Maldives remains UK ‘Human Rights Priority Country’
Maldives remains 1 of 30 priority countries in the UK annual Human Rights Report 2017. The UK has serious concerns and hopes to engage positively to develop human rights performance.
The Report notes with concern that in 2017, the human rights situation in Maldives continued to deteriorate with the erosion of political and civic freedoms and an increase in the intimidation of human rights defenders and journalists.
The UK is concerned by the lack of judicial independence in cases brought against opposition parliamentarians and also by the Government of Maldives stated intention to reintroduce the death penalty after a moratorium of more than 60 years.
The UK works bilaterally and with international partners to draw attention to human rights concerns and support human rights defenders in Maldives. UK funding supports civil society work on gender equality and a transparent and robust electoral process.
The Human Rights and Democracy Report 2017 underlines the UK’s desire to work positively with countries to help them improve their human rights performance.
The 30 Human Rights Priority Countries are: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Territories, Libya, Maldives, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office began publishing the Annual Human Rights Report in 1998 and the reports are now also published online.