SILENT and deadly approach being taken by Government of Maldives on child abuse July 31, 2007
I have blogged about this on many occasions. Many Maldivians are very concerned about child abuse being defended by Maldivian current Government. As this blog is read by an international audience , i am posting links to other writers who have brought up this issue. To view my say on this and other peoples views, please click below.
OPINION By Hilath Rasheed below published in Haveeru online.
MALE, July 30, 2007 (Haveeru News Service) — Gender Minister Aisha Mohamed Didi has tried to downplay the child abuse issue in Maldives in comments to an opposition daily after Haveeru, in an opinion column recently, alleged that the Maldives’ government to date is not taking child abuse seriously.
In an article dated July 24, 2007, MinivanNews.com quoted Aisha as saying that “Maldives is not an exception” when it comes to child abuse. She was reacting to the lenient sentence of 8 months banishment given by the court to four adult men, after the court found that the 12-year-old female victim had “consented” to sex by “not protesting.”
Human rights groups have expressed outrage at the court’s decision, claiming that anyone who is below 18 cannot give consent and therefore it was a case of statuary rape.
Aisha tried to downplay the issue when she was quoted by MinivanNews.com as saying that child abuse situation in Maldives “is within the norm of other countries.”
Her predecessor and fellow ruling Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party member Aneesa Ahmed, had said that when she had held that portfolio, on average one case of child abuse was reported every day, and that these were only the reported cases in a country where the system is such that a victim and her family will be shamed rather than justice delivered. This has been documented in a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) funded local short film called “You Don’t Know Me” based on research into Maldives’ child abuse situation.
According to Aneesa, during her term as Gender Minister, each year there were more than 300 cases of reported child abuse in a country of just 300,000 people.
Before she made the ambitious career move into the Cabinet, Aisha was a child rights champion with the UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration has been criticized by critics for been too lenient towards pedophiles; in the past, Presidential pardons were given to convicted pedophiles as well.
Recently, an expatriate male teacher was given leave to return to his country when a CHSE high school female student accused him of sexual molestation.
The Education Ministry in the 1980s was much criticized for trying to cover up, unsuccessfully, another such case leading to the conviction of a pedophile teacher. But the teacher, infamously known as “Naseem Sir” is now freely giving tuition to children.
And recently, an imam accused of molesting children as young as six, was allowed to return to Baa atoll Goidhoo Island, free to mingle with the community though investigations are pending.
Human rights activists have also criticized the government for not prescribing prison terms for pedophiles because banishment means that pedophiles have newer opportunities to abuse new victims.
Rather than appearing to be pressuring the judiciary, Aisha was quoted by MinivanNews.com as implying that the judges’ lenient decision in the case of the 12-year-old victim must be “respected” even though the judge found that a 12-year-old could give consent despite 18 being the age of majority in Maldives.
“Maldives is a paradise for pedophiles,” a commentator for the opposition-leaning Adduvas weekly magazine said in comments to Haveeru.
MinivanNews.com quoted a Gender Ministry survey published late last year which found one in three Maldivian women had experienced some form of sexual or physical abuse at the hands of a male, whilst one in six reported having been sexually abused as a child under 15.
And we haven’t even gotten down to talking about male child abuse which may even be higher, according to elders in Maldives’ society.
According to counselors, the issue of child abuse is exceptionally high in Maldives and a “culture of silence” is keeping the vicious cycle intact.
Aisha and the rest of the Maldives’ government were “taking action behind the scenes” according to MinivanNews.com. Perhaps, this is where everything starts going wrong. The silence. An issue like child abuse has to be dealt with openly and seriously.
Another article written by Donim titled Paradise for Paedophiles which appeared in Maldivestoday website , highlights the seriousness of the issue.
In 2006, the discovery of a dead infant in Dhambidhoo, Laamu Atoll, resulted in an unusual police procedure. All woman of the island aged12 to 45 years were subjected to a physical examination, to determine whether they had recently given birth. A 16-year-old girl was brought to Male for further investigation. According to sources involved in the investigation, the girl became pregnant when her own father sexually abused her. But the ministry of gender and family decided to send the girl back to her family and, in effect, back to the abuser. To date, no charges were brought against the alleged abuser and there are reports that the girl is pregnant again…………………….Maldives may very well have the highest rates of child sexual abuse in South Asia, probably even the world.
