Tag: SAARC

Maldives hosts 7th SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians Conference

The Maldives is hosting the 7th Conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians (ASSP) at Bandos Island Resort and Spa.

President Abdulla Yameen inaugurated the three-day conference yesterday evening, and reiterated the Maldives’ commitment to furthering regional cooperation.

Calling on SAARC to be more relevant and responsive, Yameen said: “To keep abreast with the expectations of our peoples, we need to increase the relevance of SAARC, both as a tool for multilateral cooperation among our Member States, as well as in global politics and in international trade.”

Speakers from Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the secretary of Afghanistan’s parliament are in the Maldives for the conference.

Parliamentary delegations of Bangladesh and Nepal were unable to attend as Nepal had only held new parliamentary elections in November while Bangladesh’s parliament has been dissolved with new general elections set for January.

According to the people’s Majlis, the themes -“Strengthening democracy through institution building” and “Democracy and Inclusive Development – achieving SAARC  MDGs” – will be discussed at the conference.

The ASSP was established in 1992, with the aim of exchanging ideas and information on parliamentary procedures and information among parliaments and to strengthen South Asia as a stable and independent region.

The association’s work stagnated in the late 90’s due to political turmoil in the region, and was revived recently on the initiative of India’s Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the People’s Majlis secretariat have said.

Welcoming the delegations, Maldives Speaker Abdulla Shahid noted all South Asian countries are now led by civilian governments.

Shahid noted the current parliament in the Maldives is the first fully elected parliament, but MPs have faced and overcome “almost every conceivable constitutional challenge.”

Further, the rights guaranteed to the parliament had constantly been tested by the executive and legislative branches of government.

Meanwhile, Kumar stressed the importance of parliaments and parliamentarians as democracy advances in the region and said SAARC parliaments can learn a great deal from each other’s parliamentary experiences.

Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said South Asia consists of one-fourth of the world’s population, but continues to be the largest concentration of impoverished people.

South Asia is currently at a crossroads, of breaking with its past and possibly becoming the second largest economic powerhouse after China and East Asia, Sadiq said.

Meanwhile, female parliamentarians and the secretaries general of SAARC parliaments met on Saturday morning to discuss the opportunities and challenges for women’s political participation in South Asia and the methods to ensure a cost effective secretariat respectively.

The Women’s Committee has pledged affirmative action to increase women’s political participation whilst the secretaries generals proposed amending the charter of ASSP to constitute a Young Parliamentarians forum.

The Association’s General Assembly is to take place at Bandos Island Resort and Spa today and tomorrow (December 22 and 23).

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Police ordered to investigate Nasheed administration over SAARC Summit, alcohol

President Mohamed Waheed has ordered police to investigate budget overruns on the 2010 SAARC Summit during the previous administration of Mohamed Nasheed.

The President told a rally last night that he had “used my rights as president” to compel police to investigate the matter, according to local media.

The Auditor General released a special audit report last week on the Summit, alleging several financial discrepancies including an overspend of more than MVR 430 million (US$27.9 million) on the event’s allocated budget.

President Waheed is competing against Nasheed in the September election, along with the head of parliament’s finance committee responsible for commissioning the audit report, Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) candidate.Abdulla Yameen.

According to the report (Dhivehi), former President Mohamed Nasheed’s government spent MVR 667,874,870.84 (US$ 43.3 million), on the summit – 188.82 percent more than the MVR 231,240,000 (US$14.99 million) budget passed by parliament.

Others inconsistencies included payment of MVR 61.8 million (US$4 million) more the amount agreed for the construction of the Equatorial Convention Centre built for the summit, financial losses incurred by the government, violations of Public Finance Act and Public Finance Regulation and wasteful spending.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has meanwhile challenged the intent and credibility of the report, alleging the report “misleadingly” failed to distinguish between the government’s own money and the millions of dollars worth of foreign grant aid the country received to host the event.

Responding to the Auditor General’s claim that the former government had overspent more than MVR 430 million (US$27.9 million), former Housing and Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam said the Indian government had provided grant aid of MVR 267 million (US$17.3 million), the South Korean government MVR 3 million (US$194,552.53), while an additional MVR 2 million (US$129,701.69) was given from a trust fund.

According to the former Minister, when the grant aid was accounted for the deficit stood at MVR 167 million (US$10.83 million) – a third of the audit report’s figure – which had been settled by government’s contingency budget.

“The Auditor General is doing the math and arithmetic without taking these key figures into account. You simply can’t count apples and oranges and decide the total sum of both in apples. We see his findings something similar to counting apples in this manner,” Aslam said.

He also claimed that MVR 64 million (US$4.15 million) spent on building roads in both Addu City and Fuvahmulah was directed to improve the capacity of Southern Utilities Company Limited (SUL) because other companies who proposed to construct the road, including the government’s Maldives Transport and Construction Company (MTCC), were too expensive.

“The Auditor General claimed the government incurred financial losses by giving the project to SUL, and that the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) was actively involved in the construction work. And that government had paid SUL for the voluntary work carried out by the military personnel. What we are highlighting here is that if mathematically calculated, the amount spent on the project did not result in financial losses to the government,” Aslam contended.

He also questioned as to how the Auditor General came to the conclusion that the MNDF had contributed to 60 percent of the total work carried out to hold the SAARC Summit, stating that there was no justification given for the figure.

Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim defended his office, claiming the report was compiled based on information received from current government.

“The [MDP] is alleging that the current government was withholding information from us. We can’t do anything about that. We base our reports based on the information we receive,” he said.

PPM vice presidential candidate Dr Mohamed Jameel meanwhile called for the MDP to account for “economic atrocities”, speaking at a rally on Kulhudhuffushi in Haa Dhaal Atoll.

Alcohol investigation

In a separate investigation, police have re-submitted for prosecution a case involving the alleged discovery of alcohol bottles in the presidential residence on February 7 2012, during the police mutiny that led to Nasheed’s resignation the same day.

The case was first filed by police on April 12 2012, but the case was returned by the PG’s office.

Police Spokesperson Chief Inspector Hassan Haneef confirmed the case, which had been returned by the PG in December 2012 for further investigation, had been resubmitted after police “clarified certain issues” originally highlighted by state prosecutors.

“We have checked these matters and resent the case,” Haneef said.
Haneef downplayed any potential concerns that the resubmission of the case just over a month before the presidential election could be seen as politically motivated.

“This case has been going on for a long time. [Maldives police] work on a case-by-case basis and we have re-sent the case after investigations were completed,” he said.

Nasheed has also faced charges for the military detention of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed prior to the controversial transfer of power. Nasheed’s government had alleged the judge – who had struck down police warrants for his own arrest and obtained a civil court injunction against his investigation by the Judicial Services Commission – had “taken the entire judiciary in his fist”, among other allegations.

Nasheed and the MDP have maintained that the charges are a politically-motivated attempt to bar him from contesting the elections.

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No party members on Judgement Day: Vice President

Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen has stated that political parties should refrain from breaking up unity among the people. He stated that all Maldivians belong to “one family” and should have a sense of kinship.

Speaking at the inauguration of the 5th Meeting of SAARC Ministers of Interior and Home, Waheed Deen said that Maldivians used to treat each other with respect and empathy, but that these traits were no longer present.

“We cannot even distinguish who among us are friends anymore. However, Judgement Day is a day in which we can no longer stay with members of our parties,” Waheed Deen said.

Waheed Deen stated that regardless of differences that could be seen at present, all humans come from the same roots. He noted that for this reason everyone needs to treat each other with mutual respect. Waheed Deen stated that politics and political ideologies were no reason to cause animosity between people.

Speaking about the objectives of the SAARC Home Ministers’ meeting, Waheed Deen stated that the main issues to be covered were the global concerns around internal and external security and safety.

The vice president expressed hope that discussions would be held, and solutions would be put forward for issues of high concern to the Maldives; including piracy, drug trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism.

Waheed Deen repeatedly stressed on the importance of mutual respect and unity, stating it would lead to faster national development.

SAARC Secretary General Ahmed Saleem and Minister of Home Affairs Mohamed Jameel Ahmed also spoke at the meeting today. The issues of numerous security risks in the region were highlighted in both speeches, along with the intention to discuss the matter further during today’s meeting.

The 5th Meeting of SAARC Ministers of Interior and Home is being held at Bandos Island Resort and Spa, owned by Vice President Waheed Deen.

Earlier this week, the Fifth Meeting of the SAARC Immigration Authorities was also conducted. Immigration Controller Mohamed Ali expressed concern over illegal immigration to Europe and money laundering through Maldives.

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Bangladesh media reports SAARC summit uncertainty following regional unrest

Political unrest in the Maldives and Nepal during 2012 has set back preparations for the 18th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Bangladesh-based media has reported today.

According to The Daily Star newspaper, the next summit meeting for the heads of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Maldives had been scheduled to be held in Kathmandu during May 2013.

However, the chances of meeting such a date are now alleged to be unlikely over reports that no preparatory work has been undertaken by Nepalese authorities.

Citing unnamed “diplomatic sources”, the Daily Star has claimed that the postponement of an inter-summit session of the organisation’s council of ministers by the Maldives – in its position of current SAARC Chair – had further set back Nepal’s own preparations.

“The Maldives, the current SAARC Chair, is also in serious political crisis following the alleged ouster of Mohamed Nasheed as president of the country in February last,” wrote the newspaper.

The inter-summit session is reported to have been required under the SAARC Charter to be held six months after the organisation’s previous summit in order to finalise the dates, venue, and agenda of its next meeting.

Foreign Minister Dr Abdul Samad Abdulla and President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza were not responding to calls from Minivan News at the time of press.

The previous SAARC summit meeting was held back in Addu Atoll in November 2010.

During the summit, former President Mohamed Nasheed identified several key issues to be addressed including trade, transport, economic investment, security against piracy, climate change and good governance.

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Political changes in Maldives would have gone unnoticed if not for SAARC: World Bank official

A senior official at the World Bank has told a journalism workshop that attention of the world on the recent political strife in the Maldives is a result of the nation’s membership in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperationn (SAARC), reports Sri Lanka’s Sunday Observer.

“Considering its size, the political changes in Maldives would have gone unnoticed to the rest of the world if not for its position within SAARC,” Diep Nguyen-Van Houtte told the event, organised by the World Bank.

“It received unprecedented attention from the world’s media due to its position within SAARC,” she continued.

Nguyen Van Houtte told the group of journalists from across the region that the smaller SAARC countries could strengthen their positions within the organisation by focussing on the provision of services such as tourism, medicine and IT, rather than trying to compete with the larger members in trade and production.

“Size is no reason for them to be sidelined within the grouping. Take the example of Singapore. Despite being such a tiny country, the South East Asian nation is at the top of World Bank’s development indices”, the Sunday Observer reported Nguyen Van Houtte as saying.

“This proves that small is beautiful and that size is no barrier when it comes to holding your own.”

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Legal reforms needed to curb corporal punishment of children: SAIVEC

The Maldives is among several nations in South Asia urgently in need of legal reforms to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment against children, according to a new report.

The report, “Prohibition of Corporal Punishment of Children in South Asia: A Progress Review”, jointly published by the Global Initiative, Save the Children Sweden and South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIVEC), the apex body of children under the South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC), aims to highlight a practice that kills and injures millions of children across the region.

Corporal punishment includes hitting, smacking or kicking, or any measure in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain and discomfort to the child. It also includes other non-physical forms of punishment which belittle, humiliate, threaten or ridicules the child. It is said to be the most common and widely accepted form of violence against children.

The report notes that none of the eight South Asian countries, including the Maldives, have passed comprehensive legislation to ban punitive violence experienced by children across all settings, including home, school, the penal system and alternative care.

Several government’s claim to support ending violence against children, while on the other hand they fail to prohibit violence disguised as discipline or punishment, Coordinator of Global Initiative Peter Newell noted.

Corporal punishment in the Maldives

Although there are no official statistics published on corporal punishment of children in the Maldives, a 2009 National Study of Violence Against Children, produced by UNICEF  involving over 17,000 people in 2,500 households and 2,000 children in schools,  found that 47 percent of children had experienced physical or emotional punishment at home, at school or in the community.
Thirty percent of children at secondary school had been hit by at least one of their caregivers, 21 percent with an object; eight percent of school students had been physically punished by their teachers.

However, the country review on Maldives highlighted that there is little or no legal defense for children to protect themselves, despite the high prevalence of punitive violence against children at homes, schools and other settings.

According to the two-page review, existing legal provisions against violence and abuse are not interpreted as prohibiting corporal punishment of children.

The report noted that the Maldives’ Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child (1991) and Family Law (2000) prohibit only severe punishment which may harm the child while there is no legal defence for the use of corporal punishment by parents in the existing Penal Code.

Article 10 of the Child Rights Law states that punishment in school should be appropriate to the child’s age and should not affect them physically or psychologically and the Ministry of Education has stated that corporal punishment should not be used, the report reads.”But there is no explicit prohibition of corporal punishment in law,” it added.

Meanwhile, the review identified that corporal punishment is lawful as a sentence for crime in the Maldives.

Although the Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child prohibits cruel and degrading punishment on children, and the Penal Code does not authorise judicial corporal punishment, the report noted that the Maldives Penal Code does not apply to offences under Sharia law or to certain other offences.

“The Regulation on Conducting Trials, Investigations and  Sentencing Fairly for Offences Committed by Minors (2006) states that children from the age of puberty may be held criminally responsible for committing apostasy, revolution against the state, fornication, falsely accusing a person of fornication, consumption of alcohol, unlawful intentional killing and other offences relating to homicide. These are offences for which hadd is prescribed in Islam, including flogging. From the age of 15, children can be convicted of a wider range of ofences under Sharia law,” SAIVEC further explained.

Corporal punishment is not prohibited as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions or alternative care homes either.

Therefore, in a similar call to other countries, SAIVEC recommended the Maldives bring urgent legal reform necessary to achieve prohibition in all settings.

“Legislation should explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in the home and in all education settings, all institutions  accommodating children in conflict with the law, all forms of alternative care, and as a sentence of the courts, including under Sharia law.”

Maldives commitments

The former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration had  “partially accepted” recommendations made to abolish corporal punishment in the penal system during the Universal Periodic Review of the Maldives in 2010.

The government at the time stated that the new draft Penal Code was intended to combine Sharia law with international human rights obligations, although it includes provisions for corporal punishment, and stated that the Maldives will consult with national and international authorities on the compatibility of corporal punishment with the Maldives Constitution and international human rights law.

It also stated at a SAIVEC workshop in 2010 that a Children’s Bill was being drafted which would prohibit corporal punishment in all settings. An Education Bill would prohibit corporal punishment in schools, and regulations for children’s homes were being drafted which would include prohibition of corporal punishment. Consideration would also be given to abolition of judicial flogging, it stated.

However, few commitments transformed into action in the face of political pressure and growing religious conservatism, which ultimately provided a platform for the controversial ousting of the MDP government on February 7.

Meanwhile, at the South Asia Regional Consultation on the UN Study on Violence Against Children organised by SAIVEC in Colombo last week, officials from the present government  pledged to continue efforts to eliminate violence against children as per the international recommendations.

SAIVEC’s regional campaign was also launched at the conference in a bid to eliminate corporal punishment across the eight South Asian states, home to a quarter of the world’s children.

Director General of SAIVEC, Dr Rinchen Chopel called for a coordinated effort from all actors to address corporal punishment, using a holistic and coordinated approach, enacting laws, raising awareness and promoting positive parenting and teaching.

Dr Chopel described the wide social acceptance of corporal punishment as the biggest challenge. However he added: “The path to complete elimination of corporal punishment is long, but there are also sources of hope.”

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India presents Environment Minister with cheque for Coastal Zone Management Centre

India has granted $US31,526.28 for the development of the SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre (SCZMC) in the Maldives, reports Sun Online.

The Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives Dnyaneshwar Mulay today presented the cheque to the newly appointed Minister for Environment and Energy, Dr Mariyam Shakeela.

The body seeks to promote international coastal zone management amongst South Asian nations. One of the organisation’s top priorities is to build capacity at all levels to help member nations research and monitor environmental challenges as well as building resilience to the impacts of climate change.

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MPs ban Israel flights, but withdraw resolutions against Pillay, GMR, SAARC monuments

MPs passed a resolution on Wednesday preventing Israeli national airline El Al from operating scheduled flights to the Maldives until Majlis’ National Security Committee completes further investigation into the matter.

El Al had applied to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in May 2011 requesting permission to fly to the Maldives starting in December 2011.

The demand to ban Israeli flights was a key issue that united opposition parties and was used to spark protests against Nasheed’s administration in the last weeks of his presidency. Nasheed resigned from office on February 7, but later claimed he had been deposed through a coup d’état.

The opposition also called for the eviction of Indian infrastructure giant GMR, granted a contract by Nasheed’s administration to manage and develop Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA). Further demands included a call to condemn UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay for her suggestion that flogging be abolished in the Maldives as a punishment for extra-marital sex, and the removal of “idolatrous” SAARC monuments from Addu City

However Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) MP Abdul Azeez Jamal Abu Bakr on Wednesday withdrew the Majlis petition against Pillay.

On April 2, Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed also withdrew a resolution calling on the Majlis to prevent GMR from taking over the management of duty free shops and bonded warehouse from local businesses.

Riyaz also withdrew a resolution calling on the government to remove SAARC monuments from Addu City on the same day. Addu City Council had removed the monuments in January after a public furor.

Ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesperson and MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor said he was “at a total loss” since then-opposition “had picked such a fight with us over these matters.”

“They made these issues out to be a threat to national security, and now these issues have disappeared without a trace. This is just cheap and dirty politics,” Ghafoor said.

December 23 demands

Speaking to MDP supporters at a rally on Wednesday evening, Nasheed observed that the then-opposition’s rallying cries had died once they took power.

“I will always remember, at the last moment of the coup, a police man was shouting out, ‘My father built that airport at Hulhule,’ [complaining] that I had sold that airport to outsiders, that the police were there [protesting] to retake that airport,” he said.

Nasheed said his policies had been for the benefit of the ordinary citizen and “no one can take the airport away, whether it’s GMR or India or another country.”

“I want to tell that policeman and other police officers who brought about the coup, when the current administration eventually decides to allow Israel flights to land at the airport, it is for the benefit of the economy. Even though they polluted your hearts for political gain, you are now seeing all of their poems turning to mere lullabies,” he said.

The PPM, DQP, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Jumhooree Party (JP) and Madhanee Ithihad (Civil Society Coalition) organised a well attended ‘Defend Islam’ rally on December 23 demanding that Nasheed prevent Israeli airlines from operating flights into the Maldives, remove “idolatrous” SAARC monuments and apologise for Pillay’s comments.

The ‘December 23 coalition’ accused Nasjeed of being “non- Islamic”, and said the decision to handover airport to GMR undermined Maldives’ sovereignty.

When Nasheed arrested Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed in January 2012, the coalition called on the police and military not to obey Nasheed’s orders and pledged allegiance to Nasheed’s VP Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan.

On February 7, Nasheed publicly resigned from office after elements of the police and military staged a mutiny, and Waheed was sworn in as president on the same day.

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SAARC Secretary General meets with President Waheed

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Secretary General Ahmed Saleem has met with President Mohamed Waheed Hassan in Male’ for discussions on implementing the regional body’s development aims.

During discussions that took place in the capital yesterday afternoon, President Waheed was updated on the progress of agreements made during the SAARC summit held last year in Addu Atoll.

According to the President’s Office website, Saleem said that more was needed to be done to meet the goals outlined by SAARC in a bid to strengthen trade and diplomatic relations between its member states.

Health ministers and secretaries from a number of SAARC member states are gathering at the Maldives’ Paradise Island Resort from today for three days of development talks.

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