Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on progress of democratic reforms in the Maldives since 2008.

Mr Hugo Swire

In 2008 the Maldives ratified a new constitution which paved the way for the first free and fair, multi-party elections in its history. We welcomed this process, the elections that followed it and the ambitious reform agenda of the new government.

Since 2012 there has been a steady decline in democratic space and respect for human rights in the Maldives. This includes restrictions on the right to protest, the intimidation of civil society, human rights organisations and members of the media and signs that the death penalty is to be reintroduced. Other concerns include the arbitrary detention of political figures and the decreasing independence of institutions and the judiciary. The State of Emergency declared in November 2015 temporarily suspended basic rights.

We continue to work with the Maldivian Government and the international community to encourage and support political and democratic reform.