Day: December 1, 2011

Rome Statute activated in Maldives

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) became active in the Maldives today, following a required 60-day period after depositing the Instrument of Ratification.

The Maldives recently became the 118th state member of the International Criminal Court following a favorable vote in Parliament. It is the third South Asian country to join the ICC after Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

By adopting the Rome Statute, experts say, the Maldives has benefitted its own legal system by expanding training opportunities. It has also taken a step towards greater transparency on the international level.

Based in the Hague in the Netherlands, the ICC is an independent, permanent tribunal established in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. After 2017, it will exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.

The Maldives is expected to participate in the 10th Assembly of State for the Rome Statute, scheduled in New York between 12-21 December.

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“Systemic failure to address corruption”: Transparency Maldives

The Maldives has risen slightly to rank 134 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

The country scored 2.5 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), placing it alongside Lebanon, Pakistan and Sierra Leone.

The score however is a mild improvement on 2010, when the Maldives was ranked 143th and below Zimbabwe. The Maldives still rated as having higher perceived corruption than many regional neighbours, including Sri Lanka (86), Bangladesh (120) and India (95).

Project Director of Transparency Maldives, Aiman Rasheed, warned that the ranking could not be compared year-to-year, especially in the Maldives where there were only a three sources used to determine the index (India has six).

“Corruption in the Maldives is grand corruption, unlike neighbouring countries where much of it is petty corruption,” Rasheed said. “In the Maldives there is corruption across the judiciary, parliament and members of the executive, all of it interlinked, and a systemic failure of the systems in place to address this. That why we score so low.”

Faced with such endemic and high-level corruption, it was “up to the people of the Maldives to demand better governance”, he said.

Addressing corruption would have political ramifications for the 2013 presidential election, Rasheed agreed, especially for young voters – 40 percent of the population is aged 15-24, resulting in thousands of new youth voters every year.

“Young people are hugely disillusioned by corruption in the Maldives. They have a vision of the type of country they would like to live in,” he said.

New Zealand, Denmark and Finland ranked as having the least perceived corruption, while North Korea, Somalia, Afghanistan and Burma ranked last.

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Religious NGOs to hold “protest to protect Islam” on December 23

A coalition of religious NGOs have claimed that 100,000 people will join a protest in December “to protect Islam”, and called on “all Maldivians to take part”.

Speaking to the press at the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) studio, President of the NGO Coalition Mohamed Didi said that more than 127 local NGOs, music clubs, political parties and Island Councils would take part in the protest on December 23.

According to MNBC, Didi said the protest was not a movement against the government but a movement “against all un-Islamic ideas.”

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef warned that “our faith will not be shaken by something someone says, but because of these things it might turn the non-muslims living in neighboring countries against us.’’

MNBC reported that the People’s Alliance Party (PA) had called on parents to bring children to the gathering.

Local newspaper Sun quoted Didi as saying that the government had been conducting many activities with the motive of erasing Islam from the country, and claimed that the NGO coalition was “left with no other choice but to protest to protect Islam.”

Senior officials from the Adhaalath Party, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and Jumhoree Party (JP) were present at today’s meeting.

Claims that national monuments placed in Addu for the SAARC Summit were idolatrous and hostility towards a call by UN Human Rights Ambassador Navi Pillay for a national debate on flogging sparked protests in Male’ recently.

“This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women, and should have no place in the legal framework of a democratic country,” Pillay said, referring to the practice of flogging a punishment for fornication.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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SE Asia should focus on keeping kids HIV-free: WHO

HIV/AIDS is shifting profile from a “life-threatening emergency to a manageable chronic disease,” finds an annual report on the Global Response to HIV/AIDS.

The report was released in honor of World Aids Day on December 1, 2011 by World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in collaboration with international partners.

The report analyses the health sector’s prevention, treatment and care to those infected in low- and middle- income countries using data through 2010. Among the recommendations for South East Asia was to eliminate childhood infection by 2015.

“We must learn from our experiences, and work to ensure that no child born gets infected with HIV,” Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, said in a press statement.

As of 2010, 16 million people out of South East Asia’s population of 593 million had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. But statistics suggest a synchronized solution. Over the preceding decade infection rates in South-East Asia declined by a sharp 34 percent while the number of people receiving treatment increased ten-fold.

“We are coming out of a transformative decade for the HIV/AIDS epidemic. With innovative treatment regimens, improved health services as well as political commitment, HIV-positive people who are on treatment are living longer and better lives,” Plianbangchang said.

As WHO pushes South-East Asia to eliminate the disease it makes children a priority. Towards that end, an initiative to eliminate new paediatric HIV infections and congential syphilis by that date was launched this year.

Meanwhile, less than one in five pregnant women in the region do not have access to testing facilities, and two out of three infected pregnant women do not receive anti-viral prophylaxis.

Historically the Maldives has been minimally affected by HIV/AIDS, however social trends are putting the population at risk.

Between 1991 and 2006 only 13 HIV cases were reported among Maldivians, compared to 168 among expatriate workers. Of the Maldivian cases 10 were sailors, two were spouses, and one was a resort worker who had traveled abroad; 11 cases were male, and all patients cited heterosexual transmission as the cause.

Yet the country’s geographical constraints have made it highly dependent on foreign imports. This has been shown to include human trafficking for purposes including sexual entertainment. In 2010, an HIV-positive prostitute was arrested locally.

Late last month, human trafficking was reported a growing industry. In 2008, a World Bank report listed mobility, sexual practice, commercial sex work and drug use as leading risk factors. Although HIV is not prevalent within the Maldives, the report claims travel, work and education abroad open opportunities for transmission.

The Maldives also has the world’s highest divorce rate, indicating a high rate of shared partners within the country. Without any formal sexual education in schools and a general stigma around purchasing a condom, the basic defenses against HIV transmission are low.

The report also cites drug use as a risk factor for two reasons. “Drug users may resort to selling sex to earn money, and injecting drug users (IDUs) may share needles/syringes.”

In Awareness, the Maldives scored in the middle-range. While 99 percent of Maldivians polled had heard of HIV/AIDS and 91 percent knew at least one mode of HIV transmission, only 50 percent said condoms can protect against HIV and 34 percent did not know that a healthy looking person can carry the virus.

Currently, the government and independent organisations provide support and awareness within the Maldives. The National AIDS Council, established in 1987, oversees the National AIDS Program (NAP) which coordinates and monitors a multi-sectoral response to the issue.

United Nations’ Development Program (UNDP) is also running a project, active in the Maldives until 2012, with several local NGOs. It aims to support preventative efforts and improve treatment.

Among the conclusions drawn in WHO’s 2011 report on Asia are:

  • Cambodia was the only country to achieve universal ART access
  • 39 percent infected children had access to paediatric HIV treatment
  • 49 percent of people living with HIV are in India
  • Infections among children declined by 23 percent in Asia, but increased by 31 percent in East Asia
  • Asia’s death toll from AIDS-related causes in 2010 was the largest outside sub-Saharan Africa; approximately 310,000 people died
  • Half of the 4.5 million people in Asia who inject drugs live in China
  • Homosexual transmission is highest among men in Indonesia, India and Myanmar

Officials at the Ministry of Health and Family and WHO Maldives were unavailable for comment at time of press.

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Auditor General report claims Heavy Load project violated state finance regulation

The Auditor General has published an audit report on the Kumundhoo Harbor Project that was contracted to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik’s Heavy Load company by the Housing Ministry.

The Auditor General in his report noted that the work was assigned to Heavy Load in violation of article 8.25 of the State Finance Regulation.

‘’Article 8.25 of the Finance Regulation states that any work that costs more than Rf1.5 million (US$100,000) should be assigned to a party by the Tender Evaluation Board in an open bid, and that the interested parties should submit details of the work,’’ Auditor General said in the report. ‘’But the Kumundhoo Harbor Project was not assigned to the party accordingly.’’

According to the report, the project that was supposed to be finished in six months was finished in 31 months, and the government had to pay Rf 22.2 Million for a project originally budgeted at Rf 10.3 million project.

The project was assigned to Heavy Load on 21 November 2007, but the physical work of the project was started on 10 March 2008, according to the audit report.

While the project was going on, Heavy Load reported to the government that there were hard areas that excavators could not dig and the work came to a halt. The ministry then inspected the area and found that the area required explosives to continue the project.

‘’It is to be noted that hard areas can be identified with a diving inspection and that this type of inspection was not done before the work started,’’ the Auditor General said in the report.

The Auditor General’s report said that Rf 4.7 million (US$307,000) was paid to Heavy Load for the days they had to wait without work in return for keeping their equipment and staff on the island, adding that all the days that the party was paid for ‘Idle Time’ could not be considered as such because there was other work the contractor could have been completing.

Heavy Load was paid different rates for the time the company had to wait without work, the Auditor General’s report said. The ministry’s determined rate was Rf23845.77 based on the total amount of the project.

‘’But for the 49 days the contractor had to wait without work from 12 June 2008 to 30 July 2008, Heavy Load was paid Rf27,197.80 per day and for the days between 19 September 2008 and 18 October 2008 the contractor was paid Rf24,299.33,’’ the Audit Report said, adding that the contractor received extra Rf 177,856.17 in total.

The Auditor General also noted that the contractor was given an extra 195 days to complete the project after failing to complete it by the original due date, but after the 195 days only 45 percent of the work was completed.

According to the ‘Appendix to Tender’ agreement made between the ministry and contractor, if the contractor failed to complete the project in the time allocated, the contractor was to be fined 0.1 percent of the total cost of the project for each day.

‘’But after the contractor failed to finish the project, it was given extra five months without any fines,’’ the Audit Report noted. ‘’While the government had paid the contractor Rf 4.7 Million to recover any losses contractor might suffer for idle time, the contractor was not fined for the days the project was delayed due to the contractor’s negligence. The government had not cited the loss for the government and islanders of Kumundhoo, and all the benefit was given to the contractor.’’

The Auditor General also noted that an advance payment was paid to the contractor in violation to the Finance Regulation.

‘’The Finance Regulation article 8.23 states that the highest amount that can be paid in advance is 15 percent of the total cost of the project, but the contractor was paid Rf 5 Million which is 38 percent of the total cost of the project,’’ the Audit Report noted.

The Auditor General’s report said that the Auditor General’s Office did not receive the ‘Defects Liabilities Inspection Report’ done by the ministry.

The contractor was told many times to correct issues and not to continue work without correcting them, but the contractor had not acted as instructed and finished the harbor and handed it to the ministry, and the ministry had fully paid the contractor, the Auditor General noted.

The report also noted that the harbor was completed with a lot of faults, and that huge damages had been caused to some boats that had entered the harbor.

Minivan News attempted to contact Reeko Moosa for comment, but his phone was switched off at time of press.

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MDP to launch door-to-door recruitment campaign ahead of 2013

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will begin a three-month door-to-door recruitment campaign after a launch at Dharubaaruge.

“We want every existing member to recruit one more member,” the party’s parliamentary group leader, Ibrahim Solih, told Minivan News.

The launch of the campaign signaled that the party was gearing up for the 2013 Presidential Campaign, he acknowledged. Two officials from the UK Conservative Party had recently visited the Maldives to offer advice in the running of the campaign, he said.

MDP MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik told local media that the party would try to reach 50,000 members by January, and said that the information gathered during the door-to-door campaign would help the party prepare for the 2013 election.

“We’ll re-visit every island, every house in the Maldives within the coming two months,” Moosa said.

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s new party, the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), has meanwhile claimed to have more than doubled its membership in recent months from 9,000 to 20,000 members.

After months of factional strife and a litany of grievances aired in the media, Gayoom withdrew his endorsement of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali in March this year, accusing his successor of “acting dictatorially” and violating the party’s charter in the controversial dismissal of Deputy Leader Umar Naseer.

The formation of the PPM as distinct from the larger opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) will split the opposition vote, making MDP unlikely to be threatened in the first round of the presidential election. However the party needs to achieve 51 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off, which would likely see MDP standing alone against a hastily-formed alliance of opposition parties and embittered former coalition partners such as the Jumhoree and Adhaalath parties.

DRP Deputy Leader Ibrahim Shareef observed to Minivan News in October that “given current trends”, the 2013 presidential election had the potential to be a replay of the 2008 election in which Nasheed won power in a run-off election against the incumbent Gayoom, due to the (short-term) support of coalition partners.

Faced with a run-off, the disparate opposition groups would temporarily unify over the common ground of ousting the MDP, Shareef predicted, giving power to the largest opposition party.

“Look at the last three elections. In the first round of the 2008 Presidential election Gayoom got 40 percent, while the rest of the then opposition got 60 percent. In the second round the opposition totaled 54 percent. The MDP lost ground in the parliamentary elections, and the majority of the islands voted for the DRP in the local council elections,” he claimed.

“The incumbent government has the resources of the state to get votes, and can get at least 20-30 percent just by being in power. At present trends, 2013 will be a replay of 2008, and as things stand now, whoever is in opposition will go to the second round.”

To avoid a close fight in the second round, the MDP faces the challenge of attracting enough supporters to the polls in the first round to reach the 51 percent needed for an outright win.

This may mean appealing to the youth as much as the established membership base. The UN’s population report this year indicated that 40 percent of the population are aged 15-24, meaning a large number of young people are becoming eligible to vote every year.

Young people were a core demographic for the MDP in the 2008 presidential election, but since then there has been an anecdotal trend of growing political disenfranchisement, spreading distaste for the ‘he said, she said, go-nowhere’ flavour of Maldivian politics, and frustration at ongoing social issues such as high youth unemployment and lack of educational opportunities.

As such, the MDP’s key opponent in 2013 is as likely to be voter apathy as it is any opposition party.

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Male’ City Council denies plans to erect signs banning ‘immodest dressing’

Male’ City Council member Ahmed Falah has denied media reports today that the council has decided to put up sign boards banning immodest dressing to discourage tourists from wearing bikinis on beaches and other public areas in the capital.

Local newspaper Haveeru reported Male’ City Council member Ibrahim Shujau as telling the paper that the council had received complaints from the public that tourists had been wearing improper clothing around the capital’s beach. He reportedly said the council met with the Tourism Ministry and decided to put up sign board to inform tourists that improper clothing was not allowed.

However, Falah today said that the council has not made any such decision.

‘’I am sure that the council has not decided anything like that,’’ Falah said. ‘’Media reports are incorrect.’’

Speaking to Minivan News earlier this year, Secretary General of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), ‘Sim’ Mohamed Ibrahim acknowledged that such occurrences would be a challenge for the mid-market tourism ambitions of the Maldives.

“The way it is currently structured is that alcohol is banned and there is a dress code for inhabited islands. Unless the regulations are changed – and I’m not saying they should be relaxed – tourist areas will need to be separated from local areas. In Male’ people cannot drink alcohol openly and nobody wears bikinis – it isn’t a problem.”

Ibrahim suggested that unless there were demarcated tourist areas, “there will always be these kinds of issues. It’s not an Adhaalath party issue or necessarily a religious issue – Western tourist dress is very different from traditional Maldivian dress.”

In April this year The Criminal Court sentenced a man to six months imprisonment after he was found guilty of ‘skinny dipping’ (swimming naked) in the Artificial Beach in Male’.

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ADC legal dispute could cost GMR US$25 million: Economic Times

GMR Infrastructure, which is building Maldives’ largest airport, the Male International Airport, could face a funding shortage of $25 million annually, after reports emerged that a local political party – Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) – may file a case against the Bangalore-based company for collecting airport development charges (ADC), reports Indian newspaper The Economic Times.

GMR Infrastructure plans to charge $25 per passenger from the annual departing passenger count of one million, and wants to introduce a $2 insurance charge at the check-in counters starting January to offset the costs incurred in building the airport.

“The local opposition party is alleging that the ADC should be removed. However, GMR has mentioned that as per the terms of the airport agreement, it will be allowed. The company is looking to fund UD$25 million per annum for its capex plan of US$511 million,” said a person close to the development.

DQP vice-president Imad Solih has already submitted a separate civil case, questioning the legitimacy of the charge, and has requested the court to take action against the country’s finance ministry, according to a report by Haaveru Online, a local website.

“ADC at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, Male, is a charge approved by the Government of Maldives and we will implement the same in due course of time. As of now, we have no official intimation of the same and thus, would not like to comment on speculative news,” a GMR spokesperson said.

GMR has raised debt of $358 million from Axis Bank, Singapore branch, the sole underwriter and mandated lead arranger for the entire debt facility. The debt has a door-todoor tenure of 12 years with ballooning repayments over seven years, commencing from June 2015.

Full story

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GMR case ruling due next week

The Civil Court has addressed the case filed by Opposition Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) Vice President Imad Solih against GMR and will deliver the results next week.

Solih claimed that the Airport Development Charge (ADC, US$25) and Insurance Charge (US$2) to be collected from international passengers at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) is unconstitutional.

At yesterday’s hearing, Solih said that since the Insurance Charge is considered a tax the ADC should be treated as such, reports Haveeru.

The government has claimed that the ADC is not a tax.

State attorney Aishath Shyza said the ADC did not qualify as a tax because it was not a compulsory contribution by the people to the government.

ADC is to be collected by GMR and put towards the current airport development project.

GMR plans to begin collecting the charges from passengers on all international flights departing after midnight on 1 January 2012.

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