Child sexual abuse cases concluded after "counseling" offenders: report
The report was based on findings by the parliament's committee on human rights and gender
From a protest held following reports of a toddler being raped by family members
The parliamentary inquiry report shows that a some of child sexual abuse offenders were released by the Maldives Police Service, “after counseling.”
The report was based on findings by the committee on human rights and gender, and stressed that the police’s decision to file such cases after counseling is a failure to protect children.
Highlighting that this allows the offenders to prey on more children, the report said that “this is of concern.”
The committee’s report further notes that the police failed to investigate such cases involving children, and that there is “long delay” in the investigations.
As such, it said that investigations of 70.46 percent of the cases filed within the past 15 years concluded after over a year while 31.46 percent of the cases sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office was sent back “due to incomplete investigation.”
Further noting the lack of an appropriate investigation system at the police leads to a delay in prosecution, the report highlighted this is an obstruction in providing justice for the victims.
It also revealed that the relevant institution had failed to add child sexual abuse cases to the Maldives Child Protection Database, adding that “this makes it difficult to monitor” these cases.
Gender Minister Shidhatha Shareef was forced to resign last week, after calls for her resignation over the increased number of child sexual abuse cases.
A series of protests calling for Shidhatha’s removal were held across the nation after a case of a toddler being raped by her grandfather and great-grandfather emerged this January. Police said that one of the men had prior cases, but was not in custody “considering his age.” The latest case, where an emergency motion was submitted to Majlis last week, is that of Ahmed Hishan, or the gender ministry’s “honourary disability ambassador” who was dismissed earlier this month.
While Hishan was appointed in December 2019, court documents from 2018 prove that a report compiled by the gender ministry highlighted the child sexual abuse allegations against him.
