UN signs five year assistance agreement with Maldives

UN Resident Coordinator Mansoor Ali and Finance Minister Ali Hashim yesterday signed the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), a five-year agreement that will see the UN continue its presence in the Maldives, honouring its US$40.6 million pledge made at the Maldives donor conference.

Mansoor Ali said the UN was engaging with the Maldives at a “very critical juncture” when the country is transitioning from Least-Developed-Country (LDC) status to Middle Income status.

“The graduation is not an event but a process,” he explained. “The graduation is a measure how well a country has developed, but middle income status does not necessarily mean there is equity in the country all the time.

“We are in a position where there has been a global economic crisis, and locally there have been a fuel and food crisis, so the graduation process is taking that into account.”

Finance Minister Ali Hashim said the role of the UN in the country post-LDC status was “something we have been discussing for a long time.”

“The UN is going to maintain a presence here in the Maldives even after graduation, because there will be a transition period,” he said, explaining that the international body’s assistance would be crucial in assisting with the establishment of bilateral agreements.

“We will no longer get concessions in the case of foreign loans or preferential treatment in trade agreements,” Hashim said, “but there are some countries that have indicated they are willing to enter into bilateral agreements and provide the country with transitional agreements over 3-5 years. The UN presence will be maintained during this transitional period.”

The UN indicated that it would work “shoulder to shoulder with the government to deliver outcomes”, targeting key areas of health, education, social security and welfare, democratic governance, HIV and substance abuse, climate change and environmental adaptation, and gender equality.

“Our committment [to the Maldives] still remains in your journey to a much more fruitful and democratic Maldives,” Mansoor Ali said.

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HRCM report on persons with disabilities highlights gaps in equality

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) in conjunction with the UNDP have this morning presented their report on the rights of persons with disabilities in the Maldives.

The report, Activities Addressing Rights of Persons with Disabilities, is a “baseline assessment” of the rights and challenges concerning disabled people in the Maldives, as well as a number of recommendations from the HRCM on how to improve the lives of those with physical or mental impediments.

The report shows that in 1981, when the first ever screening was conducted in the Maldives, there were 1,390 people with disabilities, or 0.9 percent of the population.

In the 2000 census, the number rose to 4,728 which comprised 1.75 percent of the population. In 2002, the figure had risen further to 3.4 percent, or 9,216 people.

The most recent census (a preliminary report by Handicap International in 2009) showed 8.1 percent of the population has either temporary or permanent disabilities, including 4.7 percent with severe permanent functional limitations.

The HRCM report states that “lack of standard definitions of disability and different survey methodologies do affect the number of persons screened as having disabilities.”

The Maldives signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007, but the Parliamentary approval needed to ratify the convention was only reached in January 2010.

Although rights for persons with disabilities are part of the Constitution, the proposed bill on protecting rights of persons with disabilities was sent back to Parliament by the president for reconsideration in January 2010.

According to the HRCM, the bill was sent back “because it was found crucial to amend the bill in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).”

Education

The HRCM reported that approximately only one out of every ten children with disabilities is enrolled in school. This means 230 children out of 2,250 with disabilities in the entire country are attending school.

Jamaluddin School, Ghiyaasuddin School and Imaduddin School are currently the only schools in Malé which offer a full curriculum for children with disabilities. This began in 1985 when Jamaluddin School opened up enrolment for children with hearing disabilities.

There are currently eleven schools nation-wide which provide for children with disabilities.

The Ministry of Education had planned to set up “minimum one school in each atoll that enrols children with special needs by 2010” but the HRCM report says in most schools, “classes are accommodated with multi-handicapped children with a limited number of teachers.”

Training teachers to work with children with special needs is another major issue, as is creating an action plan for children with disabilities and improving special education policies.

The HRCM reported that “there is virtually no access to or transition to secondary level education for children with special needs.”

Health services

The HRCM has pointed out that “human resources and facilities required to address mental health is lacking.”

According to the report, there is no mental healthcare available in Malé; there are only two psychiatrists working in the country who deal mostly with drug rehabilitation.

There is also a lack of quality residential care. There were more than thirty-one persons with disabilities waiting for a place at the Home for People with Special Needs in Guraidhoo as of March 2010. In contrast, there were thirty-one other patients who had been discharged but not taken home.

The HRCM said “their families aren’t taking them home. Some have been there for over six years.”

There are currently 137 beds in six wards around the country. A seventh ward was built in 2009, but cannot start functioning until furniture can be brought in.

The government is also providing “approved essential psychotropic drugs free of charge to registered psychiatric patients.” Patients can send in a form to the Ministry of Health and Family to get approval for free medications, including anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs.

The government also provides assistive devices, such as wheelchairs, crutches, spectacles, hearing aids and special seats with children with cerebral palsy.

Employment and financial assistance

The HRCM states “the most obvious gap in services provided to persons with disabilities is lack of employment services.”

They note that there is no support from the government in helping disabled people find jobs, and 72 percent of working age men and 93 percent of working age women with disabilities were not in work as of 2008.

The HRCM believes one of the biggest challenges with employment is that many employers have low expectations about what persons with disabilities can and cannot do, thus excluding them from the workforce due to discrimination.

The HRCM stated that “although assistive devices are available from the government, there is limited information made available to persons with disabilities.”

The government currently provides a monthly allowance of Rf 1,500 (US$118) for legally blind persons through the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, but “there is no income assistance to persons with other forms of disabilities.”

Access to buildings and transport

The HRCM has recognised limited access to premises and on transport as one of the major service gaps for people with disabilities.

They note that “inaccessibility of the built environment is a major contributing factor that decreases the number of workplaces available to persons with disabilities,” and suggests that homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, government offices, courts and shops be “more accessible and user friendly.”

Although they note there is “evidence of genuine attempt to address this issue” in the Family and Children Service Centres, the National Building Code must be amended in order to eliminate obstacles to indoor and outdoor facilities.

“The roads, pavements, road signs and traffic lights are not designed to be friendly for persons with disabilities…it’s lamentable that wheelchair access is not possible even on ferry services between Malé and the airport.”

The HRCM suggests that improving roads and transport to be more accessible will not only help those with disabilities, but will also benefit the elderly, parents with prams, and people carrying groceries.

The HRCM made numerous recommendations in their report, including how to improve leadership and commitment from the government and community; teaching sign language to staff at the Ministry of Health and Family and the Maldives Police Service, among others; and improving access to information for people with disabilities on how their lives can be bettered through government policies.

NGOs

There are several NGOs working to improve the rights of disabled people in the Maldives, such as Hand in Hand, Association of Disability and Development, and Handicap International among others, but the Care Society is currently the only one who provides services and has been working with people with disabilities for eleven years.

Shidhatha Shareef from the Care Society said “clearly, we have a long way to go. Many services are still not available [for persons with disabilities].”

She said the NGOs are also facing many challenges and limitations, especially regarding staff training and public awareness.

The Care Society runs a school for children from zero to twenty-five years of age with disabilities. They are currently catering to 55 children and are trying to promote education services on other islands.

Shidhatha said one of the bigger problems with education concerning children with disabilities is that most schools only take children with very limited to moderate disabilities, and not those with more severe disabilities.

She said the best way the government can help improve the lives of persons with disabilities is by “prioritising the issue,” and added “we do hope the bill [on protecting rights of persons with disabilities] is ratified soon.”

Shidhatha said despite all the work being done to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities, such as signing the CRPD, “people with disabilities do not have equal rights.”

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Minivan News Facebook page restored following fraud attempt

Update 21/4/10

The genuine Minivan News Facebook page has been restored following a malicious counterfeiting attempt. The fraudulent page was removed following an investigation by Facebook.

The authentic Minivan News Facebook page is accessible here:

http://www.facebook.com/minivannews

Many of our readers who joined through shared Facebook invitations may have inadvertently become fans of the fraudulent page. If you think this might have happened, you can check by clicking the link above to the genuine page.

Previously:

Minivan News has learned that a fraudulent copy of our Facebook page is operating at the following web address and has become widely circulated:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/MINIVAN-NEWS-Independent-News-for-the-Maldives/102721833097117?ref=ts

Minivan News accepts no responsibility for content on this page, which was created on March 22 2010, and is concerned about the agenda of those responsible and any additional material they may attempt to publish under our banner in an attempt to damage our reputation for independent and unbiased news.

If you are member of the fraudulent Minivan News Facebook page, we urge you to report it as a ‘fake page’ (link on the bottom left of the Facebook page), and later join the authentic version.

The authentic page, created on February 16, 2010, is located here but has been temporarily disabled pending investigation of the matter by Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/MINIVAN-NEWS-Independent-News-for-the-Maldives/295327362366?ref=ts

When our Facebook page is reactivated, you may verify you have the authentic Facebook page by clicking the link on the top left of this website, under the Minivan News logo.

Minivan News team

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New French Ambassador meets President Nasheed

The new French Ambassador to the Maldives, Christine Robichon, presented her credentials to President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday afternoon.

President Nasheed and Ambassador Robichon discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and way to strengthen cooperation.

The president thanked the government and people of France for their assistance to the Maldives, especially their cooperation towards the democratisation and reform process.

The ambassador said the French government supported President Nasheed and his effort to combat climate change, as well as the new democratic government of the Maldives and their respect of human rights and good governance.

She added the French government was willing to continue building strong relations between the two countries that had been established during the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009.

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Maldives Center for Historic and Linguistic Research to be closed down

Deputy Leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ibrahim Shareef has told Miadhu the government’s decision to close down the Maldives Center for Historic and Linguistic Research, and to transfer its work to other institutions, poses a great challenge for the Dhivehi language.

Shareef said the Dhivehi language has been an integral part of Maldivian culture and identity, and should be protected for future generations.

He said the center’s work with Dhivehi would be very different from how a college would teach Dhivehi, which is something all Maldivians should be worried about.

President of the Center for Historic and Linguistic Research Ahmed Naseer told Miadhu the language department will be transferred to the Maldives College of Higher Education, and the cultural and historical work will be taken to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

He said there would be no change in the level of services being provided and the transition will be over in three days.

The land on which the center stood will be taken over by Malé Municipality to build flats.

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President inaugurates new Maldives Polytechnic

President Mohamed Nasheed has unveiled the Maldives Polytechnic, a new educational institution to operate under the Ministry of Education.

The institute will take over the vocational programmes currently under the Maldives Institute of Vocational Education and Training (MIVET), as well as certificate and diploma level courses run by the Faculty of Engineering Technology of the Maldives College of Higher Education.

The president has subsequently eliminated the MIVET, and vocational training centres in Kaafu Thulusdhoo and Raa Alifushi which were running under the Faculty of Engineering Technology are now under the Polytechnic.

The Maldives Polytechnic was created to facilitate the administration of vocational and technical education programmes carried out by MIVET and the Faculty of Engineering Technology by joining them under a single institute. It will also reduce expenditure and enable utilisation of resources, the President claimed.

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Islamic Ministry expresses concern over Akon’s SuperFest

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Ahmed Shaheem Ali Saeed has said the ministry has received “many complaints” from people concerned about the upcoming Akon concert, which is to be held in the Maldives on 23 April.

”We have received many phone calls and complaints from people asking why we are doing nothing when a person who sings explicit lyrics is about to perform in the country,” Shaheem said.

”Our opinion is that we do not like explicit singers to perform in the country.”

He explained that scholars agreed that singing was allowed under the tenets of Islam, ”but with a good level of discipline.”

Akon is no stranger to religious controversy, after he was denied a visa to Sri Lanka by the country’s authorities because of a video clip in which he dances around a Buddha statue with scantily-clad women.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said the government had no valid reason to reject Akon from performing in the Maldives.

Zuhair said if the Islamic ministry had any issues against it, “they can either send a letter or speak about it in the cabinet meeting.”

”It would be very unfair to say that Akon might do this or that before he actually does it,” Zuhair said.

He said a private company had spent a large amount of money investing in the performance in the Maldives, and that many Maldivian companies were also involved in the event.

Zuhair has previously stated that President Mohamed Nasheed is keen to attend the concert, which the government hopes will lead to further performances in the Maldives.

Event Manager in the Maldives for Akon concert Fathmath Raufa said the organisers were “fully confident” that nothing against the tenets of Islam would take place during the event.

”Our main purpose is to promote our country and to introduce entertainment tourism to the Maldives,” she said. ”This is like any other show held in Male’.”

She said there was no reason to stop this event, and noted that Akon and both his parents were Muslim.

Islamic NGO Jamiyathul Salaf did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

From Akon’s song ‘Senegal’:

‘So what you know about how God comes first in our lives, everything that we do is for Allah

So what you know about that Holy place called Touba where Prophets were born

So what you know about comin’ here, gettin money and investing it back home.”

From Akon’s song ‘Bartender’:

” Don’t smoke, don’t drink, that’s why I don’t be by the bar, baby

Just lookin’ at you from a distance, lookin’ like a goddamn star, baby

So my girl don’t see me, T-Pain, can I get those keys to the car?

‘Bout to go and bang bang boogie with my cutie and I’ll see you tomar’.”

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President grants clemency to self-exiled ‘Sandhaanu’ Luthfy

President Mohamed Nasheed has granted clemency to Ibrahim Moosa ‘Sandhaanu’ Luthfy, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for writing against the former government.

Luthfy escaped imprisonment by the former government when he was taken to Sri Lanka for medical treatment in May 2005. He undertook self-exile in Switzerland where he was supported by the United Nations and the Swiss government.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said Luthfy was a man who was “on the front line” when the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) started its work “to reform the government.”

Zuhair said that  according to the new constitution, “freedom of expression is not illegal.”

”In the constitution people have freedom of expression,” he said, ”so [Luthfy] has committed no crime under the law and so should not be serving a punishment.”

Speaking from Switzerland, Luthfy told Minivan News the charges against him by the former government were “unjust and made by force.”

Luthfy said he had been charged for “misleading the people and defaming a former government cabinet minister.”

”At first we started dropping papers on the ground to let people know about the condition of human rights and the judicial system in the Maldives,” Luthfy said.

“Then the internet was invented, and we started our work as an online, unregistered magazine based in Malaysia called ‘Sandhaanu’.”

Luthfy claimed the former government put him under life imprisonment “because they had no other way to stop us from working.”

”They tried to catch us in many ways, including sending CID agents to Malaysia, but they could not,” he said.

”Then during the time of the September 11 attack, the former president [Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] gave out an international red notice that we were terrorists.”

He said he was then caught and brought to the Maldives.

”Criminal court judge Abdulla Areef [now a judge at supreme court] gave the verdict without giving me the chance to use a defense lawyer or to present any witnesses to defend myself,” he said.

Luthfy claimed that the serious injuries he received while in prison led to international journalism organisations pressuring the former government to take him out of jail for medical treatment.

”They brought me to Male’ where doctors said I needed to go abroad for treatment, so the former government took me to Sri Lanka along with two guards,” he said. ”The doctor at the Sri Lankan hospital gave me two options: either stay in the hospital for seven days for observation or to come back after seven days, and said I preferred to come back after seven days.”

He stayed in a hotel with the two guard, but one morning he managed to escape.

”One day after fajr prayers when I came out of my room, the two guards were sleeping so I ran away,” he said.

”I sought for help from the United Nations and other organisations via e-mail, and meanwhile sent messages to the former government saying that I would let people know about how people were being tortured in the cells if any international notice was put out to find me.”

He claimed the former government tried to find him, assisted by the Sri Lankan police, but were unsuccessful.

The United Nations protected him in Sri Lanka for six months before sending him to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Switzerland.

”I have been here for seven years but will be returning to the Maldives very soon,” he said.

Spokesman for the former President, Mohamed Hussein ‘Mundhu’ Shareef, said as far as he was concerned Luthfy was “not a person”, “a nobody [who will] remain so” and he would not drop his reputation to the same level as Luthfy by commenting on the matter.

Furthermore, Mundhu said that news outlets reporting on “these kinds of unprofessional people” also risked being categorised as unprofessional.

“All you achieve in giving this clown space in the media is giving him unwarranted attention and importance. I do not wish to have any such part in such an exercise. Scum will always remain scum,” he said.

“If you want people to believe that Minivan [News] is anything but Anni’s mouthpiece, it’s advisable to stay clear of such [an] exercise to give cosmetic makeovers to people like Luthfy.”

He noted that MDP Chairperson Mariya Didi was a State Attorney at the former Attorney General’s office at the time of Luthfy’s  conviction.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and DRP MP and former cabinet minister Abdulla Mausoom failed to respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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Finance Committee deliberating over distribution of media subsidies

Parliament’s Finance Committee has appointed a seven member sub-committee to discuss how media subsidies allocated in the state budget will be distributed. The recommendations will then be reviewed by the main committee and submitted for debate in Parliament.

Finance committee member MP Riyaz Rasheed told newspaper Miadhu that the committee was currently receiving submissions from media organisations and expected to make recommendations by the end of the week. Early discussions include splitting the amount allocated in the budget, about Rf4 million (US$307,600), between radio and newspapers at a ratio of 3:2.

Managing Editor of Miadhu Abdulla ‘Gabbe’ Latheef said that distributing the subsidies “just to media the Majlis likes is not fair. This money should be divided by the [soon to be elected] media council, not the Majlis.”

“For instance, they are only considering print and broadcast media for subsidies, not internet media,” he claimed. “Media in the Maldives is not only TVM and DhiTV.”

Latheef said that media subsidies in the past had not benefited staff, “only newspaper owners.”

Finance Minister Ali Hashim told Minivan News that any subsidies provided would take the form of training and capacity building, such as scholarships, rather than direct financial assistance.

“We will work with the [Maldivian Journalists] Association,” he said, but added as a caveat that “any form of hand outs compromise independence.”

Latheef said he feared the MJA was turning into the “Opposition Journalists Association”, as it had recently issued a press release reporting on a ‘meeting of editors’ to which it had failed to invite Miadhu.

Former Information Minister and Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed, who is not part of the committee deliberating on media subsidies, said he did not favour “cash handouts” but rather supportive subsidies, such as “10 to 15 percent of the electricity or water bill, rent, or the cost of training human resources.”

“Subsidies should be given for capacity building and upgrading quality of service, not necessarily cash-in-hand,” he suggested.

While he acknowledged that subsidies risked compromising media independence, Nasheed observed that media “is oxygen for democracy and a fundamental right in and of itself. You can’t compare it to something like subsidies for the fishing industry.”

“There needs to be a universal set of rules [for media subsidies] allocated through the government’s annual budget; they should work and earn it, and meet a set of criteria.”

Nasheed noted that during his time as Information Minister be formulated policy to stop newspapers “linked to people in the government” receiving direct subsidies in the form of rent assistance or lump sums for machinery.”

“This allowed the mushrooming of several papers favouring the then-opposition,” he noted.

Regarding the former government’s indirect subsidisation of media through advertising, Nasheed suggested a “one plus one” model whereby government ads would be rotated through the country’s largest newspapers. The current government moved all government advertising to an in-house gazette, a move that did not endear it to the country’s largest newspapers or the MJA, which has previously claimed that the unique economic situation and limited population of the Maldives is not conducive to 100 percent ad-funded media.

However Nasheed suggested “it’s a misnomer that this is a limited market. When you spread the papers out and see what they charge per centimetre, you can see what they’re getting in terms of advertising. But while they say how much they print, there’s no independent statistics for their circulation or how many people actually read the paper.”

“Nobody does these surveys and the papers are not willing open their records to the government,” Nasheed said.

Adjusting to an environment of competition and free expression was “today’s challenge [for the media],” he claimed. “Three years ago the challenges were very different, when the struggle was finding space for dissent, and the giving of that space. Today’s challenge is building credibility and capacity.”

Beyondthe issue of media subsidies, Nasheed said, “now we need to enshrine the principles of media freedom in our laws, build an independent institution that protects and consolidates media freedom, and introduce proceedures for the public to make complaints.”

Media Council

The Department of Information has meanwhile short-listed 14 candidates out of the 35 who applied to be members of the Maldives Media Council.

Those selected by the Department as candidates for the seven seats include Ahmed Mizmad, Ali Hashim, Fathimath Ishan Ali, Mohamed Azim, Abdul Hadhee, Ali Waheed Hassan Manik, Ibrahim Ismail, Mohamed Fareed, Aishath Aniya, Abdul Raheem, Ahmed Abdulla, Shujau Hussein, Anas Ali and Ahmed Faisal.

The department considered whether the candidates were eligible as stated in the Media Council Act, while giving priority to those without a stake in a media organisation, business, political party, or NGO, the official said.

The 14 candidates have a range of backgrounds including education sector, religious studies, politics, business and gender, the department said.

Representatives of 20 media organisations will vote on April 20 to elect seven members to the council. Information Department acknowledged some of them were from discontinued newspapers and magazines, but said they were eligible for voting.

“We can include them under the law, as long as they don’t dissolve the organisation. So we have decided to include them as well,” he added.

Representatives of DhiFM, DhiTV, Radio Atoll, a ceased newspaper called The Voice, Haveeru, E-Sandhaanu Magazine, Hiyama Magazine, Vanni Magazine, Minivan News Online, the now stopped Minivan Daily, Aaila (Family) Magazine, VTV, Navaranna, Sungadi, the disbanded Manas Daily, Manas Magazine, Haama Daily, Miadhu Newspaper, Television Maldives (TVM) and Youth TV would be voting in the election.

The MJA has expressed concern that several of those shortlisted “are editors of magazines and newspapers that have been dissolved, and some of titles the MJA has never heard of.”

“The MJA does not believe that the power of the Media Council should be given to these people,” it said in a press statement.

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