migrant workers – Page 3 – Minivan News

Police seize 57 unregistered foreigners in market

The Maldives Department of Immigration and Emigration has said that 57 unregistered foreign workers detained by police today were currently being processed by authorities ahead of a decision on whether they will face deportation.

According to local media, the foreign nationals, all found working working in the fish and market areas of Male’, were detained by police in an ongoing operation undertaken in conjunction with immigration officials.

Police Spokesperson Chief Inspector Hassan Haneef was not responding to calls at time of press.

Immigration Controller Dr Mohamed Ali today confirmed that the unregistered workers were presently being held by the Immigration Department, but did not specify where they were being kept or their nationality.

“We will process them and whoever has to go will be sent back,” he said.

Dr Ali did not clarify if the unregistered workers were presently being kept at a recently opened immigration shelter intended to temporarily house unregistered and illegal immigrants.

Few details have been provided to media on the shelter, which opened back in February this year as the Maldives comes under increasing pressure to try and alleviate the number of unregistered workers in the country amidst wider fears concerning human trafficking.

The Indian High Commission in Male’ was not responding to calls at time of press on whether any of its nationals were among the unregistered workers. Meanwhile, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the Maldives Rear Admiral Abu Saeed Mohamed Abdul Awal said he had received no information on the unregistered workers at time of press.

The Maldives has appeared on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for three years in a row. Should it drop to tier three – the worst category- then the country is expected to face significant reductions in aid and potential travel restrictions on its citizens.

Last May, a total of 47 Bangladeshi nationals working for a local security firm were seized by the Department of Immigration as part of a wider crackdown on unregistered migrant workers.

Immigration officials at the time claimed that the company the men had been working for had been in operation for 10 -12 years, yet no information could be found on its operations during a subsequent investigation by authorities.

Government campaign

The government has in recent months launched a special campaign intended to raising awareness of the rights of foreign workers, while earlier this year ratifying eight “fundamental” International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions intended to bring legislation on employee rights and trade unions in line with international standards.

However, independent institutions in the Maldives have maintained that the country – under successive governments – is yet to ratify a core convention on protecting migrant worker rights, while no legislation is in place to punish those involved in smuggling workers though the country’s borders.

The Prosecutor General (PG’s) Office has also confirmed that a lack of legislation has meant no cases have been prosecuted against human traffickers in the Maldives at present.

“Corrupt immigration practices”

In February, a Maldivian trade union alleged that corrupt immigration practices and the use of unregulated employment agencies by private and state employers was limiting efforts to curb abuse of migrant workers and prevent illegal practices such as retaining their passports.

The Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) claimed that while companies are not permitted to retain the passports of foreign workers, some hospitality operators – as well as unregulated third party agencies and government ministries – are still keeping employee travel documents without consent.

At the same time, a source with knowledge of the current immigration system told Minivan News that the practice of retaining passports – a long-standing habit of Maldivian employers – was a key contributor to human trafficking in the country.

“This is a common practice seen all over the world. But it creates major problems. If a foreigner wishes to go to law enforcement agencies for assistance, they will be asked to identify themselves with a passport,” the source said.

Third party agencies appeared to want to keep the passports to be able to “manipulate” foreign workers for their own financial advantage, the source explained.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has accused state and private sector employers in the country of lacking consistency in their efforts to address human trafficking, preventing “real” change in controlling illegal migration.

Speaking back in February 2013, HRCM member Jeehan Mahmoud told Minivan News that despite attempts under the present government to try and introduce new legislation, the Maldives had made little progress towards improving the treatment and rights of foreign workers over the last four years.

Addressing the current scope of unregistered foreign labour, Maldives Association of Construction Industry (MACI) President Mohamed Ali Janah said an estimated 40 percent of the foreign employees in the sector were thought not to be legally registered.

Considering these numbers, Janah said he could not rule out the involvement of organised crime in certain employment agencies, which supply a large amount of foreign labour to building sites in the Maldives.

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No effort made to follow up promises on human trafficking: HRCM

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has accused state and private sector employers in the country of lacking consistency in their efforts to address human trafficking, preventing “real” change in controlling illegal migration.

HRCM member Jeehan Mahmoud told Minivan News that despite attempts under the present government to try and introduce new legislation, the Maldives had made little progress towards improving the treatment and rights of foreign workers over the last four years.

The government has in recent months launched a special campaign intended to raising awareness of the rights of foreign workers, while also last month ratifying eight “fundamental” International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions intended to bring legislation on employee rights and trade unions in line with international standards.

However, independent institutions in the Maldives have maintained that the country is yet to ratify a core convention on protecting migrant worker rights, while no legislation is in place to punish those involved in smuggling workers though the country’s borders.

The Prosecutor General (PG’s) Office has confirmed that a lack of legislation has meant no cases have been prosecuted against human traffickers in the Maldives.

While accepting efforts were being undertaken by the present government to try and address human trafficking in the Maldives, trade unions, foreign diplomats and independent institutions have continued to raise concerns about the scale of the problem nationally.

The Maldives has appeared on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for three years in a row. Should the Maldives drop to tier three – the worst category- then the country will face significant reductions in aid and potential travel restrictions on its citizens.

HRCM member Jeehan claimed that every time the US State Department had reviewed the Maldives’ efforts to curb human trafficking, successive governments had shown commitments to try and implement new control measures.

However, she claimed such efforts were often only temporary and not followed up in most cases.

“The effort is not consistent and that is why we are not seeing real change here. We have not seen change since our 2009 report and in the periodic reviews since then,” Jeehan said

Passport retention

HRCM member Jeehan identified the issue of employers retaining passports as a prevalent concern that had failed to be addressed since the commission carried out a study in 2009 assessing the employment situation in the Maldives for migrant workers.

“One of the findings was that passports were being kept not only by agencies or the companies themselves. We also found the practice was used by the state in hiring teachers and nurses,” she said. “We had called for abandonment of this policy as migrant workers need access to their identity.”

Last year, the Department of Immigration and Emigration issued a notice (Dhivehi) expressing concern at the rising numbers of undocumented workers in the country, and set out a revised visa system to try and combat people trafficking.

The document included a clause stating that under no circumstances should a passport or travel documents be possessed by anyone other than the rightful owner, and threatened legal action against anyone found to have infringed these rights on the grounds of human trafficking. An unofficial translation can be read here.

According to the HRCM, freedom of identity is a right enshrined in the Maldives constitution for any person residing in the country.

Jeehan added that the HRCM had since 2009 continued to recommend changing state-mandated practices for the processing visa documentation of foreign workers. She said despite the efforts, the issue that had not been addressed by either the government of former President Mohamed Nasheed or the present administration of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.

“Our argument is why not find an alternative ID that would allow them to release a passport,” Jeehan said. “If the state kept a work permit instead, there would be no need for passports to be held.”

Despite efforts to outlaw the practice, Jeehan claimed that on the occasion of International Migrant Worker day back in December 2012 , a public forum was held with various stakeholders including the HRCM to try and raise awareness on critical issues facing migrant workers.

She added that during the course of the workshop, the HRCM had not been notified of any significant change in the practice of the state retaining passports.

“The state issued a circular prohibiting retention of passports that was applicable to private persons and agencies. But the state ministries continue retaining passports,” she claimed.

Having spoken with private sector employers about migrant workers rights, Jeehan added that many companies said they were following the state’s example by continuing to retain passports.

“The response we receive is that ‘if the state is practising this, we can do this as well’,” she said

Legislative focus

Despite criticism of efforts by the state and private sector to combat human trafficking, Jeehan claimed work had been undertaken to implement new legislation on combating human trafficking. She said this legislation was currently under review within parliament, stalled at committee stage.

The commission has said it remains involved in assisting the development of the human trafficking bill, which Jeehan said would be an important development towards addressing the rights of foreign workers.

According to Jeehan, a lack of legislation on human trafficking was regularly cited by authorities as a key set back to dealing with issues of labour exploitation and migrant rights.

However, she maintained that human trafficking itself goes back to the principle of exploitation, something that is prohibited in Islam and by extension the constitution of the Maldives.

“An estimated one third of the population is made up of migrant workers, so it is only justified we review this,” she added.

Jeehan claimed that as recently as last year, the Maldives Police Service did not have a legal mandate to even investigate potential cases of human trafficking.

The HRCM said efforts had now been taken to screen cases where foreign workers were complaining of non-payment of wages or not being given any free time, to ascertain whether they were victims of human trafficking.

She also expressed hope that the state would also move to clearly identify the individual roles that various stakeholders in the country would play in efforts to combat people smuggling; from institutions like the police and Immigration Department, to the human rights and youth ministries.

Government commitments

Besides signing the ILO conventions on labour rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this month also inaugurated an initiative targeted at raising awareness of the human trafficking issue in the Maldives.

The strategy, entitled the ‘Blue Ribbon Campaign Against Human Trafficking’ promises activities to try and raise awareness among students and the business community.

Speaking at the inauguration of the campaign last month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Abdul Samad Abdulla stated that the initiative formed part of a larger plan to try addressing human trafficking in the Maldives.

This strategy is expected to include activities to try and raise awareness among students and the business community. The tourism industry, which employs the largest number of foreign staff in the country, was identified as another key focus of the initiative.

The ministry itself defines human trafficking as “taking undue advantage of a person through employing him, transferring him from place to place, taking guardianship of him, depriving him of making decisions on personal matters, assuming control over him through threats or abuse of power; or to create dependence, kidnap, or deceive him through any other means and take undue advantage of a person’s weaknesses and to conduct any of these activities in a manner that includes exchange of money from or to oneself.”

Under the new scheme, individuals held responsible for human trafficking offences would include staff in government offices mandated to oversee the issue, as well as companies and other groups found to be involved in illegal practices.

Employers who force employees to work with no respect or regard to protecting human rights and persons who obstruct the taking of legal action against people who commit human trafficking offences will also be held responsible, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Corrupt practices”

Earlier this month, one local trade union working in the tourism sector alleged that corrupt immigration practices and the use of unregulated employment agencies by private and state employers were limiting efforts to curb illegal treatment and abuse of migrant workers

At the same time, a source with knowledge of the current immigration system highlighted that the now illegal practice of retaining passports – a long-standing habit of Maldivian employers – remained a key contributor to human trafficking in the country.

Back in January, a Malaysian IT company at the centre of legal wrangling over a deal to provide a border control system (BCS) to the Maldivian government alleged “criminal elements” could be behind efforts to scupper the agreement.

Vice President for Nexbis Nafies Aziz told Minivan News at the time that “intelligence” received by the company suggested groups backing the country’s lucrative human trafficking industry could be seeking to sabotage the introduction of its BCS to undermine national security controls.

Foreign labourers are estimated to account for a significant proportion of the country’s workforce. Just over a quarter of the Maldives population of 394,451 people is estimated to be made up of foreign workers, according to recent statistics supplied by the Department of Immigration and Emigration.

The official immigration figures found that the expatriate workforce in the Maldives had risen by September 2011 to 99,369 people from just 57,968 registered workers in December 2009.

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Corrupt immigration practices, unregulated agencies fueling migrant worker abuse

Corrupt immigration practices and the use of unregulated employment agencies by private and state employers are limiting efforts to curb abuse of migrant workers and prevent illegal practices such as retaining staff passports, a Maldivian trade union has alleged.

The Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) has claimed that while companies are not permitted to retain the passports of foreign workers, some hospitality operators – as well as unregulated third party agencies and government ministries – are still keeping employee travel documents without consent.

The comments were made as a source with knowledge of the current immigration system told Minivan News that the practice of retaining passports – a long-standing habit of Maldivian employers – was a key contributor to human trafficking in the country.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said despite improvements late last year among some state employers, the issue still needed significant work from government and private enterprise if it was to be resolved.

Immigration Controller Dr Mohamed Ali was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

In October last year, a senior Indian diplomatic official expressed concern over the ongoing practice of confiscating passports of migrant workers arriving to the country from across South Asia – likening the practice to slavery.

Tourism workers

With the tourism industry one of the largest employers in the Maldives, TEAM Secretary General Mauroof Zakir alleged that relevant authorities in the country were either not able, or unwilling, to address abuse of foreigners.

“The issue of abuse of migrant workers is not being addressed by concerned authorities very much. We have a corrupted Immigration Department that is not able to handle these issues,” he said.

According to Mauroof, the practice of resort operators keeping worker passports was a “complicated issue” due to the common practice of outsourcing the hiring of foreign staff to agencies. He contended that a number of resorts and hotel operators were either keeping passports of staff themselves, or doing so through third party employment agents.

“Passports are being kept, often for stupid reasons. While passports should not be kept by employees, I am sure companies are doing this anyway,” he said.

Mauroof claimed that even this week, TEAM had received complaints that one multi-national hotel operator in Maldives was insisting on retaining the passports of its foreign staff, in some cases against their wishes.

Mauroof also criticised the use of third party employment agencies in particular, alleging that by relying on unscrupulous labour suppliers, resorts risked inadvertently hiring illegal workers.

“One complaint we received involved a resort paying a group of migrant workers US$100 as a monthly basic salary,” he claimed, adding that this did not include service charge payments.

A common human rights abuse involved the housing of foreign staff in substandard conditions. In one example, a group of labourers from Bangladesh were not provided with a toilet in their accommodation, forcing them to use the facilities at nearby mosques.

According to Mauroof, although TEAM’s constitution did allow for foreign workers to become members, only a small number of migrant employees had so far joined the union.

TEAM said it was at present handling three cases relating to the treatment of foreign staff.

With a majority of the country’s tourism workforce made up of foreign staff, Mauroof expressed concern that a large number of immigrant workers could see their basic rights infringed by employers with no realistic chance of seeking legal redress.

Societal attitude

A source with knowledge of the Department of Immigration’s work over the last several years said that while employers, including government ministries, had stepped up efforts to cease retaining passports, it would take “some time” before the issue was resolved.

The source claimed that the practice of retaining passports had been part of the employment culture in the Maldives for a long time, and that changing wider societal attitudes was challenging.

“Withholding passports infringes the basic rights of workers. We are talking about someone’s identity here. Addressing the matter is also the first step in working to prevent human trafficking,” the source claimed. “[Retaining passports] has been part of the culture here for a long time – the Education Ministry and Tourism Ministry have all done this. Keeping passports has been practised since foreign experts began coming to the Maldives.”

The source told Minivan News that the Department of Immigration and Emigration has sent “numerous memos” against the practice of retaining passports, but alleged that certain agencies favoured keeping worker documentation to better manipulate them.

Third party agencies appeared to want to keep the passports to be able to “manipulate” foreign workers for their own financial advantage, the source explained.

“I do not believe that people are aware [keeping passports] is such a bad thing. Big companies, government employers and resort companies are all known to have done it,” the source claimed. “There has been an improvement that we have seen since late 2012 towards stopping the retention of passports. We have talked with government ministries and tried to resolve the matter, however when passports are being kept for visa processing they are not always returned. This is a big challenge for employees in the outer atolls.”

The same source stressed that while ministries were showing improvements in returning passports to foreign workers, it may take “some time” till the matter was addressed properly.

Minivan News understands at present that the Department of Immigration is temporarily unable to renew work visas for expatriates, and is instead providing a three month extension period to foreign workers as a stop-gap measure. The temporary measures were imposed as a result of ongoing disputes over the controversial implementation of a new border control system provided by Malaysia-based IT firm, Nexbis.

Sources within the immigration department warned Minivan News that the country could have to resort to a “a pen and paper system” for monitoring immigration if the country’s courts approve a parliament vote to scrap the Nexbis deal, without providing an adequate replacement.

Resort challenges

Several resort operators in the Maldives, speaking on condition of anonymity, said while they did not use employment agencies themselves, the level of bureaucracy faced in hiring staff – especially for properties far from Male’ – did sometimes require third party assistance.

The general manager of one resort told Minivan News that the property had its own HR department to obtain documentation for its foreign employees, rather than relying on a third party.

“We do all the application processes ourselves and we have staff passports here in a fire-proof safe,” he claimed. “Staff can have these documents back whenever they request them. If they do not want to be here, they are welcome to leave.”

Despite having opted against the use of employment agencies, the general manager added that, particularly for resorts in the country’s outer atolls where travel to the capital was difficult, some hospitality operators had little choice but to turn to employment agencies.

“In their defence, the state uses such a bureaucratic system that the government plays a part in these problems,” he claimed. “They have to simplify the [visa application] process. I would say some 70 percent of the rules they have are a joke.”

Another multi-national resort operator with properties across the Maldives confirmed that it did make use of some employment agencies, but favoured sourcing staff either internally from other operations, or from local islands. A source from the resort stressed that in the two years they had worked at the property, they had received no complaints concerning employment agencies they had used to bring in foreign workers.

Blue Ribbon Campaign

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this month inaugurated an initiative targeted at raising awareness of the human trafficking issue in the Maldives.

Entitled ‘Blue Ribbon Campaign Against Human Trafficking’, the strategy is expected to include activities to try and raise awareness among students and the business community.

The Foreign Ministry announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with multiple local media outlets in the country as part of the campaign’s aim to raising awareness of human trafficking and other related issues.

The Maldives has come under strong criticism internationally in recent years for the prevalence of people trafficking, and the country has appeared on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for three years in a row.

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Maldives government ratifies ILO conventions on worker rights

The Maldives government has ratified eight “fundamental” International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions designed to bring legislation on employee rights and trade unions in line with international standards.

According to the ILO the conventions, which were ratified by authorities on January 4 this year, outline rights in a number of areas including allowing staff freedom of association and the prevention of child labour and discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, race or age.

The ratification of the conventions comes as foreign governments and civil society organisations continue to raise concerns about rights abuses of expatriate workers in the Maldives.

The official immigration figures found that the expatriate workforce in the Maldives had risen by September 2011 to 99,369 people from just 57,968 registered workers in December 2009.

According to the local coordination team overseeing the ILO’s work in the Maldives, many of the rights outlined in the eight fundamental conventions are already included in the country’s constitution and the Employment Act 2008.

However, the project’s organisers told Minivan News this week that its main challenge was to try and implement these laws by working with the government as well as employer and employee organisations.

“Ratification of the conventions will be beneficial to workers and workers organisations as it will improve the national labour standards concerning the freedom of association and collective bargaining rights and also help ensure better implementation of these standards in practice,” a project coordinator for the ILO told Minivan News.

“Respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining rights can lead to better labour management relations and co-operation between them. This will reduce costly labour-management conflicts and promote industrial harmony and social stability.”

The eight fundamental conventions ratified by the Maldivian government this month are:

The Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)
The Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)
The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)
The Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)
The Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)
The Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111),
The Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138),
The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)

With the ratification of these conventions, which will come into effect in a year’s time, the ILO project’s coordinators have set three main objectives that it will aim to meet over the course of the next three years.

These objectives include introducing a legal framework to implement international labour standards, improving the capacity of national mechanisms to resolve labour disputes and strengthen worker and employer organisations to try to improve overall working conditions and productivity.

In a statement released following the ratification of the conventions, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Samad Abdullah praised the government’s ratification of the conventions as a “major achievement” for the present administration.

Dr Samad cliamed that the conventions would allow the country to break new ground in protecting labour rights in the country.

“It is also an important accomplishment in the government’s human rights agenda and one which will fill an existing gap in the national human rights framework,” he stated.

According to the ILO, the Maldives has become the fourth country to ratify all eight of the organisation’s fundamental conventions in the South Asia region. The Maldives became a member of the ILO back in 2009.

Beyond signing the convention on labour rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this month also inaugurated an initiative targeted at raising awareness of the human trafficking issue in the Maldives.

The strategy, entitled ‘Blue Ribbon Campaign Against Human Trafficking’ is expected to include activities to try and raise awareness among students and the business community.

Rights concerns

Both these commitments have been agreed as the Maldives has come under continued criticism for its treatment of foreign workers.

Indian authorities by the end of last year warned that tightened restrictions enforced at the time on providing medical visas to Maldivians were a “signal” to the country’s authorities to address a number of concerns about the nation’s treatment of migrant workers.

A commission spokesperson expressed concerns over a number of practices being used by both public and private employers in the Maldives such as the confiscation of passports of some migrant workers.

Meanwhile, back in November, the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) called for an end to discrimination against foreign workers, criticising Maldivian society for failing to recognise “the significant contribution” expatriates have made to national development.

However, concerns about worker treatment in the country are not exclusively focused on migrant workers.

A letter from the President’s Office claiming to have addressed alleged rights abuses by the state-owned Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) had been labelled “interesting, but not convincing” by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) last November.

The ITF previously raised concern over a lack of correspondence from the President’s Office, announcing the same month that it was calling on the government to intervene over “union intimidation”, or “face embarrassment wrought by widespread international solidarity action”.

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Rising migrant worker population threat to “Maldivianness, culture and nationhood”: President Waheed

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has warned the Maldives will face difficulties in seeking foreign assistance should it descend to Tier 3 of the US State Department’s human-trafficking watch list.

Speaking at a ceremony to celebrate National Day, Waheed stated the Maldives is now “forced” to take measures against changes to the “national character” due to the rising number of migrant workers in the country.

The Maldives has been listed on the tier 2 watch list for human trafficking for three years in a row. Waheed stated that if the country descends to Tier 3, “it would face difficulties, among other issues, in seeking foreign assistance”.

In 2012, the Maldives only narrowly avoided a descent to Tier 3 – the worst category – after presenting a written plan that, “if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”

In his speech today (January 13), Waheed said the government was taking measures to prevent the country from falling into Tier 3 category of human trafficking, by initiating an awareness campaign underway and a draft bill on anti-trafficking submitted to the People’s Majlis.

Foreign influence threatens “Maldivianness”: President Waheed

In his National Day speech, Waheed also warned that the Maldivian population risks being overtaken by the migrant population in just six years if immigration continues to grow at its current rate.

Waheed stated that this was something “no Maldivian can and will, want to accept”.

“If the number of migrant workers continues to increase, [Maldivian] national character will be lost,” the President was reported as saying on the island of Fonadhoo in Laamu Atoll.

“If the influence of foreigners grows, [the] threat of negative impacts on Maldivianness, culture and nationhood is not unrealistic,” he added.

Border control system crucial in addressing human-trafficking

At the National Day speech, the President was reported as saying that an effective border control system was crucial for addressing trafficking.

Last month, parliament voted unanimously to instruct the government to terminate the border control project agreement with Malaysia-based IT group Nexbis, over allegations of corruption.

Speaking about the BSC project last month, Majlis Finance Committee member Ahmed Hamza told Minivan News at the time there was a “worry” within the immigration department that their own border control system would not be sufficient.

Furthermore, Hamza stated there was a “possibility” that human trafficking could increase should the Nexbis contract be cancelled, and to combat this parliament will need to provide a “sufficient solution to deal with these problems”.

Speaking at National Day, President Waheed claimed there were approximately 111,000 migrant workers using work visas and over 40,000 illegal migrant workers in the Maldives.

‘Blue Ribbon Campaign Against Human Trafficking’

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently inaugurated an initiative targeted at raising awareness of the human trafficking issue in the Maldives.

The strategy, entitled ‘Blue Ribbon Campaign Against Human Trafficking’ is expected to include activities to try and raise awareness among students and the business community.

The MOU states that the media outlets will produce and broadcast programmes aimed at disseminating information on the issue of human trafficking.

Nasheed’s National Day statement

Meanwhile, former President Mohamed Nasheed gave his own National Day statement calling for a security force that is “impartial and honest” to help build the nation.

“The nationalism that had defended [our] freedom [in the past] should be beneficial to the people and their progress.

“The true guardians of this system are the people. Today, due to an uninvited interference by the security forces to the people’s rightfully elected government and their interference to the progress of the nation has resulted in re-emergence of the old political culture,” Nasheed said, in a statement.

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Immigrant workers “slipping through the cracks”: The Sunday Leader

The immigration detention centre on the island of Hulhumale’ is a world away from nearby Ibrahim Nasir Internaitonal Airport, writes Raisa Wickrematunge for the Sri Lanka-based newspaper, The Sunday Leader.

“Hulhumale’ is known as the airport island of the Maldives- it’s where tourists from all over the world fly in. But the other section of Hulhumale’ is a world away from the runway. It houses a detention centre, one which takes in migrant workers who have fallen foul of the law.

This centre is manned by a single immigration officer and two police guards, who have just been appointed. Indeed, they are so new to the job that they do not even check our paperwork when we arrive at the gate.

‘When I got here, it was just thick trees and scrub. No one could live here,’ the immigration officer said, emphatically. He and two officers cleared the area and set up the centre- a long building with an aluminium roof.

There is a separate section for the toilets. The stench is indescribable. There are a couple of shower stalls, simple taps with running water, one of them outdoors.

Around 20 Bangladeshis are currently living here, although the number could swell to around 70, and often does. They say they are here because they have been cheated by unscrupulous agents. Many have no travel documents. The immigration officer says many of them are here because they committed petty crimes.”

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Council discusses “nuisance and bother” of expatriates in Republic Square

Members of the Male’ City Council have offered solutions to “the nusiance and bother of expatriates [congregating] at the Republic Square” in the capital at a meeting last month.

According to minutes of a meeting on June 28 published on the council’s new website, Deputy Mayor Ahmed Samah Rasheed noted that the issue had been discussed before and suggested contacting the Bangladeshi High Commission.

However Maafanu West Councillor Ahmed Falah pointed out that it was “not only Bangladeshis who gather in these places.”

“[Mid-Henveiru Councillor] Lufshan [Shakeeb] noted that foreigners at the Republic Square were damaging the grass in a number of ways and said that the area should be walled off with a tin fence and cleaned,” reads the minutes.

Lufshan suggested working with the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and police “to develop Republic Square.” Henveiru South Councillor “Rukuma” Mohamed Abdul Kareem backed the notion.

The discussion came under an agenda item titled “Making a decision on the nuisance and bother of Bangalhun [derogatory term for Bangladeshis] at the Republic Square and the problem of Bangalhun sleeping inside the old museum at Sultan Park.”

The agenda states that the discussion was prompted by a letter received by the council.

Machangoalhi South Councillor “Jambu” Hassan Afeef meanwhile claimed that expatriates were “committing indecent acts” behind the National Museum site and other open spaces in Sultan Park, recommending that the grounds be closed to the public.

Mayor “Sarangu” Adam Manik however said that “any measures taken should be democratic,” which led Falah to suggest putting up notice boards at the Republic Square in languages used by expatriates to inform them that the area was out of bounds.

The Mayor however favoured closing the square ahead of celebrations of Republic Day on November 11 instead of an abrupt closure and reopening with improved security to ensure there was no further loitering.

Manik also noted that expatriates congregated in other open spaces in Male’ such as the artificial beach area.

Following the discussions, the city council unanimously approved a motion to form a steering committee with officials from the army and police as well as the Tourism Ministry, Foreign Ministry and the Human Rights Commission.

Lufshan, Afeef and Kareem were chosen to represent the council on the committee. All seven councillors in attendance at the meeting belong to the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party.

Large numbers of expatriates living in Male’ use the Republic Square as a park, particularly Bangladeshi labourers on weekends. According to official figures, 1,600 Maldivian companies and 2,000 individuals between them employ 70,000 expatriates in the Maldives – a third of the country’s population – not including an unknown number of illegal migrant workers.

Meanwhile, an ongoing police investigation into labour trafficking uncovered an industry worth an estimated US$123 million, eclipsing fishing (US$46 million in 2007) as the second greatest contributor of foreign currency to the Maldivian economy after tourism.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that “Mayor ‘Maizan’ Ali Manik” was present at the meeting, instead of ‘Sarangu’ Adam Manik who was Mayor at the time. Ali Manik was absent from the meeting. Minivan News apologises for any confusion caused.

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President unveils Rf360m programme to guide 8,500 Maldivians into skilled employment

President Mohamed Nasheed unveiled a massive Rf360 million (US$23 million) national programme today with an ambitious target of training 8,500 Maldivians for skilled employment.

In his address to the nation on Independence Day, President Nasheed explained that the programme would involve the creation of a training framework, raising awareness of job opportunities, offering assistance for job seekers and strengthening capacity for enforcing the Employment Act.

“Under the national programme devised by the government to lead skilled Maldivian workers to the job market, Maldivians who are urgently needed for the domestic labour market will be trained,” he said. “God willing, 6,977 Maldivians trained for the construction industry as welders, masons, electricians and other [specialities] will enter the job market.”

Meanwhile 3,800 people are to be trained as “chefs, waiters, housekeepers, diving instructors” and for other specialised jobs in the tourism industry.

“In addition, God willing we will create 450 entirely new jobs for Maldivians in the social sector as nurses, pharmacists, seamstresses and sport instructors,” he said. “860 Maldivians in fisheries and agriculture and 400 for other fields such as accounting will be put to work.”

Of the 8,500 new workers the government hopes to guide to skilled employment, 3,940 will be trained directly by their would be employers, 3,795 by government training centres, and 760 in overseas training programmes.

“The purpose of this is to familiarise youth with the work environment and create interest among them,” he said. “Also to connect the youth in training with employers and provide training in the fullest sense in as short a period as possible.”

President Nasheed revealed that 27 percent of the Maldivian workforce – composed of 205,000 working age adults – was unemployed.

“As things stand, 1,600 local companies and 2,000 individuals employ and cover expenses for over 70,000 expatriates,” he said. “Half of these expatriates are trained and skilled in some field or other.”

In the past ten years, said Nasheed, employment of foreign workers by Maldivians has increased threefold. Imported workers now constitute a third of the country’s 350,000 population, while trafficking labourers is estimated to be a US$123 million industry.

Wayward youth

With the prevailing high unemployment rate among youth, Nasheed continued, large numbers of young Maldivians who were neither seeking higher education nor acquiring new skills were financially dependent on their families or parents.

In 2010, the O’ Level examinations pass rate in the Maldives was 35 percent, up from 27 percent in 2008, which leaves 65 percent of school leavers aged 16 to 18 with limited opportunities for either higher education or employment.

Nasheed meanwhile went on to say that leaving a large number of the country’s youth “in the darkness of the jail cell with their lives destroyed” was an obstacle to national development.

President Nasheed also announced that close to 400 youth currently serving sentences would be given “a second chance” and released from prison.

He explained that in classifying the 400 convicts to be freed, priority was given to inmates with serious illnesses and those who could pursue higher education or be trained to acquire new skills.

400 inmates represent almost half the Maafushi prison population in 2009.

“For those who meet the conditions, a rehabilitation programme will be established for those who will be rejoining society under the second chance,” Nasheed said. “The basic purpose of this programme is to train them, find job opportunities for them and to ensure that they become people who are beneficial to their families.”

Nasheed said that the government had considered the possible danger to society of releasing people convicted of offences ranging from drug abuse, theft and assault: “We have learned a lot from past experiences,” he said.

Convicts released through the programme will immediately be returned to jail if they are arrested for any offence in a three-year period, Nasheed added, after which their chances of parole or eligibility for clemency would be “narrowed.”

“Our vision for national development has been drawn after crunching all the numbers, after formulating policies and determining its parameters,” he said.

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