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Gender Minister participates in meeting for female Commonwealth ministers

Shahudha Mohamed
04 September 2020, MVT 09:30
Gender minister Aishath Mohamed Didi speaks at a media briefing at NEOC. PHOTO: HEOC
Shahudha Mohamed
04 September 2020, MVT 09:30

Minister of Gender, Family and Social Services Aishath Mohamed Didi, on Thursday, took part in the 'Virtual Meeting of Commonwealth Ministers for Women's Affairs and Gender and Development on COVID-19'.

The meeting aimed to discuss the societal and economic challenges faced by member countries during the current circumstances, and the increase in the number of domestic violence cases reported in lockdown periods.

During the meeting, Minister Aishath spoke about gender-based violence linked to the lockdown and the assistance extended towards marginalised individuals and groups.

She further also shared the state's policies on recovering from the socio-economic impacts of the ongoing pandemic.

In addition to Maldives, high level representatives of Kenya, Barbados, Spain, South Africa, Bangladesh, Rwanda, United Kingdom Australia, Cameroon, Seychelles, Nigeria Grenada, Jamaica, Guyana, Canada and Bahamas took part in the meeting.

Speaking at a press briefing in June, Minister Aishath revealed that the number of domestic violence cases reported to the authorities in Maldives saw an increase with the easing of certain lockdown measures at the end of May.

Although she noted that cases of sexual abuse against children had also spiked during this period, the minister maintained that the number of reported incidents remain more or less the same compared to this time last year, as per statistics.

From January till June, a total of 387 cases of child abuse were reported, of which 221 are female victims and 166 are male.

Adults reported a total of 112 domestic violence cases within this duration, of which all except nine complaints were lodged by female victims.

However, the ministry has not revealed further details about gender-based violence in recent months.

Globally, alarm was been raised over higher incidence of domestic violence and gender-based violence due to the COVID-19 lockdown, with several vulnerable individuals forced into at-risk environments.

Other countries have also revealed that the number of cases reported to the authorities decreased during lockdown when victims were locked-in with their abusers.

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