Committee meeting on illegal migrants closed 'to public to protect relations with neighbors'

National Security and Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament says it's decision to hold meetings to look into the issue of illegal migrants in Maldives behind closed doors is at the interest of protecting diplomatic relations between Maldives and its neighboring countries.

Speaking about the reason why the meeting as being closed down to the public, the chair member stated that it was due to the sensitive nature of the issue under discussion, and to maintain good relations with neighbors as well as getting other information from relevant government bodies.

The committee is meeting with top officials from the Home Ministry, Economic Ministry and Maldives Immigration to discuss the rising issue of illegal immigrants who were living and working in the Maldives.

A petition was submitted to the parliament with more than 2000 signatures by a private individual last month asking to solve the issue of illegal immigrants in the country. However, the Petitions Committee had asked the individual to fulfill all the requirements of the petition and submit it again before rejecting it. This is the first petition to be submitted to the 19th parliament of the Maldives and highlighted that the issue of illegal immigrants was a threat to national security and asked the parliament to create an office to address this issue and increase the employment opportunities for locals. 

While almost 200,000 expatriates are working and living in the Maldives the authorities estimate that almost 60,000 illegal immigrants are living in the country.