Minister of Defence Mariya Ahmed Didi, on Friday, announced plans to designate a ‘Director of Anti-Human Trafficking’ at the ministry and establish an office dedicating to the task, along with a shelter for housing victims of human trafficking.
In an address delivered to mark the International Migrants Day (December 18), the minister revealed that the shelter would be built at Gulhifalhu, Kaafu Atoll.
According to Didi, the government is presently working to ensure that rights are afforded to all migrants and that efforts were being made to defend their rights and secure necessary freedoms for the benefit of future migrants.
The Minister of Defence, a former human rights lawyer, then called on her own government to recognise human trafficking as an inhumane, illegal activity and to hence extend protection to victims of such crimes.
Acknowledging the important contributions of migrant workers to the Maldivian people and country at large, Didi offered assurances that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih “deeply prioritised the issues faced by migrant workers in Maldives”.
On the 21st of July 2020, the Chief of Defence Force reported to the Parliament that there were 179,964 registered expatriate workers in the country, of which more than 66,000 were undocumented.
This year, till date, over 7000 migrant workers were repatriated to their home countries. Nevertheless, questions as to whether the repatriates were paid due wages and compensation before departure or even consented to being sent back, remain largely unanswered.
Across 2020, several protests led by expatriate workers were observed in various islands including the capital city region, amid renewed concerns from rights groups as well as the general public, over the continued exploitation of expatriate workers in Maldives.
Violations include withholding of wages, human trafficking, poor living conditions, and other human rights violations. Further, the aforementioned low quality of life has cemented the disproportionate effect had by Maldives' ongoing COVID-19 outbreak on its vast migrant population.
Maldives has been on the US State Department’s Human Trafficking Watchlist since 2018 for failure to meet the minimum requirements to prevent human trafficking. The department’s 'Trafficking in Persons' report also identifies Maldives as a sex trafficking destination for women and children, while men are subjected to forced labour in the country’s booming construction and service sectors.
During a government-led investigation conducted in 2011, it was found that the human trafficking industry of Maldives raked in over MVR 1.9 billion annually.
Various civil rights groups, including the Association for Democracy in the Maldives (ADM) have called on the government to urgently rectify the situation.
“We call on the Government of Maldives enforce stringent anti-human trafficking measures and to shut down human trafficking rings operating under the guise of labour recruitment agencies”, reads a statement publicised by ADM on Friday.
“These measures, we believe, must extend to investigate corrupt businesses and individuals, including government officials at the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the Ministry of Economic Development, who illicitly benefit from this illegal trade”.
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