The European Union has revealed the framework it adopted on Monday on imposing targeted sanctions against human rights abusers in the Maldives.
Penalties proposed in the framework are sanctions and travel bans; to freeze funds of and restrict admission for known committers of human rights violations.
Full text of the EU’s restrictive measures framework adopted on Monday: https://t.co/3ZmQlNbyYR
— EU to the Maldives (@EU_Maldives) July 19, 2018
Essential that representatives of Maldivian political parties engage in a genuine dialogue ASAP. #Maldives
The framework is pursuant of conclusions adopted by the Council of the EU, on 26th February, where representatives noted concern over ‘the recent deterioration’ of the situation in the Maldives.
The framework, dated 16th July, notes that the Council remains deeply concerned about the ‘g deterioration of the rule of law and human rights in the Maldives, in particular in the run-up to the presidential elections’.
The framework aims to freeze all funds belonging to, owned, held or controlled by said human rights abusers in the country, with an annex noting a list of such indivuals and to prevent their entry into and transit through European territories.
In February, Perseus Strategies LLC, known for its human rights projects, called on the Council of the European Union (EU) ‘human rights-based sanctions and travel bans’.
Perseus described the Maldives as a ‘regional and global threat’ and directly said that the Maldivian government is guilty of manipulation and ‘undercutting of the democratic process’.
The report identifies four points of human rights abuse that have occurred in the Maldives in the past four years:
- Enforced Disappearances
- Arbitrary Arrest and Detention
- Torture and Other Cruel Treatment or Punishment
- The Death Penalty (Maldives Ending its Moratorium)
- Restrictions on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms
- Culture of Impunity (Selective Prosecution/Abusers Defended)
- Interference with 'Rule of Law' in the Maldives
Perseus Strategies also said that the Maldivian government poses a credible threat to the European Union and its foreign policy interests due to Maldives' inability to curb extremist ideologies, human rights abuses and undermining democracy, and being unstable while remainig geopolitically significant.
