Day: November 26, 2011

Rights awareness a leading concern for civil services

“Most people understand the rights themselves, but not what it means to have them. In a democracy, we hope that the people will all play a role.”

Commissioner Ahmed Tholal represented the Human Rights Commission Maldives (HRCM) at yesterday’s UNDP “Did You Know?” event at the Surf Point, the second in a campaign begun last year. The event targeted awareness building on human rights and the judicial system, particularly as provided in Chapter Two of the constitution. Over a dozen groups including Police Services, the Faculty of Shari’ah Law, Employment Tribunal, Courts, and the Elections Commission offered pamphlets and demonstrations of their social purpose.

“These kinds of things people will forget unless you keep on promoting it,” said UNDP National Project Manager Naaz Aminath. “It’s not something you can just accomplish by handing out pamphlets.”

Many groups interviewed said raising awareness of civil rights and how to exercise them was their biggest challenge.

Representatives from the Supreme Court defined the court as “part of a larger enforcement of human rights in the Maldives,” which she said “are there in the constitution but people don’t know how they can exercise them, or how they can defend them.”

She noted that though many citizens are unfamiliar with case filing procedures, the court had seen a “dramatic increase” in the number of cases filed and expected the trend to continue.

Speaking of the court as a robust institution, representatives concurred that there was room for improvement. “It’s only three years old, right, and it’s still growing. You can never reach maturity, right? There’s still room for improvement in anything, anywhere.”

Across the square, Police Integrity Commission (PIC) member Dr. Hala Hameed also reported a rising case rate.

“We are getting more reports of police misconduct than previously,” she said. “People are more aware of the commission and so they are using its services more.”

Hameed stressed that the PIC supports the police as well as the community. “We are here to empower the police and ensure that they have the appropriate resources to do their work, as well as oversee their operations.”

Saying that awareness was a concern, she said the PIC’s independent status validated its operations. “People know that if there is an independent commission to oversee the police activities then it will be effective.”

While many booths provided hard information about social services, several catered to the younger generations. Kids were invited to decorate cakes and paint pictures for various causes. At Care Society, children learned sign language from a hearing impaired instructor and familiarized themselves with disability icons over a board game.

One Care Society representative said community awareness had improved in recent years, “especially since the passing of the Disability Law last year.” But community tolerance “is an issue we are working to address. “

“There is still a fair amount of people who don’t understand the nature of various disabilities and how to interact with those individuals. It’s something that needs to be corrected,” she said.

HRCM Commissioner Tholal said social reform goes deeper than a pamphlet.

Attributing misconceptions of human rights to social instability, Tholal observed that “There’s this idea that if a prisoner has rights, it’s at someone else’s expense. But human rights are not about protecting one person’s rights and not another’s.

“The idea of self-expression and human rights is still fairly new to the Maldives under the new government, so as things stabilise I think the view of human rights could improve as well.”

According to Tholal, the HRCM has been targeted by proponents of Islamic fundamentalists, but the larger Islamic community has supported the commission’s work.

“The key thing for the public to understand is that the Maldives is a 100 percent Muslim country,” he said. “The rules and regulations that this status calls for can exist within the framework of human rights. They’re not incompatible. If anyone says otherwise, they negate the mission of the HRC. The idea that human rights are compatible with Islam, and the constitution, needs to be accepted by the people.”

Tholal did not wish to comment on the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s recent critique of the constitution’s provisions for flogging and mono-religious practice.

Calling for a more concerted media effort, Tholal said media is one of the most important factors for establishing a stable human rights framework. He criticised local media outlets for endorsing only a fraction of the rights issue.

“A lot more focus is placed on civil and political rights in the media, as opposed to social, economic and basic human rights,” he said, emphasizing that women and children are significantly under-represented. “Some media outlets, whether deliberately or inadvertently, have programs which impinge on the rights of women and rights, such as the right to work. In this environment, we need to focus on what is really crucial to people–like social rights.”

Earlier this year, a UNDP study found that gender equality is an area of development in which the country is lagging behind most.

HRCM will hold a media training program later this year.

Keeping the beat

After last year’s launch, the “Did You Know?” campaign aimed to tour Male’, Vilingili, Hulhumale, and the capital islands. “We exceeded expectations and reached 80 islands in 20 atolls,” said Aminath. “But we realized that it was just not possible to reach all the islands with the small number of volunteers we had.”

Aminath said the next phase of the campaign training approximately 10 NGOs across the country to providing information on the judicial system to islanders year-round.

“There are two main obstacles: geography, and capacity,” Aminath said. “The island geography makes it difficult for people to learn of and access all parts of the judicial system. And the Maldives has many many civil society groups, but not enough people to do the work.”

A UNDP report earlier this year found that although the civil society sector is impressive in size, it lacks efficiency and organisation. Aminath said collaborating with NGOs would support both the campaign’s purpose and the NGOs’ interest in capacity building.

Aminath said islanders are often aware of their rights, but that Maldivian culture is not traditionally litigal.

“People are used to talking and solving the problems that way. Going to court is a process, and if you appeal you have to go Male’ which takes time and money. There needs to be someone in the islands telling people how they can proceed with a complaint,” she said.

Plans to develop a mobile high court are indefinite.

This year’s event was widely attended by families and youth who enjoyed the activities, free candy, and social milling. Most booths were hosted either fully or in part by young people eagerly offering pamphlets.

Aminath said the UN strives to involve youth in most activities, and that they are the backbone to the “Did You Know?” campaign.

“Most of my volunteers are ages 19 to 30, and they’re an excellent group. They came on all 80 island trips this year. They also represent a real cross section of civil service, coming from the courts, the prosecutor general’s office, the police and other parts of society,” she said. “I couldn’t do these kinds of events without their support.”

At UNDP’s Democracy Day ceremony earlier this year, a study observed that youth in civil society were widely recognised as a key factor for democratic growth in the Maldives. Currently, youth ages 18 to 25 comprise nearly half of the country’s population.

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Maldivian Islamic groups call for arrest of UN High Commissioner on Human Rights

Protestors gathered outside the United Nations Building in Male’ on Friday afternoon to condemn UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay for her criticism of the Maldivian constitution, namely its provisions endorsing flogging and mandating that every Maldivian be a Muslim.

The protestors carried signboards with angry slogans, including “Islam is not a toy”, “Ban UN” and “Flog Pillay”, and called on authorities to arrest the UN High Commisioner.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that the sizeable protest was contained and there were no confrontations.

“Police cordoned off the area so people could not enter the UN building or the roads leading to the building. The protest was pretty heated, but there were no confrontations or arrests,” he said.

After a break for Sunset Prayer, protesters renewed their efforts at the Tsunami Memorial.

Shiyam said police guarded the UN building during the evening protest, and kept appraised of its movements.

No concerns have been voiced to the police by the UN.

During a press conference on Thursday evening, Pillay again called for the government and the judiciary to issue a moratorium on flogging.

“Flogging is a form of punishment that is cruel and demeaning to women. I have as High Commissioner traveled to very many Islamic countries, and apart from the Maldives and one other country that practices stoning, flogging is not a practice that is condoned,” she said.

“The issue needs to be examined, and therefore I called for a countrywide discussion. It is much better if the issue is transparent and debated.”

Challenged by a local journalist that the Maldives was both obliged to protect the religion of Islam, she replied: “You have a constitution which conforms in many respects to universal human rights. Let me assure you that these human rights conform with Islam.”

She added that the Maldives had signed international treaties that are legally-binding obligations, “and such a practice conflicts with these obligations undertaken by the Maldives.”

Pillay said she had raised this matter with President Mohamed Nasheed and the judges during her visit, “and they are all looking into this matter. The President is sympathetic because each time he travels outside the Maldives the issue is raised with him. He says he can only look at it on a case by case basis, but if there is a judicial decision, that may apply to all cases.”

She renewed her call for a moratorium, and noted that the Maldives “has an excellent track record regarding the death penalty. The death penalty is unIslamic and is not practiced in the Maldives. When I travel to places where the death penalty is used, I hold up the Maldives as an example of that.”

Asked to comment on the requirement under the Maldivian constitution that all Maldivians be Muslim, Pillay respond that “Such a provision is discriminatory, and does not comply with international standards. I would urge a debate again on the issue to open up entrance of the constitution to all.”

Asked by another local journalist to respond to the religious groups criticising her requests, “my response is that as the UN High Commission of Human Rights I look at the norms and standards that all the governments of the world have drawn up.”

“It is not that I am plucking principles from the air. I point my critics to universally accepted standards on human rights are consistent with Islam. Many governments and scholars have told be there is no conflict between human rights and Islam.”

Pillay also highlighted the plight of expatriate labourers in the Maldives, who make up a third of the population and in many cases have been lured to the country by unscrupulous employment brokers.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs [Ahmed Naseem] is very aware of the suffering of foreign workers, and agreed that something needs to be done for these people,” Pillay said.

“You can’t have 60,000 people suffering here while performing work for the benefit of Maldivians and the tourism industry, and pretend this is invisible. The media has a role to give these people a voice so they can explain their problems.

“Many of them are trafficked and the little money they earn is exploited. This is of grave concern to me, because people like this are are protected under the UN Convention on Migrant Workers and their Families. I have urged the Maldives to ratify this, and regularise the presence of 60,000 people

“I also call for an end to the stereotyping of these people as a threat and unwanted.”

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Comment: Climate change and security

As South Africa and Durban get ready to host the 17th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 17) from 28 November-9 December, 2011, a key question is posed to all nations: where do we stand and how does this affect us?

Climate change is one of the greatest common challenges facing the modern world. Left untackled, it will lead to more extreme and unpredictable weather conditions, including widespread drought and flooding. As two island nations, the Maldives and the UK are also particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels – in fact, as the Maldives is well aware, the effects are potentially catastrophic.

All of us – political leaders, diplomats, business people, scientists, activists and citizens – need to work together to provide solutions to this climate change challenge.

Climate change is not just an environmental threat. It is also an economic and security threat. People are concerned about the cost of action on climate change. But lack of action will have significant costs: experts predict that the costs of climate change will be between 5-20% of global GDP if no action is taken to prevent it, with developing countries expected to face the highest costs.

The reality is that action on climate change makes economic sense for all of us: there are, for example, a great variety of measures that households and businesses could take which would not only reduce their carbon emissions, but also save them money.

The human impact of climate change also extends to food, that most basic need of humankind. Changing temperatures will alter crop distributions and crop yields. There are dire consequences in store for rice production, the staple of the South Asian diet. A recent study by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) shows that every 1o rise in night-time temperature – a rise so small your body would barely register it – will produce a corresponding 10% decrease in grain yield.

The demand for food is predicted to grow by 70% by 2050. For the Maldives, as with many other countries, this will mean higher prices; for agrarian economies in the developing world, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Moreover, climate change is expected to lead to key developments within the South Asian region. Natural resources such as water are likely to become scarce, leading to tensions and conflict among those countries that mutually depend on these resources. South Asia is already one of the most conflict-prone regions in the world and among those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

The combination is combustive. Increasingly erratic weather patterns continue to threaten people’s homes and livelihoods, exacerbating social inequities and tensions, posing a real risk to peace and stability and affecting economy development. This reality was clearly recognised in the Presidential Statement issued after the UN Security Council debate on climate change in July this year.

The UK recognises that developed countries have to accept historic responsibility for creating much of the problem of climate change, and therefore, a greater responsibility for addressing it. The UK Government has committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 50% by 2025, and we are also encouraging the EU as a whole to increase the EU reduction target to 30% by 2020.

But the EU covers only some 12 percent of global emissions. We are coming to the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and the need now is to build an ambitious, global, legally-binding regime, involving all major emitters. Only a legally binding approach will give business and investors the confidence they need to move rapidly on low carbon measures.

We have made some progress, as the small albeit definitive results of Cancun in 2010 reveal. But this is not enough. As John Ashton, the FCO Special Representative for Climate Change who visited the Maldives in July this year, said in a recent article in The Guardian, “The International Energy Agency has set the scene, with the timely warning in its new World Energy Outlook that we are way off track to avoid dangerous climate change, and that the window for effective action is closing fast.”

We need to summon the will, not just to avert disaster, but also to seize the opportunities of low carbon growth in trade, investment and new industries. Developing new technologies for sustainable development can be a driver for future growth. The Maldives, with its strong commitment to carbon neutrality by 2020, is well-placed to foster links with the most cutting-edge technologies in this field. The UK’s own clean technology goods and services market is now worth £112 billion and employs nearly a million people.

As President Nasheed said during his opening address at the recent SAARC summit, “The future is ours to shape.” It is up to the countries who meet in Durban over the next two weeks to shape the future of the world – to protect it from being further imperiled by climate change. The theme for COP17 is “Working Together: Saving Tomorrow Today.”

Five simple words – yet, they represent a world of a difference. What we do next week will determine what happens in the Maldives in the next decade – and beyond

John Rankin is the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

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