The second amendment to the Maldives Anti-Human Trafficking Act has been ratified.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ratified the second amendment to the act, (Act no. 12/2013) on Wednesday.

Passed by the People’s Majlis on 14 April at its 29th sitting of the first session of the ongoing year, the amended legislation has now been publicized in the government gazette.

As per the amendment to Article 12 of the act, conspiring to traffic a person or a child, giving orders to do so and altering travel documents of a person being trafficked will be criminalized.

Further, it mandates the state to seize funds and assets that may be linked to trafficking.

The new amendment to Article 12 of the act defines actions that constitute as trafficking of a person and the one to Article 14 concerns trafficking of children.

Following the ratification, transporting a child to Maldives with the intent of exploiting them, or transporting a child out of the country with the same intent, will be considered trafficking.

The legislation highlights that moving a child within Maldives and recruiting them to a workforce while under a guardianship would also be considered as an act of trafficking.