Background and Recent Political
Events
The
Maldives, a group of more than 1,000 small islands,
has been a British Protectorate, an independent sultanate
and, since 1968, a republic.� Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been the president
of Maldives since 1978 and is in his fifth term.� There are no political parties and there is
some evidence that competition from other presidential
candidates is repressed. An attempted coup failed in
1988.� President
Gayoom has responded to domestic and international criticism
with the �decision to devolve certain presidential powers
and introduce a package of reforms.�
[i]
� He
also pledged to allow more than one candidate to contest
future presidential elections.
[ii]
� On
January 1 1998, a new Constitution, which had been ratified
by the President in November 1997, came into effect.
The
1990s saw a great deal of economic growth resulting
from a boom in the tourist industry.�
Tourists stay on resort islands separate from
native Maldivians and travel to inhabited islands is
limited and carefully controlled.�
Tourists are drawn to Maldives because of its
reputation as an unspoiled paradise, so environmental
preservation is key to continued economic growth and
stability.� Coral
bleaching caused by global warming has muted the beautiful
colors that draw scuba divers from around the world.�
Maldivians are also concerned about the rising
water level, because the majority of the islands are
only about one meter above sea level.�
The highest point is 2.4 meters above sea level.
[iii]
Over
93 percent of all women in Maldives are literate.� President Gayoom introduced legislation in the Parliament (Majlis)
in the 2000 session to renew government commitment to
providing equal opportunities for women in the political,
social and economic areas.
[iv]
� Nevertheless,
official deference to Muslim custom fosters an environment
of strict gender roles and often encourages more rigid
adherence to cultural norms than to national laws.
STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE MALDIVES
UNDER SPECIFIC CEDAW ARTICLES:
CONVENTION ARTICLE 1: DEFINITION
OF DISCRIMINATION
Paragraph
13 in Chapter II of the amended Maldivian Constitution,
states that �Maldivian citizens are equal before and
under the law and are entitled to the equal protection
of the law.�
[v]
� This
must be understood in the context provided by Paragraph
156, �Interpretation of Words and Phrases.��
The� definition
of law includes government practices as well as �norms
and provisions of Shari�ah established by the Noble
Quran and the traditions of the Noble Prophet, and the
rules derived therefrom.�
[vi]
Therefore, discriminatory treatment of
women is justified by attribution to Shari�ah or interpretations
of it.�
CONVENTION ARTICLE 2-5: TRADITIONS,
STEREOTYPES AND OBLIGATIONS TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION
Severe
restriction on freedom of religion in the Maldives has
a critical impact on the enjoyment of women�s human
rights.� Over
99 percent of all Maldivians are Sunni Muslim, and the
public expression or practice of any other belief system
is strictly prohibited.� Recently, two women who were suspected of practicing
another religion were detained for several months.
[vii]
� Also,
Buddha pictures belonging to a UN expert were confiscated.
[viii]
This association of religion and government
has led to a powerful system of media censorship.� The government owns and runs all radio and
television stations.
[ix]
� Freedom
of expression is strictly limited by governmental policy.
Women
are directly affected by the restrictive culture. They
do the vast majority of household chores and cooking,
tasks which reportedly take many women almost the whole
day.� In the
capital, Male, the numerous responsibilities women have
in the home are made more difficult by the shortage
of space, since economic factors have led to a highly
concentrated population.�
An average of 14 people and three families live
in each small home with no yard.� Working conditions in homes are often dark and undesirable.
[x]
� The
Australian Agency for International Development has
described the situation as follows: �The poverty that
exists in the Maldives disproportionately impacts on
women due to social and cultural restrictions on their
mobility: women are not as free as men to travel outside
of their home atoll (island district) unaccompanied.�
Educational and employment opportunities, as
well as access to services, are more limited in these
areas.�
[xi]
�
CONVENTION ARTICLE 6: TRAFFICKING
IN WOMEN AND PROSTITUTION
The
Maldives, as a member of the South Asian Association
Regional Cooperation (SAARC), has participated in a
number of conferences and workshops in the past few
years addressing the problem of trafficking of women
and children in and from South Asian countries.�
Maldives hosted the 9th SAARC Summit, which resulted
in the Male Declaration on trafficking.
[xii]
This is commendable, but it is unclear
what effect these efforts have had on reducing the practice
of trafficking.� Trafficking
is still a problem in the Maldives.�
In May 2000, Sri Lankan police began a search
for a Russian man who they believe controls Russian
prostitutes in Maldives and other SAARC countries.
[xiii]
�
CONVENTION ARTICLE 7: POLITICAL
AND PUBLIC LIFE
The
President, Cabinet Ministers and members of the People�s
Majlis (Parliament) are required to be Sunni Muslim
and to observe Shari�ah (Islamic law).
[xiv]
� Women
are not allowed to run for president.� They may hold other public positions, but very few do. Three women
have served in the Majis (parliament) and one woman
has served as a cabinet member.
[xv]
Currently, male clerics dominate the most
post powerful positions in the Maldivian government.
[xvi]
It has not always been so.� Before Islam was embraced in the islands, several
islands enjoyed varying levels of matriarchal leadership.
[xvii]
� Nevertheless,
under the current system, both women and men are entitled
to vote, as long as they are Muslim and at least 21
years of age.
[xviii]
Statistics on voter turnout disaggregated
by sex were not available, though the Government allowed
a team from the SAARC observe the 1994 elections.
[xix]
� The
practice of keeping tourists and native Maldivians primarily
on separate islands is intended to minimize the adverse
effects of tourism on the traditional Muslim communities.
[xx]
� This
policy of privacy also keeps hidden information on women�s
participation in public life.��
CONVENTION ARTICLE 9: NATIONALITY
The
Maldivian Constitution states, �No Maldivian shall be
deprived of citizenship except as may be provided by
law.�
[xxi]
� Converts
to other religions may lose their citizenship,
[xxii]
thought the Government claims this provision
has never been applied.
In
1998, two Maldivian women were arrested and imprisoned
for over three months for converting to another faith.�
They did not lose their citizenship, but the
length of their imprisonment indicates that their conversion
was viewed as a threat to national stability.� Though dozens of men and women were questioned
on this occasion about converting, only the two women
were imprisoned and counseled extensively.
[xxiii]
� Human
Rights Without Frontiers reported that religious prisoners
in Maldives are pressured to deny their faith.
[xxiv]
�����������
CONVENTION ARTICLE 10: EDUCATION
Men
and women enjoy equally high literacy rates (93%), especially
in comparison with neighboring Asian countries.�
A high percentage of boys and girls attend primary
school.� At secondary levels, though, the gap favoring education for boys
increases rapidly.
[xxv]
� Though
there is no national legislation that restricts equal
access to education, NGOs claim that social customs
and norms foster the gap.
[xxvi]
�� Often,
parents refuse to allow their girls to attend school
past 7th grade when there is no secondary school on
their home island.
[xxvii]
Many girls stay at home to help with household
tasks socially assigned to women.�
Many others leave school to bear and raise children.� Sixty-five percent of Maldivian women marry
before they are 18.
[xxviii]
�
CONVENTION ARTICLE 11: EMPLOYMENT
Culture
dictates a certain level of separation of men and women
in the workplace.� Women are found in lower-paying positions,
such as clerical work, agriculture, and service jobs
in the tourist sector. This is especially true of the
foreign women working in Maldives. In 1999, the Bangladesh
National Women Lawyers Association discovered that 27
female migrant workers had not been paid wages for three
years of work in Maldives.
[xxix]
Women who do work outside of the home are
still expected to manage and clean the home.�
Though
widespread poverty affects all Maldivians, women are
hit especially hard. Because the Maldives has the highest
divorce rate in the world, overburdened mothers have
become the rule rather than the exception.� Women are underrepresented in the workforce.� IPPF reports that 78 percent of men are in
the workforce, compared to 43 percent of women.
[xxx]
� Another
source reports that only 18 percent of women are in
the workforce.
[xxxi]
� Maldives
has experienced rapid economic growth and modernization
over the past decade, but many women benefit less from
this growth, because some traditional beliefs conflict
with women�s free participation in the economic market.
CONVENTION ARTICLE 12: HEALTH
CARE AND
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Health
is probably the most urgent problem facing women in
the Maldives.� Only about 75 percent of the population have
access to health care.
[xxxii]
The World Health Organization (WHO) and
the Society for Health Education (SHE), a local NGO,
have worked to provide education and training resources
regarding general and reproductive health.�
Despite their efforts, maternal and infant mortality
rates remain high (see national indicators on page 21).
[xxxiii]
Twenty percent of live births result in
low birthweight babies.
[xxxiv]
� Anemia
is found in approximately 68 percent of pregnant women,
62 percent of non-pregnant women, and 82 percent of
children.
[xxxv]
�
Statistics
on access to safe water are unclear. Safe water is widely
available on tourist resort islands,
[xxxvi]
but it is somewhat irrelevant to include
this access in national statistics, because few Maldivians
live on tourist islands.�
Ground water in the Maldives is contaminated
and the islands suffer from water shortages in the dry
season.
[xxxvii]
There
is little training or counsel for mothers, especially
regarding their health and the health of their children.�
Women are generally not trained in the benefits
of breastfeeding, even though low breast-feeding rate
is one of the factors responsible for deficiencies in
children, such as Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD).
[xxxviii]
Only eight percent of Maldivian mothers
breastfeed their newborn children (0-3 months) exclusively.
[xxxix]
� Maldives
has not adopted the international code on marketing
breast milk substitutes.
[xl]
Poor
feeding practices are responsible, according to WHO,
for the malnutrition of children in Maldives.
[xli]
� Severe
malnutrition has not decreased since 1985. Growth monitoring
of children up to three years old is common practice
(approximately 95 percent), but though 38 percent of
children under five are underweight or suffer from wasting
or stunted growth, �no attempts are made by the health
workers to take special care or counsel the mothers.�
[xlii]
There are some efforts to combat these
problems, but systematic and complete data on progress
made was unavailable.
Poor
nutrition is so critical because the associated health
problems reproduce at an alarming rate.�
The birth rate is high, averaging about six children
per woman.
[xliii]
� WHO
stated, �High population growth is threatening the quality
of life, especially of women and children.�
[xliv]
About half of the population is under 15
years.
[xlv]
� Distribution
and availability of contraception is limited and requires
a prescription. Only 15 percent of women between 15
and 49 reported using contraception of any kind.
[xlvi]
� Reported
contraception use rates remain extremely low, despite
family planning training programs for family health
workers. There is widespread male reluctance to use
contraception, especially condoms.
[xlvii]
In summary, International Planned Parenthood
Federation (IPPF) reports, �Early marriage. . ., frequent
pregnancies, chronic malnutrition and inadequate health
care services jeopardize safe motherhood in the Maldives.�
[xlviii]
Another
health problem that persists because of inadequate (reproductive)
health services is Thalassaemia.�
Twenty percent of the population carries this
fatal genetic blood disorder and one in 250 children
develop the actual condition.�
A child of two carriers has a 25 percent chance
of being born with the disease.
[xlix]
� Those
with the disease suffer from anemia and must undergo
monthly blood transfusions and daily injections.�
The only cure is a bone marrow transplant, which
is costly.� SHE provides free screening and counseling,
but the effect of its services on the frequency of the
disease is unknown.� The IPPF commented, �Unless something is done
to decrease the numbers born with the illness, the amount
of clean blood and bone marrow to go around is likely
to become a commodity reserved for the rich.�
[l]
�
CONVENTION ARTICLE 14: RURAL
WOMEN
Not
only is the population of the Maldives concentrated
in Male, the wealth is as well.�
Poverty is especially harsh in the outer atolls.
[li]
� Infant
and maternal death rates are even worse in rural areas,
where the small population lives in isolation, often
without sufficient access to health care facilities,
education, and employment. On some islands, only half
of the children reach adulthood.
[lii]
� Because
contraception is only�
available with a prescription at a few health
care facilities, most rural women have no access to
it.
[liii]
�
CONVENTION ARTICLE 15: EQUALITY
BEFORE THE LAW
A
woman�s testimony is equal to one-half of a man�s in
court cases involving finance and inheritance.�
Courts handling matrimonial and criminal cases
do not allow legal counsel.
[liv]
� This
may pose problems for women who are unaware of their
rights.� Also, male heirs get twice the inheritance
of female heirs.
[lv]
CONVENTION ARTICLE 16: MARRIAGE
AND FAMILY LAW
Women
and men both have the freedom to select a spouse.� This �freedom� is allowed because of the population�s ideological
homogeneity.� Men,
however, may marry up to four wives under Islamic law.
[lvi]
Divorce is available to men and women,
but husbands may divorce more easily if the decision
is not mutual.
[lvii]
� Women
marry an average of four times.�
It is common for Maldivians to divorce three
to six times.� Women suffer greater losses in divorce than
men do, because of their financial dependence on their
husbands.� Women often stay in the homes of their ex-husbands
until they remarry, especially since the population
has exploded in Male, with 30,000 inhabitants per square
kilometer.
[lviii]
The effect on women and children of being
forced to continue residence with an estranged husband
or father has not been closely addressed.
[lix]
�
GENERAL RECOMMENDATION NO.
19: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Domestic
abuse is a problem in the Maldives, despite a cultural
norm against aggression.�
Though statistics are unavailable, one health
counselor reports, �There are a lot of cases of sexually
abused children, and there will be many unreported cases
also.�� It is mostly girls who are abused; in fact,
all my cases of sexual abuse have been with girls.�
[lx]
� Incest
is also a problem for girls and young women, exacerbated
by crowded living conditions, where many residents sleep
in the same room.
[lxi]
� The
SHE has tried to curb this through education programs.� The organization counsels victims of sexual
abuse by telephone and in person.�
However, organizational resource are stretched
thin, and most attention goes to the other fundamental
deficiencies in women�s physical and mental health care.
[lxii]
ACTIONS BY OTHER UN HUMAN
RIGHTS MECHANISMS
PERTAINING TO WOMEN�S HUMAN
RIGHTS:
Concluding observations of
the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination:
Maldives. 25/08/99. A/54/18, paras.314-320.
�Main subjects of concern:
�
The Maldives
did not send a report, nor did it send a delegation.�
Suggestions and Recommendations:
�
further
information on forms of discrimination and the situation
of migrant workers and foreigners
Concluding observations of
the Committee on the Rights of the Child: Maldives.
05/06/98. CRC/C/15/Add.91.
Main Subjects of Concern:
�
insufficient
data collection, especially for vulnerable groups like
girl children and rural children
�
low minimum
age of marriage and lack of information on harmful effects
�
insufficient
measures for enjoyment of rights of girl children
�
concern
for children born out of wedlock, especially with regard
to right to inheritance
�
lack of
information on ill-treatment and sexual abuse
�
lack of
trained personnel to prevent and combat such abuse
�
high rate
of divorce and possible negative effects on children
�
high maternal
mortality rate
�
lack of
health and nutrition and effects on increasing early
pregnancy rate
�
lack of
access to reproductive health education
�
gender disparities
in secondary school enrollments because of non-compulsory
education
Suggestions and Recommendations:
�
develop
a comprehensive data-collection system
�
facilitate
establishment of NGOs to help deal with these problems
�
full implementation
of principle of non-discrimination; eliminate discrimination
against vulnerable groups, like girl children
�
enact and
implement the National Policy on Women for the sake
of girl children
�
take measures
to prevent and combat sexual and other forms of abuse
�
accelerate
the enactment of the Maldivian Family Law
�
strengthen
reproductive health education
�
study negative
impact of early marriage
make
primary education compulsory and free to all; improve
access to girls legal reform and preventive measures
to combat sexual exploitation
[i]
�Maldives Facts & Tips,� available�
at < www.planetholiday.com/asia/maldives/maldives_history.htm>,
accessed 23 October 2000.
[iii]
CIA, The
World Factbook 2000 - Maldives.
[iv]
WERC, �Around the World: Maldives,� Pravahini-WERC Newsletter, vol. 8, no.1
(2000):� p.
[v]
The
Maldivian Constitution, available at <www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv/CH-constitution.htm>,
accessed on 16 March 2000.
[vii]
Aiuto alla Chiesa che Soffre (A.C.S.).
�Religious Freedom in the Majority Islamic Countries:
1998 Report-Maldives,� available at < www.alleanzacattolica.org/acs/acs_english/report_98/maldives.htm>,
accessed 20 October 2000.
[viii]
� Jaana
Holvikivi. �A Brief History Of Women In The Maldives
- From Matriarchy To An Islamic State,��
available at < www.saunalahti.fi/penelope/Feminism/Maldives.html
>, accessed 9 September 2000.
[ix]
� Maldive
Holidays, �News, Information and Communications,�
available at < maldive.com/tour/mnews.html>,
accessed 10 October 2000.
[xi]
Australian Agency for International Development.
Country Brief:
Maldives 1999-2000, available at < www.ausaid.gov.au/publicati...riefs/1999-2000/99-00maldives.html>,
accessed 16 March 2000.
[xiii]
�Sri Lanka Battles Foreign Prostitutes�,
Colombo, May 23, 2000.
[xiv]
U.S. State Department, Bureau for Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor, 2000 Annual
Report on International Religious Freedom: Maldives,
Washington D.C. (5 September 5 2000),�
available at < www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/irf/irf_rpt/irf_maldives.html>,
accessed 3 December 2000.
[xv]
U.S. State Department, Bureau for Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor, Maldives
Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1999,� available at <www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/maldives.html>,
accessed 2 November 2000.
[xviii]
The
Maldivian Constitution.
[xix]
US� State
Department, Maldives Country Report.
[xx]
Lonely Planet, Maldives, available at < www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/ind/mal.htm>,
accessed 12 October 2000.
[xxi]
The
Maldivian Constitution, Chapter II, Paragraph
14.
[xxii]
US State Department, Maldives Country Report.
[xxv]
US State Department, Maldives Country Report.
[xxviii]
International Planned Parenthood Federation
(IPPF), IPPF
Country Profile: MALDIVES,�
available at < www.ippf.org/regions/countries/mdv/index.htm>,
accessed 28 September 2000.
[xxix]
Fawzia Karim Firoze, �The Many Woes Of
Our Migrant Workers,� The
Independent, 25 June 1999.
[xxxiii]
WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia.
�Country Profile: Maldives� Nutrition
in South-East Asia.
New
Delhi WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia 2000.
Document SEA-NUT-148, 49-52.
[xxxvi]
Planet Holiday, Maldives Facts & Tips, available at <www.planetholiday.com/asia/maldives/maldives_health.htm>,
accessed 8 October 2000.
[xxxviii]
WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia.
�Country Profile: Maldives� Nutrition
in South-East Asia.
New
Delhi WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia 2000.
Document SEA-NUT-148, 49-52.
[xlvii]
IPPF, �Spiders Of Fear,� Real Lives, no. 1 (1997): 20.
[xlviii]
IPPF, IPPF Country Profile: MALDIVES.
[xlix]
IPPF. �Dealing With A Genetic Disorder,�
Real Lives,
no. 3 (1999): 21.
[li]
Australian Agency for International Development.
[liii]
IPPF, IPPF Country Profile: MALDIVES.
[liv]
US State Department, Maldives Country Report.
[lix]
CRC Concluding observations.
[lx]
IPPF, IPPF Country Profile: MALDIVES.
