Sunday, July 5, 2009

The Maldives state violates human rights obligations

A woman was flogged this morning outside the "Justice" Building in front of a jeering crowd of mostly men. A witness said she had to be carried away after the ordeal because she was too weak to walk on her own. 

By continuing to carry out public floggings, the Maldives state is repeatedly violating international conventions it has signed, including the convention against torture and the convention on civil and political rights. Today's deplorable action by the state is a clear indication that cruel and degrading punishment of women, which the Maldives has been carrying out unchallenged for years, has survived into the new presidency. 

The only online statistics available on public flogging in the Maldives are for the year 2006 and they show that out of the 181 people sentenced to flogging 153 were women, including 22 minors.

To my knowledge no parliamentarian or politician or, indeed, the human rights commission has ever spoken out against the Maldivian state's violence against women. One reason for this could be their fear of offending the religious right and being labelled anti-Muslim. In fact most Muslim countries, including Iran and Pakistan, have banned the practice.

Anni's government must now publicly state its position on this inhumane practice and the human rights commission must condemn it in the strongest possible language. If both the opposition and the government can meet eye to eye on this parliament could ban the practice within days.

The Adhaalath Party, I suspect, will be the only people to moan the discontinuation of public flogging in the Maldives. But, as the recent parliamentary elections showed, the Maldivian public don't care much for Adhaalath's views.

8 comments:

Yaamyn said...

Wow. I wasn't even aware of this.

We're that barbarian?

Anonymous said...

i overheard a bit of last week's friday sermon on the radio. from what i heard they want all women of maldives to stay home inside a black buruga without using mobile phones... anyone else heard this sermon?

2-2-tango said...

anonymous: i heard it too.. and apparently in addition to banning mobile phones from women they want men to think twice before sending women out to work because they might be "gaigoalhi" in the workplace. now considering the small spaces we have in male' there might be some truth to that but where is the role of the man in kindling and giving life to these acts of desire?

or are these women somehow engaging in solo sex acts in public?

Anonymous said...

@ Anonymous:
One more reason to avoid Hukuru :)

Shiham said...

oh no! the climate change is the violation of human rights. lol i mean how did we get off so arrogant. its the environments right first to be acknoledged and protected not humans. gee!
I wish new govt would talk abt real human rights abused in the country (like this one) daily in the international forums...

MZM said...

Shiham is right. The irony that the new government is focusing on the environment while there are more urgent issues to be immediately addressed.
Does anyone know whether protecting the environment was one of the pledges of MDP? Maybe it was pledge number 1.5 after the "kanmathee fihaara" and just before the "boahiyaa vahikan".

Anonymous said...

anni accused maumoon of tryin to get in international support by his global warmin talk.. hmm do we see him doing anytinelse?

wanna know y maldivians doesnt speak out agaist flogging? because majority victims are women, and men being the leaders and the majoriy else where doesnt want this practice to end. Though claimin to be educated, modern, humane ppl majority of men still lovin feelin superior. the only possible way for them to do this is by degrading women who are proving that they are as qualified and sometimes even bettr than these know it all, i know better men in our society!

Anni and the new govt has let down all of us who voted for change.. this isnt change we are seeing.. this is worse! maumoon and his 30 years in power was better than you stupid, ignorant, self obssesed pyscos!

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