The government of Maldives will continue efforts to instil public confidence in a “just and fair” judicial system in the country, says Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath.

The Maldives AG made this remark in his address at the third review of the Maldives at the Universal Periodic Review held on Wednesday evening. The Maldives delegation that joined the event comprised of the AG, Minister of Gender, Family and Social Services, Aishath Mohamed Didi, Minister of Home Affairs Sheikh Imran Abdulla and Minister of Economic Development, Fayyaz Ismail alongside the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Maldives to the United Nations Office in Geneva Dr. Asim Ahmed and senior officials of the President’s Office, Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During his address at the virtual session, AG Riffath expressed hope to ensure that the values of justice and respect for human rights will be upheld domestically and across the international community, with the support from the UPR Working Group.

AG Riffath noted that the incumbent President, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih assumed office with a pledge to bring “transformative change”, having prioritized planning in line with sustainable development goals.

When the incumbent president was sworn in, he pledged to instil the values of human rights, strengthen democracy and combat climate change, to which the government still remains committed to implement.

Further, the AG assured that the island nation remains committed to the UPR process, adding that the country received a total of 258 recommendations from 102 countries out of which 198 were accepted. In the National Report, Maldives provided progress on the implementation of said 198 recommendations as well.

Highlighting that Maldives will “wholeheartedly” welcome recommendations following the third review, AG Riffath stated that Maldives values that UPR process, where countries are assessed equally.

After this session, 98 countries will be making recommendations on the situation of human rights provision in the island nation, and Maldives will be given a deadline until December 14, to reach a decision on positions on the recommendations received at the Session.

Shedding light on the negative impacts of the ongoing pandemic, AG Riffath assured that the government took into account to minimize the adverse impacts of Covid-19 measures on human rights.

Riffath noted that Maldives remains resolute to comply with human rights obligations, with the assistance from the international community and that

Further, the AG stressed that Maldives experienced unprecedented levels of deterioration of respect for human rights during the former administration. However, Maldives has been able to achieve plenty, in the past two years of Solih’s leadership.

Some of the achievement noted by the AG include the formation of presidential inquiry commissions to investigate suspicious disappearances and murders, corruption within state institutions and abuse of authority, having achieved 83 percent of the government’s 100-day pledges within a specific time frame, important amendments to legislations government independent institutions, inaugurating a zero-tolerance on corruption campaign as well as ratifying core human rights conventions.