UN committee to review Maldives' torture record

The United Nation’s Committee against Torture is to review the Maldives torture record for the first time in history.

The committee is to meet in Geneva from November 12 to December 7, and will review the torture records of Maldives, Canada, Guatemala, Netherlands, Peru and Vietnam.

According to the UN Human Rights Council, the six countries “are among the 165 State parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and so are required to undergo regular reviews on how they are implementing the Convention and the Committee’s previous recommendations”.

The UN Committee against Torture will review Maldives’ situation on November 27 and 28.

The committee comprises of 10 members “who are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties”.

While the government of Maldives had ratified the UN Convention against Torture in April 2004, Maldives Democracy Network (MDN)- who submitted a shadow report to the Committee last month- noted that the government had submitted its initial report - under Article 19 of the Convention- in October 2017.

However, MDN noted that the government “should have submitted its initial report in 2005 after ratifying UNCAT (United Nations Convention against Torture) in 2004”.

While the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) submitted a report to the Committee in October 2018, it noted that the delay was due to state institution’s failure to provide the required details on time. It further noted that the Anti-Torture Act was enacted in 2013.