President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Wednesday ratified the second amendment to the Maldives Anti-Human Trafficking Act on Wednesday.
The changes brought include an amendment to Article 12 of the Act which defines actions that constitutes trafficking a person, while the amendment to Article 14 was about trafficking of children.
With the changes to Article 14, transporting a child in or out of the country with the intent to exploit them will now be considered trafficking. Furthermore, moving a child within the country and recruiting them to a workforce while under a guardianship would also be considered as an act of trafficking.
The new amendment also criminalizes conspiring to traffic a child or a person, or to give orders to do so, and altering travel documents of a person being trafficked.
Additionally, the state was granted authority to seize funds and assets that may be linked to trafficking.
The amendments to the Maldives Anti-Human Trafficking Act were passed by the Parliament on Wednesday, 14th April 2021, at the 29th sitting of the first session of the People’s Majlis for this year. Upon ratification, the amendment has now been published in the Government Gazette.
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