Madulu Blog

August 28, 2008 was the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, which called for racial equality in the US. Even after 45 years, the speech remains an inspiration to civil rights activists all over the world. August 26, 2008 marked the 88th anniversary of granting of voting rights for women in the USA, through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. We, the Maldivians, are also going through an exciting time, as the long process of constitutional amendment ended on August 7, 2008. The first multi-party election in the country is expected to take place within the year. To mark the 45th anniversary of ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, the 88th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the US, and to have a discussion on the democratization process in the Maldives, Strength of Society (SOS) and Madulu, two civil society organizations, invite you to A Democracy Evening.

Venue: Conference Hall, Nalahiya Hotel, Orchid Magu, Male’
Time: 8.45 pm
Date: Thursday, 4 September 2008

A Facebook event has been created for this event. To invite your friends through Facebook, join the event page.

Update: Boalhage at Henveyru Dhadu, operated by Ministry of Youth and Sports, was confirmed as a venue for the event. However, the authorities have backtracked on this offer, and after last minute searches for an alternate venue, we have hired the conference hall of Nalahiya Hotel for the event. We regret any inconvenience.

Press Release

4 August 2008 – The Go Vote Campaign of civil society organizations expresses disappointment that the voter registry published by the Office of the Commissioner of Elections has only been opened for a ten day verification period, despite indications to civil society that there would be 45 days for verification.

The Go Vote campaign understands that an accurate voter registry is fundamental to a free and fair election. The registry, publicized on July 31st closes to the public on 10^th August, giving just ten days for the country’s approximately 200,000 eligible voters to verify their details.

The campaign calls for the deadline to be extended to 25^th August, on the condition that the timing of the presidential elections and the establishment of an Elections Commission and Supreme Court are not further delayed.

We believe an extension of the deadline to 25^th August should be manageable within the current time constraints.

The Go Vote Campaign also calls for the following issues to be addressed immediately:

• The voter registry is only available in English. We recommend that it be immediately translated into Dhivehi, and the Dhivehi version to be made available both online and in the form of hard copies, particularly for the use of island communities.

• Even though voter registry is available online, limited access to Internet in rural areas acts as a barrier for island communities to verify the voter registry. While the Go Vote Campaign has been informed that the voter registry has been sent to Island Offices, we are concerned that access to voter registry may be limited on some islands. The Go Vote Campaign recommends the voter registry be made available in hard copy at prominent public places on larger islands, enabling islands with larger populations to gain easier access. Furthermore, we recommend prominent links be placed to the voter registry in the website of the Office of the Commissioner of Elections to increase accessibility.

• The toll-free phone number established for the public to register inaccuracies on the voter list is only operating five telephone lines. The Go Vote Campaign recommends the number of phone lines be increased in order to be confident that all complaints will be dealt with.

The Go Vote campaign is a joint effort of civil society organisations Hama Jamiyya, Madulu, Maldives Aid, Maldivian Detainee Network, Open Society Association, Rights for All, Strength of Society and Transparency Maldives. The campaign is endorsed by Maldivian Civil Society Network (MCSN).

Press Release

22 July 2008 – A voter awareness campaign initiated by eight civil society organisations of the Maldives was promoted in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, on Sunday. The ‘Go Vote’ campaign, which aims to educate and empower the Maldivian people ahead of the first multi-party elections in the Maldives this year, was publicised at a mass street rally held to conclude the South Asian People’s Assembly 2008.

Participants from the Maldives who attended the South Asian People’s Assembly, including Maldivian students in Colombo, joined the rally with a Go Vote campaign banner. In addition, campaign banners were displayed at a tent inside Viharamadevi Park where most functions of the South Asian People’s Assembly were held.

niOS

Go Vote campaign promoted at concluding session of South Asian People’s Assembly, Colombo

The Go Vote campaign is a joint effort of civil society organisations Hama Jamiyya, Madulu, Maldives Aid, Maldivian Detainee Network, Open Society Association, Rights for All, Strength of Society and Transparency Maldives. The campaign was launched in Male on 6 July with a keynote speech from Dr Peter Hayes, British High Commissioner to the Maldives. The campaign is endorsed by Maldivian Civil Society Network (MCSN).

The South Asian People’s Assembly, held in Colombo from 18-20 July, was a gathering of individuals and groups including civil society organisations, rights activists, trade unions and marginalised communities from the eight countries of South Asia. The event, also known as People’s SAARC, is a timely reminder for the leaders of South Asia that as they meet shortly for the summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), issues such as poverty, inequality, discrimination, hunger and violence remain rampant in the region. Issues such as violence against women, the need for free movement of persons within the region, environmental justice, right to information and religious extremism were discussed at parallel workshops.

MCSN members Transparency Maldives, Maldivian Detainee Network, Maldives Aid and Madulu participated in the event. In addition, civil society groups People’s Foundation Maldives, Maldives NGO Federation, Maldivian Network on Violence against Women and Huvadhoo Association for National Development were represented. Former MP and former Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives Ahmed Mujuthaba, MP and Presidential Candidate for Social Liberal Party Ibrahim Ismail and former MP and co-founder of Maldivian Democratic Party Mohamed Latheef addressed the South Asian People’s Assembly.

niOS

Go Vote campaign promoted at mass street rally in Colombo

By promoting the Go Vote Campaign at the South Asian People’s Assembly, the organisers of the campaign aimed to reach out to a wider audience and sensitise the people on the forthcoming election in the Maldives.

“We have plans to reach out to the Maldivian population residing in Sri Lanka, as the opinions formed by the Maldivians abroad will be as crucial to the election as the views of people resident in the country. The Go Vote campaign aims to empower the voters to ensure they make well-informed choices realising that they have legally entitled rights as voters and citizens,” said Mariyam Seena, coordinator of Maldives Aid.

The Go Vote campaign will include public forums, radio and TV programs, music shows, booklets and posters to ensure a high turn out and public participation in an election that is expected to be an important milestone in the country’s transition to a democracy. The first public forum under the campaign will be held at Dharubaaruge Faashana Maalam at 9.00 pm on Wednesday, 23 July 2008. A wide range of issues related to the election will be discussed by a panel of experts at the forum, while a question and answer session and public discussion will encourage broader interaction and public engagement.

New reports of torture in the main prison at Maafushi and in the detention center of Dhoohindhoo have emerged in the Maldives. Minivan News has reported an increase in torture and human rights abuses both in Maafushi and Dhoonidhoo.

The Maldives acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) on 19 September 2006, exactly three years after Hassan Eavan Naseem was tortured and killed in Maafushi prison.

The ongoing torture in Maafushi and Dhoonidhoo suggests that, despite the Maldives participating in international covenants, the principles laid out in those covenants are not being respected or upheld.

Olivia Lang reports in Minivan News that despite the Maldives acceding to ICCPR and ICESCR in 2006, “accounts of persistent human rights violations suggest such changes are not reflected on the ground.”

As the country heads towards its first multi-party elections, recent months have seen abject failures of the authorities to protect not only ordinary citizens from gang-related violence, but also to those in custody from maltreatment.

While reports of violence in the police-run Dhoonidhoo detention centre appeared to lessen last year, this pattern has seemingly reversed since the beginning of this year, judging from recent information collected by Minivan News.

Last month a number of young people in custody over street violence made allegations of being beaten. Some described in detail how they were handcuffed, hooded, and made to stand at the top of concrete stairs before officers kicked the centre of their backs, causing them to fall down the steps.

Allegations of further abuse have emerged from Dhoonidhoo this week, some from those previously beaten despite reassurances action would be taken.

The testimonials also match others received by Minivan News from other sources this year, which indicate Dhoonidhoo prisoners are regularly dragged out to the football fields, blindfolded and beaten.

Judith Evans has also reported in Minivan News on fresh cases of torture in Dhoonidhoo this weekend.

Twenty detainees told acquaintances that on Friday and Saturday, they were taken out to the “range” area of the detention centre, blindfolded and beaten by guards.

One 16-year-old was initially attacked, sources say. Other prisoners began “shouting” in response to the beating, and were then beaten themselves.

“They were beaten, handcuffed and also blindfolded. They couldn’t see who was beating them,” said a family member of one detainee.

In her report, Olivia Lang described the situation in Maafushi prison where torture and human rights abuses are on the rise.

And recent accounts suggest prisoners at Maafushi are suffering similar abuse, which appears to reflect a continual pattern at the jail and which has resulted in riots in the past.

Last June, 500 hunger striking prisoners called on the authorities for much-needed reforms, including rehabilitation for drug addicts. Government agreed at the time to a 7-point plan of action.

But the pledges have not been fulfilled – and rehabilitation treatment has still not materialised in any form in the prison, though an estimated 80 per cent of Maafushi inmates are serving sentences for drug offences.

And whilst drugs have become a key issue, socially and politically, there are still no checks on guards in Maafushi, despite reports of them bringing narcotics into the prison.

Perhaps it is not surprising, given the lack of changes, that two petitions have emerged from Maafushi this year protesting against alleged maltreatment and poor conditions. One, addressed to the president, was signed by 300 inmates.

A fortnight ago frustrations boiled over, culminating in a hunger strike by more than 200 prisoners in the high security Unit 2 – roughly a third of the entire prison – after alleged ill-treatment and torture.

Accounts refer to beatings by the Emergency Support Group (ESG) who are called in for extra security, which testimonials indicate use far more than the “minimal necessary” force the Home Ministry say they are trained to use.

One prisoner said he had been “tortured with an electric shock baton”, as well as undergoing simulated drowning with his “head in a water bucket”.

And while the number of cases reaching public attention indicates a rise in mistreatment, for every one of these, many more are likely to be successfully swept under the carpet.

Related Links

How to Complain of Torture and Other Human Rights Abuses to United Nations

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has highlighted the significance of the media’s efforts in informing the public about key events and policies – a right which is enshrined in international human rights law.

“It is a sad fact that many governments across the world persist in undermining the freedom of the press to report facts and opinions and, by extension, the right of people in general to be informed about events and policies that are shaping our world,” Arbour said in a statement to mark World Press Freedom Day, which falls on 3 May.

This is done in variety of ways. Some governments continue to threaten, detain, assault or even kill journalists as they try to go about their jobs – or fail to protect them sufficiently from similar acts by criminal or other forces intent on suppressing the truth.

Others, including ones in countries that in theory have a free press, resort to methods that subtly undermine the depth and accuracy of information reaching the public. Governments are increasingly resorting to secrecy in the way they operate, and to using sophisticated methods of sowing propaganda disguised as objective information – especially, but not exclusively, when the subject involves what the governments in question deem to be security-related issues. This trend has also helped gradually undermine the principle of protecting journalists’ confidential sources — a central pillar of press freedom.

Journalists in the Maldives are expected to gain some leverage from a Freedom of Information Bill, which if it becomes Law, will provide protection for whistleblowers too, according to the government. The first Freedom of Information Bill submitted by the government was rejected by the parliament in November 2007. Since then the government has brought revisions to the Bill in line with the recommendations of international press freedom organisation Article 19, according to the government. The government claims the revised Bill, which will be tabled in the Parliament shortly, is based on Article 19’s model legislation on freedom of information.

However, the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives argues that the effectiveness of the bill could be negated if certain clauses are not removed. HRCM is particularly concerned about clauses indicating that Freedom of Information Act can be overruled by other legislation.

Even though a Freedom of Information Act is an essential legislation for a vibrant media, the right to information and access to government records must be a right of all individuals, to ensure an accountable government and a transparent society. However, except for few organisations and select journalists, the public has not been given access to the draft Freedom of Information Bill to form opinions and express criticisms over the Bill.

In his message on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura emphasised that press freedom and access to information feed into the wider development objective of empowering people by giving people the information that can help them gain control over their own lives.

This empowerment supports participatory democracy by giving citizens the capacity to engage in public debate and to hold governments and others accountable.

A new legal framework on media has been promised in the Maldives but has made little progress, reports the local news website Minivan News.

A new legal framework to surround the media has long been promised, but four key bills – on freedom of information, broadcasting, media council and press freedom – have made only sporadic progress towards becoming law, with none so far making it through the parliamentary process.

Critics including opposition MPs, international NGOs and the Maldives’ Human Rights Commission have said the wording of the draft bills leaves them open to exploitation, and added they could be used to stifle rather than protect the press.

In her statement Arbour stressed the correlation between the violation of human rights and the media’s inability to criticize the governments.

It is no coincidence that many of the worst human rights abuses occur in countries where the media’s ability to criticize government is heavily circumscribed, or non-existent.

Freedom of the press is in many ways a barometer of the progress of societies, and journalists are often some of the most articulate and influential defenders of human rights. The considerable number of corroborated reports we receive suggest there is no let-up in the number of individual journalists who are being detained, beaten, tortured and killed.

Some foreign correspondents have major international news organizations behind them which are in a position to galvanize support for them if they get into trouble. Many domestic journalists do not – and it is their plight in particular that I would like to highlight today.

In a special report on World Press Freedom Day, Judith Evans from Minivan News has noted that two journalists are serving life sentences, which could have been based on fabricated charges.

So far, the picture looks promising. But as I write this, two ex-Minivan Daily journalists, Fahala Saeed and Ali Rasheed, are serving life sentences in Maafushi jail on drugs charges. The charges against Saeed in particular were widely alleged to have been fabricated.

The theme for this year’s World Press Freedom Day is “access to information and the empowerment of people.”

A free press will be crucial as the Maldives is poised to hold presidential and parliamentary elections within the span of a year. In Afghanistan, a country which will hold presidential and parliamentary elections next year, Norah Niland, Chief Human Rights Officer for the UN Assistance Mission stressed the importance of a free press.

In the run-up to Afghanistan’s elections in 2009 and 2010 press freedom will be more vital than ever, people can only make informed decisions about the political future of their country if they are empowered with balanced objective information. The media has a crucial role to play in this respect.

For a vibrant and free media to thrive in the Maldives, new legislation modeled on international standards and compliant with international conventions is absolutely necessary. Journalists should be free to inform the public about key issues without the fear of harassment, arrest or persecution.

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, a freelance investigative journalist from Mexico won this year’s UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize. Her reporting on prostitution and child pornography networks has resulted in death threats, sabotage and police harassment.