Tag: maldives

Bangladesh investigates broker over worker trafficking to Maldives worth US$3.6 million

The government of Bangladesh is investigating a Bangladeshi broker believed to be involved in a potential employment trafficking scam worth US$3.6 million in the Maldives.

Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment has launched a case against the recruitment agent who was attempting to send 2800 Bangladeshi workers to the Maldives, according to former Bangladeshi High Commissioner Professor Selina Mohsin.

“He has been caught and there is now a case against him. He is in a very difficult situation, as he should be – we want brokers to be caught,” Professor Mohsin told Minivan News.

Professor Mohsin has vocally called for stricter controls on the employment of Bangladeshi workers in the Maldives, greater vigilance among the authorities, and a clamp down on unscrupulous recruitment brokers.

In an earlier interview with Minivan News, she explained that brokers solicit a fee of up to US$4000 from often illiterate rural workers through promises of well paid jobs in the Maldives. It was not uncommon for workers to sell their land, go into debt or move their wives and families in with relatives to be able to afford this fee, Professor Mohsin told Minivan News.

The workers are then brought to the Maldives and either paid far less than they were promised or abandoned at the airport with nothing but an unreachable phone number, she explained.

The 30-50 such cases presenting at the High Commission every day, “without passports and in very dire straits”, suggest an exploitative worker trafficking industry worth upwards of US$43.8 million a year – a sum rivalling the country’s US$46 million fishing industry.

The government estimates there to be 35,000 Bangladeshi nationals working in the Maldives – over 11 percent of the total population – of which the authorities consider 17,000 to be employed legally.

“The Maldives brokers not the only unscrupulous parties – the Bangladeshi brokers are even more unscruplous,” Professor Mohsin said. “If we can catch 1-2 brokers, it will put the others on alert.”

The High Commission had forwarded details of the Maldivian counterpart involved in the US$3.6 million operation to the Maldives Foreign Ministry, Professor Mohsin noted.

Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed confirmed the Ministry had received the information last year, “raising questions about a party who applied to recruit a large number of workers.”

“After she alerted us we verified the matter with the [Human Resources] Ministry, which confirmed it was a genuine recruitment party and quota,” Dr Shaheed said.

The Immigration Department has previously complained that workers are being brought into the country by rogue recruitment agents “juggling” the labour quotas allocated by the Ministry of Human Resources.

Workers are brought into the Maldives on the labour quotas of one company before being ‘resold’ to another party on arrival. In some cases the workers will even arrive in the Maldives having been told they will be working in a country such as Malaysia, Chief Immigration Officer Hassan Khaleel told Minivan News in June.

It was quite difficult for immigration to determine if someone had been trafficked on their arrival “because be don’t have a Bangladeshi speaker”, he noted.

“After they work a for while and gain a grasp of Dhivehi it is sometimes possible to interview them on their departure,” he said.

Professor Mohsin acknowledged the responsibility of the Bangladeshi government in preventing the trafficking of its nationals, but noted that Bangladesh “is a huge country with many airports – and even if we could control it, we are bordered with India.”

“The Maldives is a small country with one international airport, and it is much easier to stop the problem there,” she said.

She added that she had submitted a memorandum of understanding on manpower to the Maldives government and the Minister of Human Resources in October, streamlining the process of worker recruitment, but “it is taking a long time. Bangladesh is ready to sign, so I hope [the Maldives] will finalise it soon.”

Dr Shaheed confirmed “there is a discussion going on over tightening the loopholes allowing [trafficking] to take place. It is a matter of great concern for us that trafficking is going on.”

Professor Mohsin acknowledged elements of the Maldives government for their support in tackling the problem, including President Mohamed Nasheed, Home Minister Mohamed Shihab “and particularly Vice President [Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan], who was instrumental in helping us legalise 17,000 Bangladeshi workers currently in the Maldives.”

“We also received good support from the Police Commissioner when it became necessary to protect the High commission from employers seeking to intimidate workers,” she noted.

“I worked very hard to strengthen our relationship and have deep appreciation for the Maldives’ heritage – the resorts are enchanting. I had a wonderful experience in the Maldives and made many good friends. We want Bangladesh to be able to provide skilled workers, but we don’t want human suffering to take place,” she said.

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DQP accuses government of seizing state media

The Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) has claimed the government has “captured and rebranded” the state media, the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute between parliament and the government over which institution should have jurisdiction over the state broadcasters.

“Equal opportunity from state media is one of the basic characteristics of democracy,’’ said a statement issued by the DQP. “There is no one who would dispute that the most important [component] of a steady democracy is establishment of a free media.’’

The party accused the government of seizing the the assets of Television Maldives and Voice of Maldives, and refusing to transfer the assets to the Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) which was established by the parliament to monitor the state media.

The party further claimed that the government was seeking to “mislead” people by rebranding the state broadcasters’ parent company to the ‘Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation’ (MNBC).

“This reveals the characteristics of a government that is uncivilised, stubborn and dictatorial,” the DQP statement said, concluding with a prayer “to protect [the country] from this kind of leadership.”

DQP claimed that when the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in the opposition, they were “always accusing the then government of misusing the state media.”

‘’As a result, MDP in their manifesto wrote in bold letters that they would establish a free media,’’ the statement said.

“It proves that MDP also wished for independent media before they came into power, however today we are witnessing that MDP has failed to fulfill their own pledges stated in their manifesto.’’

“After the bill on Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) was passed in the parliament and the board was appointed, the government realised that the board members were not the type of people that would stick to anything the government did, and they forgot what they had written in their manifesto,’’ DQP claimed. “Now the government is trying to prevent Voice of Maldives and Television Maldives from becoming independent.’’

MDP parliamentary group leader and MP Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik said that historically DQP had been against the MDP manifesto, but was now supporting it self-interestedly in parliament’s bid to take over state media.

“To me it’s a joke that all these days they have been against our manifesto, and then suddenly they point at it for their self-interest,’’ said Moosa, accusing the DQP of dictatorship in turn.

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Adhaalath party urges assistance for flood victims in Pakistan

The Adhaalath Party continues to urge Maldivians to provide assistance for flood victims in Pakistan

In a statement issued today, the party said that Muslims “should provide humanitarian aid when an Islamic country is in trouble.”

“Due the heavy rain to Pakistan, more than 20 million people have become homeless, crops have been damaged, and apart from the starvation caused, diseases such as cholera and flus are now widespread,’’ said the party. “The concerned authorities revealed that there are more than 3.5 million children among the victims.’’

The Adhaalath Party recently launched a fund for the provision of humanitarian aid for flood victims in Pakistan.

“The likeness of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah, is as the likeness of a grain (of corn); it grows seven ears, and each ear has a hundred grains. Allah gives manifold increase to whom He wills. And Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures’ needs, all-Knower,’’ the statement said, citing to Quran.

Vice President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed recently visited the Pakistan High Commission in the Maldives and expressed sympathy for the flood victims.

During his visit, Dr Waheed appealed to Maldivian citizens to support assistance to the victims of the flood.

Prohibited militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, have set up camps in Karachi to raise funds to help flood victims of Pakistan, according to Indan news paper Times of India.

According to the newspaper, other militant groups such as Jamaat-ud-Dawah, blamed by India for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Harkatul Mujahideen, Hizbut Tahrir and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are also engaged in the relief operations.

The paper said that the banned groups were working under different names.

The World Bank has recently said it will redirect $US900 million of its existing loans to Pakistan to help in flood recovery.

The European Union (EU) has also said it will offer US$70 million to Pakistan.

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MDP might have to “take action” against VTV, warns Reeko Moosa

Parliamentary group leader for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has threatened “action” against Villa Television (VTV), a TV station owned by leader of the Jumhoory Party (JP) Leader and MP Gasim ‘Buruma’ Ibrahim.

Moosa alleged the channel “repeatedly misleads and broadcasts news in a way that smears respect for MDP, [in such a way] that MDP might have to take action against VTV.”

“Citizens of the Maldives have realized that VTV is not meeting the proper broadcasting standards due to their attempts to discredit MDP, the political party which introduced democracy to the Maldives,” claiming that there were “limitations” on freedom of expression.

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan said it was “typical” of Moosa to attack any media that “does not report the way he likes.”

“Previously when MDP was in the opposition he was against [state broadcaster] Television Maldives, and more than once he attacked the TVM building and its staff,’’ claimed Nihan. ‘’Now MDP is in power, Moosa is against VTV and DhiTV (a private television station).’’

Nihan said there was “only one action” Moosa could take.

‘’He can threaten the government and delay the issuing of a broadcasting license of VTV – I heard their license would expire very soon,’’ he said. “There is no such law that allows him to do that, but that is the only thing he can do.’’

He added that however Moosa attempted otherwise, it would be “impossible for him to bury the media.”

”The reason they hate VTV so much is that it has this TV programme that shows things President Nasheed vowed he would never do but did after coming to power, and some other things he had scheduled to do but failed to deliver on time,” Nihan claimed.

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Expatriate worker stabbed and robbed

An expatriate worker was stabbed and robbed on Hithadhoo in Seenu Atoll on Monday, reports Haveeru.

The worker was allegedly robbed of Rf1,550 at around 9.30 pm while he was on a delivery, a sum including cash from the shop he was working at as well as his own.

The worker suffered cuts to his ear and finger but was not seriously injured in the incident.

Police have not yet arrested any suspects.

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Tax tourists to fund conservation efforts, suggests report

Tourists to the Maldives should pay an environmental levy to fund conservation programmes in the country, according to a report produced by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the College of Fisheries in Mangalore, India, Florida International University in Miami and the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE).

The report, titled ‘User-based Financing of Environmental Conservation of the Maldivian Atolls’, places a monetary value on the use of natural resources for tourism, and proposes the use-tax as a means of compensating for the current “lack of political will and budgetary resources [which] appear to hinder the effective implementation of the above marine protection law.”

Tourism should fund conservation, the report suggests, as the study “found a large disparity between the amount of economic value generated from this nature-based tourism and the amount going into atoll environmental conservation.”

“Even a small tax levied on tourist expenditure on the islands or a direct conservation check-off as a user fee collected from the tourists would help defray the costs of the atoll conservation,” the report suggests.

Specific threats to the marine ecosystem – and the tourism industry – include threats to coral from development activities such as near-shore reclamation, harbor construction, dredging and other island expansion activities.

“Additionally the nutrient enrichment from sewage discharges from the resorts and nearby inhabited islands encouraging algae growth on the reef,” the report notes.

“Over-exploitation of reef fisheries also indirectly impacts the corals. Overfishing removes the herbivorous fishes and these fishes such as parrot and surgeon fishes are integral part of reef as they prevent the over growth of macro-algae on the reef as they deprive corals of essential sunlight.”

Despite the implementation of 31 marine protected areas, high demand for reef fish by resorts and seafood exporters means local fishermen continued to fish in these areas, with little funding allocated to education or enforcement.

“From inception the marine protected area program received only meager financial support from the government, and inadequate staff,” the report notes.

“In the year 2007, the entire environmental conservation program in the country received less than one percent of the Gross Domestic Product while the tourism and transportation sector together contributed about 46 percent.

“The inadequate funding of such programs seriously limits the ability of the management agencies of enforcing protected area boundaries, use restrictions, and penalties and conducting educational programs.”

The report suggests that part of the reason protected areas receive insufficient funding “is the government’s failure to recognise both market and non-market values derived from natural resources.”

“With nature-based tourism there exists a significant amount of economic surplus, which the tourists derive and which does not enter the market process. As a result, the government fails to recover at least a portion of that surplus toward the costs of protecting the resource from its users.”

Currently, visitors spend an average of US$1,666 per person per trip within the country, a total annual spend of US$1,126 million, the report noted, broken down into hotels (35%), followed by food and beverages (23%), recreational activities (19%), miscellaneous (18%) and retail shopping (5%).

If the government were to introduce a user fee of US$35, spread across these or levied at once, then based on current visitor numbers the country would generate US$27.36 million – “more than 85 percent of current environmental expenditure.”

Sim Mohamed Ibrahim from the Maldives Association Tourism Industry (MATI) counters that passing additional taxes to tourists is “not a good idea at all”, as “the Maldives is already seen as an expensive luxury destination, and unaffordable for tourists in the mid-market segment.”

“Resorts already need to apply best practice to maintain and manage natural resources to ensure they remain in business,” he said, favouring education and greater involvement between the industry and the local communities.

Resorts “could do more” to pass on best practice to the community, Sim acknowledged.

“In particular we have to catch the younger generation before they begin dropping waste in the ocean, for instance,” he said.

The report anticipates the industry’s economic counterargument, in that the main challenge faced in implementing such a conservation fee would be “political resistance from local businesses that serve the tourism industry. It is feared that excessive taxes and fees may turn tourists away to other places.”

“Ironically, Maldives’ tourism continues to expand significantly [and] users who greatly benefit from the rich natural resource are foreigners, while the responsibility for sustainable and fair use of such resources largely falls on the local population and the government,” the report reads.

“One way to resolve this disparity issue is to identify funding sources from within those who directly benefit from the tourism experience and the tourism dollars, and to design policies to ensure appropriate money transfer from beneficiaries to those responsible for conservation and regulation,” it notes.

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Government decreases sentences of Sultan Park bombers under Clemency Act

The government has confirmed it has commuted the sentences of two of the three convicted terrorists responsible for the 2007 bombing of Sultans Park in Male’, under the Clemency Act.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said the pair, identified by local media as Ahmed Naseer and Mohamed Sobah, were “not granted clemency, but had their sentences decreased.”

The two men had their sentences changed from incarceration to three year suspended sentences under observation.

”Their punishment was delayed by the lawful offering of a suspended punishment,” said Zuhair, indicating that “they will be well observed.”

Naseer and Sobah were convicted for 15 years on charges of terrorism, ”but they were not the people who were in charge of doing this, they did not having the highest involvement,” Zuhair said.

He added that the government wished to “provide an opportunity for everyone to be involved in the society, and the opportunity to rehabilitate and recover.”

The bomb attack near the Sultan Park was the first such incident to occur in the Maldives and received widespread publicity around the globe, damaging the tourism industry.

The incident occurred on September 29 2007 in Sultans Park,  near the Islamic Centre.

The homemade bomb, which consisted of a gas cylinder, a washing machine motor and a mobile phone, injured 12 foreign tourists several seriously.

The tourists hurt included eight from China, two from Britain, and two from Japan.

10 Maldivians and two foreigners were arrested in connection with the case, and in December that year three men confessed in court and were sentenced to 15 years prison.

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Judge claims “suspicious issues” with evidence reason for alleged drug lord’s aquittal

Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed has cited “suspicious issues” relating to the evidence presented by the Prosecutor General’s office as reason for the acquittal of Hussein Mohamed.

Hussein was labelled by the government as one of the top six drug dealers in the country, prior to the court finding him innocent of  importing drugs. He was arrested at the airport on April 9, 2009, where police alleged he was awaiting the arrival of a couple carrying a drug shipment.

Judge Mohamed said the evidence presented was inadequate to rule Hussein guilty.

Hussein was the first to be arrested of the six people President Mohamed Nasheed has previously labeled as the top six drug dealers in the country.

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameem described the verdict as “regrettable”, adding that the PG’s office would consider its options once it received the case report from the court.

The second of the six arrested, Adam Naseer, was also ruled innocent by the Criminal Court after police searched his home in Addu Atoll on June 30, 2009, where they found over Rf6 million (US$461,500) in cash and a tin containing drugs outside his house.

Naseer was arrested several days later on July 2, 2009.  However, the Criminal Court ruled that he was innocent because evidence presented by the Prosecutor General’s office was inadequate, and failed to prove that the money found with Naseer was obtained through drug dealing.

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Newsweek labels Nasheed ‘Green Guru’ for climate change work

The second largest weekly magazine in the United States, ‘Newsweek’, has awarded President Mohamed Nasheed the title of ‘green guru’ and placed him second among nine other world leaders who have ‘’won serious respect’’ in different global fields.

“As president of an island nation imperiled by rising sea levels, Mohamed Nasheed has become a hero among environmentalists,’’ said Newsweek. “In the run-up to last year’s United Nations climate-change meeting, Nasheed attracted global attention by hosting a cabinet meeting underwater.’’

The paper said that former Vice President of the US, Al Gore, who is also an environment activist, had taken to quoting President Nasheed on matters relating to the human cost of climate change.

‘’In April, the UN elected [Nasheed] one of six “2010 Champions of the Earth,’’ said the magazine.

Achim Steiner, director of the UN Environment Program, praised Nasheed as a politician who is “showcasing to the rest of the world how a transition to climate neutrality can be achieved and how all nations, no matter how big or small, can contribute.”

Britain’s new Prime Minister, David Cameron, tops the list of ‘best world leaders’ in the political magazine, which has a global circulation of 1.5 million.

Newsweek also names President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, President Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Lee of South Korea in its list of top world leaders.

Image: Newsweek magazine

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