Effective parliamentary work requires equal representation: Speaker

Speaker of the People's Majlis Mohamed Aslam has stated that effective parliamentary work requires equal representation.

He said this while delivering a statement at the 148th IPU Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland on March 24.

Speaker Aslam departed to Geneva, Switzerland to Participate in the 148th Assembly of the IPU, on March 23.

Addressing the assembly, themed around building bridges for peace and understanding and the role of parliamentary diplomacy in achieving it, Speaker Aslam stated the gender disparity at the People’s Majlis is a concern and that only five percent of parliamentarians in the Maldives are women, despite 49 percent of the island nation’s population being female.

The Maldivian speaker expressed belief in the importance of promoting and ensuring equal representation within political parties, adding that it was imperative that proactive steps are taken in this direction.

Highlighting that citizens engagement is being increased through programs like practice parliament for women and practice parliament for youth, Aslam stated that a workshop was also recently concluded in partnership with UNDP for female candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Aslam stressed that the world is increasingly becoming interconnected and the challenges surfacing are complex, Aslam stressed that Maldives is not immune to these global challenges.

Shedding light on the terrorist attack on his predecessor former president and former parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed, Aslam said that the attack mirrored the extent of radicalization and violent extremism within the society.

The speaker added that the progressing technology makes it easier for such individuals to cause irreversible harm and that violent extremism is on the rise in the Maldives.

Adding that the institutions of Maldives are working to better understand these complex issues and complete the legislative framework to combat terrorism, the Maldivian speaker noted that the institutional setup to address radicalization has been strengthened over the years.

Further, he touched upon the issue of drug trafficking in the Maldives, stating that the drug epidemic and related crimes have “plagued” Maldives for decades.

Similar to other countries represented in the assembly, Aslam said that Maldives lacks the resources to combat drug trafficking alone.

As such, while drug networks around the world operate collaboratively, the Maldives still lacks effective global collaboration to combat trafficking, both in terms of policy reforms and operational cooperation.

Aslam stated that for Maldives, peace also means climate security, and that as a small island nation, the contribution of Maldives to climate change is negligible. However, he noted that Maldives is disproportionately affected by climate change.