President: Violation of child rights under cover of 'religion' will not be tolerated

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih says his administration will not tolerate the violation of the rights of children as part of the extremist ideology being spread in the name of religion.

His comment comes amid public outrage of the case of a girl who was subjected to an illegal marriage with a religious extremist at the age of 12 years. The girl, who is now 13 years of age, gave birth to a child conceived during the ‘marriage’ in November.

The man in question is now under arrest for sexual assault of a minor.

President Solih announced his condemnation of violence against children during the official reception to mark Human Rights Day this Tuesday.

“This administration will not tolerate any violation of the rights of children, including those carried out under the extremist ideology being spread in the name of religion,” said President Solih.

He said that his administration was working to reinforce the country’s laws in order to offer wider protection to children, and highlighted on the Child Protection Act and Juvenile Justice Act which were both enacted in November.

The enactment of the laws criminalizes marriage of children under the age of 18 years. It also establishes the age of criminal responsibility as 15 years.

President Solih stressed that a person’s human rights begin from the point he or she is conceived. He said that children, the moment they are born to up until they reach the age of majority, have certain additional rights and protections they are due.

“Chief among these rights is the right to physical development and wellbeing. Vaccination in infancy and throughout different stages of childhood is key to ascertaining this aforementioned right,” said President Solih.

He added that children also had a right to a healthy diet, and described the school breakfast program launched by his administration as a key step in protecting the right of children to physical development and wellbeing.

President Solih also focused his address on gender equality, which he said was a subject which must not be ignored in discourse regarding human rights.

“Protecting the rights of women, empowering women within this society, and putting them in positions they well deserve, is one of this administration’s biggest priorities. This administration’s policies are based on this priority,” said President Solih.

He noted that 35 percent of his Cabinet was composed of women, and that it was during his administration that Maldives saw the appointment of the first woman to the Supreme Court, and passed legislative amendments to reserve one-third of the seats at local councils for women.

He said that all of it were proof of his administration’s commitment towards increasing the role of women at policymaking level within the State and increasing the role of women in the political field.

President Solih said Maldives has an important purpose in establishing the Human Rights Commission of Maldives 16 years ago.

But that the HRCM, in recent years, had been rendered unable to perform its duties to the fullest due to various reasons – one of which could possibly be undue influence over the commission and its work by the government.

“Regardless, I, on this day, assure all the members of the commission and all Maldivian people that this administration will provide its full cooperation and support to the Human Rights Commission and allow it to operate with independence,” said President Solih.

He said that protection of the human rights of the people was the State’s most supreme responsibility. He said that given that the State is run under the stewardship of the government, disregard for constitutional rights by any government would leave the people without any hope over protection of any human right.

 President Soli provided assurance he and his administration would protect and ascertain the constitutional rights of all Maldivian people without discrimination or exemption.