No rights violation complaint of a Maldivian MP with IPU rights committee, in a first in 18 years

Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, on Tuesday, said that the Committee on Human Rights of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) did not have before it, any cases pertaining to the human rights violation of a Maldivian parliamentarian, for the first time in 18 years.

He made the observation in his speech at the High-Level Segment of the 43rd Session of the Human Rights Council.

“I am also pleased to share with the Council, that for the first time since 2002, there are no longer any cases of Maldivian Parliamentarians before the Committee on Human Rights of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU),” said Shahid.

He said it was evidence of the current Maldivian government’s progress in promotion and protection of human rights.

“This significant development denotes the progress we have achieved in the promotion and protection the human rights of parliamentarians in the country,” said Shahid.

Secretary-General of IPU, Martin Chungong had sent a letter to the Maldivian Parliament Speaker, President Mohamed Nasheed informing him of the lack of any cases pertaining to a Maldivian parliamentarian before its Committee on Human Rights a week ago.

Established as a mechanism to protect parliamentarians from across the world against a range of human rights violations including arbitrary detention, exclusion from public life, kidnapping, and even murder; the committee meets three times a year to examine ongoing cases new complaints.

The last case from Maldives the committee brought before the committee was regarding when, during former Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration, the Parliament was overtaken by the security services and parliamentarians were barred from entering the premises.