murder. Both are still pending investigation.

There were 16 complaints relating to child abuse, which was one of the issues they listed as their main priority to tackle this year. Nine are pending investigation.

The report claims the crime rates in the country have risen. It reads that communities in the Maldives have reached a state of fear mainly because of “failure to enforce sentences for convicts.”

It adds that “a large number of convicts are loose in society.”

Complaints relating to the judiciary system were 31, ten of which are still unresolved.

Problems with riots in jails were also listed as a main priority.

Members of the HRCM visited several jails last year including Maafushi jail, Malé jail, Feydhu Finolhu jail and S. Gan temporary jail.

They also visited Hinmafufhi Rehabilitation centre, Dhoonidhu police custodial and the Emigration detention centre, where they conducted their research.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President receives red carpet treatment in Germany

President Mohamed Nasheed has received a red carpet welcome in Germany by Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel, including full military honours.

Speaking at a joint press conference yesterday, Merkel said she doubted any global agreement on climate change would be reached in 2010, and blamed China and India for their unwillingness “to enter any binding commitments.” This lack of cooperation from two major powers was, she said, a “structural problem” for any climate treaty.

For his part, Nasheed appealed to the German public to push for a climate change agreement, claiming that “we won’t survive as a country if there is no understanding or agreement.”

Nasheed said he expected a global treaty to emerge following the UN climate forum in Copenhagen, but agreed “it may not happen this year.” He said he hoped Germany “will continue to assist the Maldives in its efforts to strengthen and consolidate democracy.”

redcarpet3This is Nasheed’s first official visit to Germany, a country widely considered to be one of the more environmentally concious in Europe and a leader in the practical and economically-sensible application of renewable energy technology. Germany has also been very vocal on issues relating to climate change and generous with development funding.

Later this week the president is due to speak at the Freie Universitat Berlin, where he is expected to press for the world to “ignore the deniers and continue the fight to save the planet”, in the wake of the Copenhagen Summit and leaked emails alleging scientists at the University of East Anglia in the UK colluded to falsify climate data.

Minivan News understands the president will likely call on the EU to be bolder in its commitments to reducing climate change, and perhaps even encourage it to commit to carbon neutrality and set a new direction for investors and industry.

The climate change cause is suffering something of a ‘crisis of faith’ across many countries in Europe following the economic downturn. A similar trend has been noted in the US, where a Gallup poll recently reported that 41 per cent of the population considered claims about climate change to be exaggerated, “the highest since Gallup’s trend on this measure began in 1997.”

Nasheed is expected to take climate change sceptics to task in his address, and condemn “lazy conspiracy theories”.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Speaker of Zanzibar on official visit to Maldives

Speaker for Tanzania’s island state of Zanzibar, Ameer Kipicho, arrived on an official visit to the Maldives on Sunday, reports Miadhu.

Kipicho was invited by Maldives’ speaker, Abdulla Shahid, who received him at the airport along with Moosa Maniku, MDP’s parliamentary group leader.

Kipicho will visit the chamber of the People’s Majlis and observe a sitting of parliament.

Kipicho will be in the Maldives until 13 March.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President Nasheed meets with Chief Director of German Police

President Mohamed Nasheed met yesterday with Chief Director of German Police, Günther Freisleben, as part of his European tour.

In the meeting, President Nasheed highlighted the need to rebuild and train qualified police force in the Maldives.

He sought assistance from the German police force for training, saying the German’s experience could help the Maldives in building a qualified police force.

The president noted the importance of making the Maldives police force more “people and community friendly.”

He noted that the main areas of concern in the Maldives were religious radicalism and drug-related offenses, as well as juvenile delinquency.

The two parties discussed how German police can provide assistance to the Maldives.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President Nasheed meets German Chancellor Merkel

After his arrival in Berlin early yesterday morning, President Mohamed Nasheed met with German Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel yesterday at the Federal Chancellery.

President Nasheed was welcomed with military honours.

The meeting was focused on bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to enhance them.

President Nasheed thanked the German government and people for their support to the Maldives through the democratic reform process. He said he hoped Germany’s assistance would continue in helping to strengthen and consolidate democracy in the country.

The president also commended Chancellor Merkel for her role in helping reach an agreement at COP15 in Copenhagen last year.

Chancellor Merkel congratulated President Nasheed for the transition of democratic reform in the Maldives.

The president and his delegation were given a guided tour of Berlin, which included a visit to Hohenscönhausen Memorial, a former political prison.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MDP proposes primary elections

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has opted to hold primary elections open to all members during the party’s congress on 26 June, its anniversary.

During a meeting of the party’s national council held at Bandos Island Resort, the party decided to amend its structure towards a presidential rather than a parliamentary system of government.

The main change proposed will be the abolition of the post of party president and vice-president, to be replaced by two vice-chairpersons.

The decision contrasts that take by the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), which voted against holding primaries during its congress held last month. The proposal was made by the party’s vice president Umar Naseer, who left his role as president of the Islamic Democratic Party to pursue political ambitions.

However the party elected to retain its original charter, which states that the party’s leader will automatically be put forward as its presidential candidate.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Government approves project for floating golf course

The Maldivian government has signed a contract with Dutch Docklands of the Netherlands to develop a floating golf course and hotel in the Maldives.

Minister of Trade and Economy Mohamed Rasheed signed the contract on behalf of the Maldives, and Chief Executive Officer Wen Di Cam signed on behalf of Dutch Docklands.

President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed and Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Maldives Leoni Margaretha Cuelenaere attended the ceremony held at the President’s Office on 4 March when the agreement was signed.

Cam said the Docklands was proud to develop the floating centres in the Maldives and the company would seek a good location for the development.

He said the company would start the project as soon as possible after doing the necessary studies.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said the project would be “very beneficial for the country.”

He added that it would increase the number of tourists visiting the country.

”Most of our resorts do not have a golf centre due to lack of space,” Press Secretary Zuhair said, noting that ”Golf has a good market in the world.”

Deputy Minister for Environment Mohamed Shareef said the floating golf centres would be “much better and more environmentally friendly than reclaiming land.”

Shareef noted the floating developments would be stabilised by anchoring.

dutch docklands2
Proposed golf course in the Maldives

”It would not be very harmful for the environment,” he said, ”the only damage is that it will block the sunlight from the stones and corals.”

He added that there were showcases of floating centres made by the same company in Australia.

”They are now developing such centres in the Middle East,” said Shareef. ”We would not compromise our environment for anything.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is responsible for conducting environmental impact assessments, has not yet been consulted on the project according to its director Mohamed Zuhair.

The project would “definitely have negative environmental impacts”, he said, but added that “it is not for the EPA to assess the risks of this project at this stage. The contractor [Dutch Docklands] is responsible for finding a suitable consultant to assess the risks.”

Zuhair said once project proposal by Dutch Docklands’ is finished, it will be submitted to the EPA who will then screen the project. The EPA will then provide an environmental assessment report.

“They can only start actual work once they have EPA approval,” he noted.

Director of environmental NGO Bluepeace, Ali Rilwan, said as long as the project was conducted in an environmentally friendly manner he thought it was “very exciting” and “innovative and weird”.

“I don’t think there should be a problem,” he said, “but it depends on how they do it.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Three men arrested for attack on Habib Bank manager

Police have arrested three men in connection with the armed robbery of Habib Bank’s country manager, Mohamed Anjul Jameel.

Chief inspector of police Mohamed Jamsheed identified the three men as Ali Shuaib (19) of Kumundhu in Haa Dhaalu Atoll, Abdulla Aseel (20) of Galolhu Coralsea and Ibrahim Abdulla (20) of Galolhu Fehima.

Jamsheed suggested that there was one more man involved in the case, but he had not yet been arrested.

He said the gang attacked the bank manager “after collecting a lot of information about him.”

”It was well planned and organised,” Jamsheed said. ”Two of them followed the manager when he was coming home after work that day.”

He said Ali Shuaib was arrested in connection with a murder case last year, “on suspicion of killing a Bangladeshi man by hitting him with a three-foot long log,” he said.

Shuaib was ultimately acquitted by the criminal court, Jamsheed added.

Police sergeant Abdul Muhsin said the three men had police records of assault, drug related cases and robbery.

In an interview with Haveeru, the manager of Habib Bank said that while he had always described the Maldives to his friends as a “harmonious country”, the attack had changed his view completely.

“I am leaving, never to return,” he said.

The 56 year old was stabbed when four men broke into his apartment on the sixth floor of Machangolhi Uraha in Male’.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Former island chief arrested for attacking island councillor in DRP meeting

A fight between the former Island Chief of Miladhu in Noonu Atoll Abdul Sattar Mohamed and Island Councillor Hassan Moosa escalated into a brawl on Saturday night.

Moosa told Minivan News that Sattar, also the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) President for the island, “defamed my character” during a speech he gave to a DRP meeting that evening

“So I went and asked him about it,” Moosa said, claiming DRP supporters broke the windows of the island office and damaged some of its property in the subsequent scuffle.

”He claimed that I am in debt,” Moosa said, ”and that I built my house using his money, so I went there and asked him why he was spreading untrue information.”

Moosa alleged that Sattar hit him in the face in full view of the police when he asked him “why he was misleading the people.”

Senior member of DRP at Miladhu, Ahmed Hassan, said the councilor broke into the DRP meeting with the intention of disrupting it.

”Moosa could not digest what Sattar said,” Hassan claimed, explaining that the island councillor and four others had appeared at the meeting to scold Sattar.

”Our supporters started shouting at him, so we told him to leave the place immediately.”

Hassan claimed Moosa kicked Sattar in the stomach, and described him as “a person who used to fight very often.”

Moosa claimed he did not hit anybody.

Head of Noonu Atoll police station Ibrahim Fayaz said Sattar was under arrest for hitting the island councillor, and that one other man was under arrest in connection with vandalism of the island office.

He said the police were currently investigating the case.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)