Tag: maldives

Health Ministry criticises “inhumane treatment” of alleged sex abuse victim

The Ministry of Health and Family has today condemned some islanders on Dhidhoo, Haa Alifu Atoll, for what it has called the “inhumane treatment” of a 13-year old school girl.

The girl in question is an alleged victim of a sexual abuse case involving eight men, including two under the age of 18. The case came to light in April and was under police investigation.

The Health Ministry has hit out at the reported treatment of the girl by members of the local community that have been accused of trying to block her from returning to public education.

“Even if it’s the actions of a few, we are saddened to see that at a time when the girl is already undergoing physical and mental trauma, there are people who attempt to deprive the [alleged victim] of her basic rights and inflict more trauma,” the ministry stated in a press release.

After a long period of absence from public education, the girl attended school yesterday. However, a group of islanders barged into her class and removed her chair in an attempt to get her out of school, according to local news service, Haveeru.

She reportedly remained in class without a chair during the morning, and when she left school at interval time, the same group went and locked the entire building in an attempt to stop her from returning.  Police confirmed that they had “received reports of the closure of the Dhidhoo School” and had later re-opened it.

The school’s role

One local islander, who wished to use a false name to protect her identity, told Minivan News that there had been concerns about the alleged victim’s return to her school.

“Most islanders object to the fact that she is able to go back, while the school goers among the male suspects involved in the case are barred from [attending],” said Aiminath Sheenaz,18, a resident of the island.

Sheenaz said that when the abuse case first came to light, after a couple of days the girl did attend school. However, she added that disturbances created by some islanders had led to her staying home.

“The Ministry of Education informed the school to take her back that’s why she was in school yesterday,” Sheenaz claimed.

The principal of Dhidhoo school, Hussain Badheeu, was not answering calls when contacted by Minivan News and was unable to confirm the reports.

However, according to the press release published by the Health Ministry, the school had asked the alleged victim’s parents not to send her to back until the investigation was complete.

“When this ministry became aware of this, we contacted the relevant authorities and requested they facilitate her return to school,” the release stated.   “Education is a basic right, and after concluding the alleged victim is not at fault for what happened, the Ministry of Education asked the school to take her back.”

Islanders Attitudes

Despite the ministry’s verdict, Sheenaz said that some islanders believed it remains unfair that the alleged perpetrators can’t attend school.

“It was consensual. She did all that, fornicated with so many men,” she added.

Although being closer in age to the alleged victim, Sheenaz claimed she was also convinced of the 13 year old’s “willing participation” in these acts, adding that this was the prevailing belief of most islanders also. When the eight men suspected of having involvement with the case were first arrested, a group of islanders protested and called on the police to release the group that resulted in clashes.

Asked if attitudes about the case were likely to change in the future if the court case went on to prove that the male suspects had sexually abused the girl, Sheenaz was adamant that it would be impossible.

“A lot of people have given assurances that the girl agreed to the sexual acts,” she said.  The fact that these assurances apparently originate from the alleged suspects themselves does not seem to make a difference to these attitiudes.

The President of Dhidhoo council declined to comment on the issue when contacted by Minivan News.

However, it is believed that both the suspects and the victim are presently living on the same island at present.  Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that the suspects implicated in the case were freed after a court had ordered their release.

The sub-inspector added that the investigation had now been completed, with the case expected to be sent to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office very soon.

Shiyam said that the reported disturbance that occured in Dhidhoo concerning the case would be investigated and action taken against anyone who threatens fellow members of the public.

The Health Ministry has also bemoaned the lack of organisations such as NGOs advocating the rights of the alleged victim or voicing concern about the treatment she has received on her island.

“Actions like this by the public – hindering the girl from attending school –  even if it involves [a few people], encourages perpetrators of similar crimes to repeatedly offend,” said the ministry press release.  “We call upon everyone to stand up against injustice like this and work towards protecting the rights of the victims.”

Official police figures given to Minivan News this week indicated that a total of 163 sexual abuse cases were reported last year.  By comparison, the same statistics also revealed that 108 sexual abuse cases had been reported up to the end of May 2011.

According to these figures, 30 of these cases allegedly involved victims aged between two to 12 years.

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Comment: Winning the war on Dengue

The news that dengue is hitting the Maldives hard has reached the Netherlands, along with other parts of the world from which your beautiful country attracts large numbers of tourists.

That Maldivian children are dying of dengue is distressing and of course a horrific experience for the families affected, but there will surely be broader ramifications for the country. The blame culture that followed these deaths, fuelled by emotional debates in the press is affecting your country badly. Negative press will influence the tourism sector and may have a major economic impact.

When the Indian Ocean island La Reunion was struck by an outbreak of Chikungunya virus – also transmitted by dengue mosquitoes – in 2005/6, it suffered losses of tourism income amounting to €225 million (US$325 million). The French government had to inject €76 million to keep the tourism industry alive. With 1.2 million tourists per year, surely the Maldives cannot afford to wait for such a thing to happen.

So how can the war against dengue be won and can it be done quickly? In my opinion this is possible by doing just one thing well: learning from the past.

In the absence of a vaccine and specific medicines, the sole option to contain or eliminate dengue is through controlling the mosquito that transmits it. It is this option where many countries are failing miserably. Whereas in the middle of the last century, the responsibility for mosquito control remained in strong government hands and was rigorously organised and meticulously executed, a gradual shift of responsibility to the general population in recent decades has yielded disastrous outcomes.

Community awareness and engagement in controlling potential mosquito breeding sites has at best been partially effective, but remains hopeless in most countries with endemic dengue. The result at present: 2,5 billion people at risk, and an estimated 100 million cases of infection per year. These numbers keep growing steadily.

By 1947, the same mosquito that is causing havoc in the Maldives today had invaded 11 million square kilometres of Central and South America. The Pan-American Sanitary Bureau then took the decision to eliminate it. By 1962, these efforts had succeeded in 21 countries, an area encompassing 8.5 million square kilometres. I repeat, 8.5 million square kilometres. Compare that to the size of Male’, or even the Maldives at large, and one wonders why we have forgotten past successes and not simply repeated these.

Back then, these huge successes were based on intensive campaigns to search for breeding sites and either remove or treat them with insecticides to kill mosquito larvae. Large teams of inspectors moved from house to house, and all they did was that. Clean up trash and kill mosquito larvae. These teams were well organised, well funded, well trained, motivated, and well paid.  Much of that has changed, and with the shift of responsibility away from governments, so has the capacity and know-how to deal with outbreaks waned.

Pro-activism to control dengue mosquitoes is gone. Instead, waiting for things to go wrong and then act has become the norm for policy. Why is that?

First, it’s a money issue, and the lack of willingness of governments to put money on the table when prevention is the issue. Politicians like to solve problems that are visible but shy away from spending money on something that may strike one day. Further complicating chronic underfunding are five other factors that contribute to the failure of dengue vector control programmes.

These factors are:

  • The desire to find easy solutions
  • Degradation of technical and managerial skills
  • The increasing scope of the problem
  • The shortness of human memory
  • Expectation of failure

I emphasize that the most important factor in achieving successful control of dengue mosquitoes is a programme led by a high calibre administration and staffed by well-trained, supervised and motivated personnel. Most countries suffering from dengue lack precisely these things and call upon experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) when disaster strikes. Beyond the WHO’s advisory role, which mostly emphasizes strategies based on community participation of which we know that they don’t really work, there isn’t much it can do.

When the experts fly home, you remain with the problem and responsibility to execute their well-meant advice. They will not do it for you. Setting up a high-level response team is certainly a good thing, but meetings do not control epidemics.

What is needed are highly competent control staffs that know how to systematically cover areas and reduce vector breeding; staff that go out into the country and are capable of containing transmission of the virus and to prevent further misery. Although this should be done in a military style, this is not the same as mobilising the military as is now being done in the Maldives.

We have taken a different approach to the persistent problem of dengue by building on the hugely successful campaigns of the past, and augmenting the old strategies with the latest scientific knowledge and modern tools. The successes of the past were accomplished without computers, mobile telephony, satellite imagery, modern monitoring and surveillance tools, and so on.

We have these now, and should use them to the full. Not just to control outbreaks, but solve the problem permanently, in a sustainable and green manner.

We are discussing this approach with various islands in the Caribbean at present, and consider the Maldives as another great example of where dengue mosquitoes can be eliminated for good.

Now you are facing bad press, political turmoil, and deaths. A public-private partnership holds the key towards avoiding this from happening every few years, and if given an opportunity we are ready to lend a helping hand with our team that holds some of the world’s leading mosquito and dengue experts.

Maldivians should not worry about keeping their kids from going to school. Instead, the country should be planning a dengue mosquito elimination campaign. Good for the public, good for tourism.

Prof. Dr. Bart G.J Knols of the University of Amsterdam is a medical entomologist and CEO of the private firm Soper Strategies, which aims to provide comprehensive mosquito-borne disease elimination programmes.

(http://www.soperstrategies.com)

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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President inaugurates Maldives Film Awards

President Mohamed Nasheed last night joined some of the country’s most high-profile film makers and actors in Male’ to inaugurate a new awards ceremony honoring their work.

The Maldives Film Awards, which are said to have been organised for the first time by the Maldives Film Association, were held at the Social Centre in Male’ with the film ‘Happy Birthday’ proving the night’s major winner – earning 12 accolades.

The production, directed by Mumin Fuadh, collected awards for best film, director and original screenplay as well as the best actor accolade for Yosuf Shafiu.

Among the other categories contested on the night, the award’s jury gave Niuma Mohamed the best actress prize for her role in the film ‘Yousuf’. The ceremony also saw Ahmed Laish Asim collect the award for best child actor in the film ‘Yousuf’.

Other major recipients during the ceremony included Hassan Manik, who took home a lifetime achievement award.

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Allied Insurance claims Maldives first with international health coverage plan

Allied Insurance has claimed to have launched the country’s first international health coverage policy that it says will allow individuals, families and businesses to access hospital services anywhere in the world.

Speaking at a launch ceremony in Male’ yesterday, the company, which has been providing insurance services since 2003, said that the new services will cover up to US$1 million in medical expenses for certain treatments, depending on the package chosen. Allied Insurance said that although it has worked to provide coverage suitable for all types of income, the international coverage have been devised for higher income earners in the country.

The company has claimed that the packages launched this week were accessible to both local people and foreigners in the country and could be added to existing local or regional coverage policies as a top up.

Provision of the services are said to have been made available through a collaboration with London-based international banking organisation Lloyd’s and the US-based Global Assurance Group.

While regional health policies for destinations like Singapore and Sri Lanka have been available for some time in the country, Allied claims that its premium packages will now allow for coverage everywhere in the world including the US and Canada.

Health insurance is becoming an increasingly important issue for state enterprises in the country, with the Maldivian government claiming it is forging ahead with efforts to offer universal coverage for Maldivians.

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Task force claims dengue “epidemic” under control despite coordination concerns

The task force appointed by the government to combat a dengue fever outbreak linked to the deaths of seven people has claimed it is beginning to bring the spread of the virus under control, despite initial difficulties in coordinating with local councils.

A spokesperson for the task force, which has been put in charge of coordinating the responses of government ministries, the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) and NGOs like the Red Crescent, has said it has overcome initial difficulties such as dealing with local councils in trying to curb virus infection rates.

In a week where authorities have labelled the latest outbreak of dengue fever across the country as an “epidemic“, opposition parties have been critical of both the speed and nature of the government’s response to these concerns, despite welcoming efforts to try and combat the virus.

The criticisms come after newspaper Haveeru reported that a four-year old boy, who had been brought to Male’ for treatment of dengue fever, had become the seventh person in the last week to have died from the virus.

Despite fears of the virus continuing to spread, for those charged with coordinating the country’s dengue control programme, “significant progress” is claimed to have been made over the last few days in collecting data and trying to understand the full scale of the current outbreak and how to contain it.

At present, the taskforce overseeing this national response the to dengue fever has said that it expects the current outbreak to be fully under control within a week.  The claims have been backed by official figures supplied by the same coordination body that indicated that 11 suspected cases of dengue were reported today, compared to 16 cases recorded yesterday and 18 cases the day before.

Speaking to Minivan News today, the task force’s media spokesperson said that while dengue outbreaks were nothing new in the Maldives, the number of suspected cases of the virus that traditionally were expected dropped by this time of year had in fact spiked. The spokesperson added that this apparent spike in infections had created a number of coordination difficulties for a new system of local government put in place following the country’s first local council elections in February.

“Compared to last year, during these dates, figures usually go down. However, this month, there has been a spike [in numbers of dengue cases],” he said. “When the local councils took over [collecting data about the virus from the Health Ministry], the whole process was stalled, nothing was moving.”

The spokesperson said that there was insufficient research to identify the exact factors driving a suspected spike in infection numbers of late.  However, he claimed there had been “many internal and administrative problems” that when combined with the country’s wet season – resulting from the south west monsoon that runs from May to November – may have served to exacerbate the impacts of the outbreak.

According to the task force spokesperson, the decision to hand over the responsibility for detailing information on the spread of dengue from the Health Ministry to island councils had initially raised notable problems for the government; though these issues were now being resolved.

“There were some problems in getting councillors initially to work on weekends, but I think everyone has understood the severity of the outbreak,” he added.

While no “drastic” changes had been made in the methods used by authorities themselves to combat dengue fever infections, the taskforce representative said that the key focus for efforts both now and during any future “epidemics” would be in trying to ensure that the mechanisms for coordination were working efficiently.

“In the future, this task force will have helped with this, because we are getting important data and contacts,” the representative said.

With the task force currently budgeted to run for seven days, the body’s media spokesperson said that no decision had yet been made on whether similar initiatives would be used during future outbreaks, yet he was confident that important lessons could be learnt from the current system.

“I think the task force will help to administer preventative measures during outbreaks in the future. Building a fixed system out of this existing network will be very helpful,” he said. “There has been a change in how government works, so people have had difficulties in adjusting to this and awareness of requirements has been low. Councils also have to realise their responsibilities as well.”

The task force spokesperson claimed that preventative measures for dengue also needed to focus on members of the public in areas like education at schools, as well as improving hygiene in houses and carrying out inspections at construction sites to limit mosquito breeding grounds.

“I think the basic thing is to get this system in place, like in schools, things like education on personal hygiene and dealing with councils,” he said. “If these don’t work, then every time we can’t always go to the MNDF for assistance.”

“Bungled” response

Despite the task force representative’s claims, Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef, Spokesperson for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), saidthat he believed that the government had “bungled” their response to trying to control dengue fever. Shareef added that although the DRP welcomed and would cooperate with the government in efforts to try and limit the spread of the virus, he said that authorities had acted too slowly in trying to deal with the outbreak.

“From what we have seen the government is just not doing enough. We don’t believe they have been willfully negligent, but there has been negligence in their approach [to dengue outbreak],” he claimed. “They have not responded fast enough, which could be inexperience on their part. But I think this will be a wake-up call for them to change policy in dealing with these type of situations.”

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Addu council looking beyond single island resort model for mid-market push

Addu City Council has announced plans to kick-start a project aimed at attracting mid-market tourism to the region in a change of policy from the country’s established one resort per island policy.

Following in the footsteps of developments on the island of Gan in Laamu Atoll, Addu City authorities have said they will develop areas of the city as a Asseyri (Beachside) Project.

The project represents a tourism development plan by which guest accommodation, alongside recreation and entertainment facilities, will be developed in a specific area with each commercial component being rented out to different parties. The system differs from the country’s established tourism model that has generally been based on a single enterprise operating a resort property exclusively on a designated island.

The announcement of the Addu City project follows a cabinet decision made earlier this year to create an integrated tourism development policy.

“We have identified the areas we want to develop for the Asseyri project, and we have sent the proposals to the Tourism Ministry for approval,” says Abdullah Sodiq, Mayor of Addu City.

The two areas ear-marked for development under this project are the Maafishi Area of Hulhumeedhoo Island and the start of the Hankede area, Hithadhoo.

Diversification

Moving away from the existing one island, one hotel tourism product, an Asseyri project aims to open up venues to allow larger numbers of local entrepreneurs to participate in the Maldives’ lucrative tourism sector.

The project will also open up doors for budget and mid-market tourists to visit Maldives, diversifying the Maldivian tourism product, according to developers.

A pilot Asseyri project was launched by the Tourism Minister Dr Mariyam Zulfa in Gan in March. According to the proposed plans, two 300 bed hotels, 69 guest houses, as well as a number of restaurants, spas and sports/recreational facilities will be developed on the 25 hectares of land located on the western beach side of the island.

In trying to emulate the Gan project, Mayor Sodiq said “the Addu Assyeri project will also be a multi-owner project; with lodgings and other facilities like restaurants, spas and sports areas each being owned by a different enterprises.”

The proposals for the Addu project have now reportedly been drawn up and sent to the ministry for approval.

“The tourism ministry shared with us the details of their ongoing project at Gan and has been very supportive of our maiden venture into this area,” Sodiq said.

Addu City Council hopes the project will give a boost to the local economy by creating more job opportunities and helping with aims to increase the GDP of Addu Atoll within the next three years. It will also attract more visitors to the city which is already home to properties like Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa.

Finding developers

Tourism authorities in the country have also pledged to try and assist the Addu City beach-side developments.

“We are holding discussions with Addu City Council to plan their Asseyri project,” says Moosa Zameer Hassan, Deputy Director General at the Planning Department of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

Hassan added that the Tourism Ministry was currently working to change its approach to the Gan Asseyri project after evaluating project proposals that were submitted ahead of a June deadline.

“We received two proposals, one from a local company to do the water and sanitation component of [the project], the other from a foreign company to develop the hotel component. At present we are negotiating with both parties,” Hassan said. The initial idea for the project was to try and find a party interested in the total development of the whole area and to lease out the different components of it afterwards, though tourism authorities are now reviewing this.

“The area is very big that might be the reason [for the review]. So now we are going to put out a tender for the development of hotels and guest houses, and hold discussions with the local council for them to rent out the land plots for other components of the project like restaurants, spas, recreational facilities and such,” Hassan claimed.

Aslam Moosa, a representative for Gan Island Council said he and his fellow members had been kept in the dark regarding the project.

“Yes, I have seen the area marked on the map, and heard the announcement for the proposals, but nobody has held discussions with us on the project,” he added. Moosa claimed that the council was presently only involved in the development of a 300 bed hotel by an Indian Company in Gan.

Hassan confirmed that discussions have not been held since local councils were elected. in February. “But we hope to hold discussions with them and to be able to rent out plots of land within two months,” he said.

While the tender for hotels would be open to foreign parties, bidding for running guest houses will be only for locals, Hassan stressed.

“Guest houses have always been protected investments just for locals. By law, the Tourism Ministry’s involvement is vital as guest houses and hotels can only be leased by them. The ministry does not envisage giving priority to residents of the Atolls involved,” he said. “Bidding for guest accommodation will be a process open to all Maldivians. Though local councils can decide if they will prioritise residents of their island in the bidding for involvement in other components of the project.”

Meanwhile, Addu City Council has said it is finishing up the administrative work for the Asseyri project and would soon be drawing up the final plans.

“We are very confident that our proposed plan will be approved by the ministry. It will be well regulated, we will assign land areas and have a limit on the height of the buildings.”

The tentative date to complete the tender for the Addu Asseyri project is by September. However, Sodig says actual physical work on the project will be put off until December, to enable the scheduled 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit to go without any hitches.

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Education authorities halt extra-curricular activities as dengue fears escalate

Education authorities have stopped short of closing schools despite taking the decision to suspend extra-curricular activities over concerns about the further spread of dengue fever in the country, according to local media reports.

The government yesterday labelled an outbreak of the virus across Male’ and a number of islands as “an epidemic” after drafting the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) into efforts to try and combat the disease spreading.

Concerns have risen after the virus was linked to the death of four children over two days this week.

Amidst concerns about the further spread of the virus, education officials told local media today that they were suspending outdoor camps and other after-school activities in an attempt to minimize infection rates.

According to local newspaper Haveeru, the escalation of concerns about the prevalence of dengue has led to the formation of a makeshift ward at Male’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) that consists of 19 beds specifically to treat suspected dengue cases.

The paper has also report added that a four-year old boy hospitalised at IGMH since June 28 was in too serious a condition to be moved abroad for treatment.

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Industry seeks “grace period” for overhauling employee living conditions

Business organisations and labour rights groups have called on the government for more time to address proposed amendments to the Employment Act that will drastically shake up living standards for foreign and local workers employed within the Maldives.

The Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports has today invited comments on the new proposals requiring all employers within the country to ensure that specific standards of living quarters are being provided to staff such as those living on resorts or construction sites.

The proposed amendments to the Employment Act outline new requirements for staff accommodation that include providing a clear separation of work and private space, sufficient artificial or natural light, purpose built kitchen areas and specific health and safety standards.

From the perspective of employers, Mohamed Ali Janah, President of the Maldives Association of Construction Industry (MACI), said that despite certain negative perceptions of the industry over treatment of its workers, beyond a few bad examples, there was a willingness to improve treatment of staff.

“Any improvement [to worker’s living conditions] we would welcome. Yet, with any improvements there is a cost attached to this,” he said.

Speaking to Minivan News, Janah said that he believed that the proposed amendments to workers’ living conditions would impact on the cost of construction work in the Maldives.  He said implementing such living standard changes would therefore require a grace period of around one year to allow businesses and their customers to adapt to the changes.

The MACI president claimed that in an already highly competitive marketplace,  society, rather than the construction industry alone, would have to accept some of the financial burden to offset the higher costs of accommodating workers to the standard proposed by the Human Resources Ministry.

“This will definitely have an impact on proposed costs in the industry. Right now, in what is currently a competitive market. We are just managing to get through the economic situation,” he said.

Alongside the Employment Act regulations, Janah said that he believed that additional legislation relating to occupational health and safety was needed to be addressed both in terms of private and government contracts – an issue he claimed was not always the case in negotiations for a construction project.

“The Maldives building code and health and safety requirements also need to be addressed along with these amendments,” he added.

Taking the example of what he believed were differences between the present and previous governments, the MACI president claimed that the implementation of a more structured national budget had meant that state building contracts were no longer a sure thing for building groups. These changes within the construction market were therefore seen as putting further pressure on building firms to try and cut costs while providing new residences for staff.

“[The accommodation proposals] are a good move, but there needs to be time for the industry to adapt,” Janah claimed. “There is awareness of the new requirements that needs to be created. I don’t believe penalizing companies would be the best practice and that a grace period of around a year would be a good time frame to address [the changes].”

Tourism workers

From a tourism industry perspective, worker’s organisations like the Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) have criticised the decision to give just 15 days to provide feedback to the regulations proposed by the Human Resources Ministry.

TEAM President Ahmed Shihaam said that the association would be discussing its responses to the changes in accommodation within the next 24 hours, though had hoped the group would also have time to consult with tourism industry employers as well.

Shihaam claimed that a 15 day time-frame to respond to the regulations made it difficult to consult with important stakeholders like resort employers on the long-term implications of the proposals.

“Rather than days, we may need a month or so to address these issues properly, both with our members and the employers [the resorts themselves],” he said. “This is new to us all and the intention is not to make enemies.”

The Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), which represents a number of resort businesses operating in the country was unavailable for comment when contacted by Minivan News at the time of going to press.

In addressing the proposals for the Employment Act, Human Resources Minister Hassan Latheef said that the proposed new accommodation standards had been adapted from recommendations outlined by the International Labour Ogranisation (ILO), specifically in terms of sanitation conditions and room size.

Latheef claimed that the proposals would address many of the complaints and concerns received by the country’s Labour Relations Authority from Maldivian Workers concerning the conditions of their accomadation, particularly at resort level.
“Maldivians, rarely complain on the pursuit of [unpaid] salaries, most of the time, they complain about the conditions at work or their living conditions. Most of the complaints I should say come from resort workers,” he said. “Their complaints come from not being paid a service charge they are entitled to, to conditions of their accommodation and alleged discrimination from senior management.”

By comparison, Latheef claimed that about 95 percent of complaints received by the Labour Relations Authority from expatriate workers related to the alleged failure of an employer to pay their wages rather than living conditions.

Accommodation amendments

The proposals opened up to public consultation by the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports are scheduled to come into force four months after being published in the government gazette.

These requirements include:

  • Lodging should provide shelter from the natural elements, and be constructed using suitable materials
  • If a lodging is based at a work site, there should be a fence separating these two area at a distance of 1.5 metres
  • At entrance of lodging, a service provider’s name and contact number should be displayed along with the maximum number of people that can be accommodated
  • Lodgings should have enough daylight or artificial light as well as a means of letting air pass through
  • A single worker’s accommodation should equate to 6 square metres of living space at a height of 2.4 metres and an all round width of 1.8 metres
  • For 2 people sharing accommodation, there should 9 square metres of space that is 2.4 metres in height and 2.1 metres in width – each extra person after that should be supplied with 4.5 square metres of living space, 2.4 metres in height with a width of 2.1 metres
  • Rooms should be for separated by gender, unless workers are married
  • Lodgers should also have a means of locking away valuables
  • A toilet should be provided for every 10 people staying at a lodging
  • A sewerage system should be in place and constructed with permission from the relevant authorities
  • A kitchen should be supplied that is appropriate for the surroundings, while it’s forbidden to cook inside lodgings at construction sites
  • Employers or the service provider will be fined up to Rf5,000 for each failure of regulation that is recorded

More information on the measures can be found on the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports’ website.

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Police statistics raise questions over scale of Maldives sexual abuse

A man in his sixties was arrested in Fares-Maathoda last week on suspicion of sending inappropriate text messages to a 12 year old girl as police figures indicate that the number of sexual abuse cases being reported is on course to exceed last year’s total.

“The man had given a phone to the [12 year old] girl, and was sending inappropriate text messages to her, he was also trying to lure her places to meet up” said police spokesperson Ahmed Shiyam in regards to the Fares-Maathoda allegations.

Shiyam said that it was uncertain as yet if an actual meeting had taken place between the suspect and his alleged victim. “We are currently investigating that,” he added.

Police today also confirmed that on June 30 2011, a 33 year old man in Addu Atoll was arrested over the alleged abuse of a 17 year old girl. Shiyam declined to give any more information on this case saying investigations were continuing.

Increase in reported cases

Alongside providing details of these allegations, official police figures given to Minivan News have indicated that a total of 163 sexual abuse cases were reported last year. The same statistics also revealed that 108 sexual abuse cases had been reported up to the end of May 2011. According to these figures, 30 of these cases allegedly involved victims aged between 2 to 12 years.

The number of abuse cases being reported has caused concern among groups such as NGOs. Back in April, the Advocating Rights of Children (ARC) group issued a press release expressing concern at the rising number of child abuse cases in the country, calling on the relevant authorities to strengthen laws to protect children.

However, public and political opinion appears divided on whether there is an increase in the incidence of abuse cases or the number of allegations being reported.

“I believe abuse cases happen a lot in the Maldives, it is just that in the past it was not reported,” said Mariyam Leesha, a 35 year old mother of two, who has reported being a victim of abuse herself.

Leesha said that she believed society was now more open in talking about abuse meaning more people are reporting allegations to the police.

“When a victim is not believed, they will not talk about it anymore,” she said.

Leesha has said that she was abused by her uncle as a child, allegations that her family refused to believe at the time.

According to Leesha, the culture of shame and fear that previously hindered people from reporting sexual and child abuse has been broken to an extent, although more work was needed as a society.

“Even recently when a Maldivian film on child abuse was shown, there were people who said that it should not have been enacted,” she said. Leesha says that issues like sexual abuse need to be discussed more to encourage people to report abuse.

The Gender Ministry declined to comment when asked by Minivan News on the possible causes of the increased rate of sexual abuse cases being reported, saying there was an absence of study or research to make any conclusions.

The names of any victims mentioned in this article have been changed to protect their identity.

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