Permanent residency for Kandholhudhoo people after 10 years

After ten years since settlement in Dhuvaafaru, the island's council publishes guideline for registering residents of the 2004 Tsunami-devastated island of Kandholhudhoo. The work is now underway for the Kandholhudhoo people to register as permanent residents of Dhuvaafaru.

Around 676 houses were built in Dhuvaafaru for the people who were moved from Kandholhudhoo after the Tsunami disaster that completely devastated the island in 2004. They moved to Dhuvaafaru in 2009 and built a new life since. However to date, they have not been granted permanent registries of their houses and lands in Dhuvaafaru.

Children born to Kandholhudhoo people and Dhuvaafaru have still been registered at the ghosted island. This was a major complaint of the people who had previously been appealing for permanent registry in Dhuvaafaru.

The guideline published yesterday, after 10 years since settlement, set out the procedure to follow in registering Kandholhudhoo people as Dhuvaafaru residents.

The guideline says that the temporary registry of Kandholhudhoo residents formulated by the National Disaster Management Center in 2009 shall be used as a base for the process. This registry also includes spouses of Kandholhudhoo people who may not have been from the island originally.

They shall be granted permanent status if still currently married to the Kandholhudhoo resident, if the couple has children, and if he/she still lives in the residencies provided for them by the state.

However they shall not be granted permanent status if they either do not currently reside in the housing provided in Dhuvaafaru, or currently are not married to the Kandholhudhoo resident.

A period of one year is granted for Kandholhudhoo people to apply for permanent registration of their homes in Dhuvaafaru. Dhuvaafaru council also informed that registries made before this policy will still be in effect and any registry terminated by a court can only be made under the rules set out by the court.

Providing permanent residency registries for Dhuvaafaru people is a pledge of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who stated last December that work to register children born to people from Kandholhudhoo in Dhuvaafaru would begin soon.