COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONSIDERS REPORTS OF THE MALDIVES

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today considered the second and third periodic reports of the Maldives on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Aishath Mohamed Didi, Minister of Gender and the Family of the Maldives, introducing the reports, said the Maldives was proud to report its achievements for its children. The Maldives had constantly put in special measures to reduce maternal mortality and infant mortality. Since ratifying the Convention, the Maldives had struggled to provide adequate services for children in need of protection, despite legislation stipulating that such services were basic rights. The main reasons were difficulties in making the services accessible to children, due to the geographical dispersion of communities, and the limited financial, institutional and human resources. The Maldives today was going through a period of major political reform and democratic transition targeted to strengthen democratic governance and human rights protection. Efforts to incorporate the Convention into Maldivian domestic legislation were underway. Numerous projects were being undertaken and had been planned for the future and the challenges that the Government was dealing with.

In preliminary concluding remarks, Kamal Siddiqui, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the reports of the Maldives, said the discussion had been highly constructive and fruitful. The dialogue was meant to take an objective view as to what was actually happening, in order to come up with recommendations for the State party. He hoped that in the process a positive handle would be provided for those in the Government and civil society who wished to fully implement the Convention. There was no doubt that the Maldives had come a long way in this regard, as the delegation had said, but it was clear that many challenges remained to be overcome.

Among issues raised by the Committee Experts were that of potential conflicts with secular law and Sharia law; whether there was work to promote religious tolerance; whether the new Judicial Bill would address the issue of some child sexual offenders getting off scot-free and ensure that none were pardoned under any circumstances; the problem that the Maldives was surrounded by countries which were an imminent danger with regards to, among others, organised child sex rings and sex tourism, and what the Maldives was doing to protect its culture in this regard and how it was encouraging children to report when they were in danger; whether alternative care resources outlawed corporal punishment; why school attendance was not compulsory and what was being done to hasten the adoption of a law making it so; what was being done to train teachers in new methods of teaching and learning and making lessons more interactive; and what provisions were in existence for minors who had committed serious offences, including courts and detention facilities.

Members of the delegation of the Maldives included representatives of the Ministries of Education, Health, Home Affairs, and Justice, as well as the Attorney General’s Office, the Maldives Human Rights Commission, and the Permanent Mission of the Maldives to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of the Maldives towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 8 June 2007.

As one of the 193 States parties to the Convention, the Maldives is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty. The delegation was on hand throughout the day to present the reports and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.

When the Committee reconvenes on Thursday, 24 May, at 10 a.m., it will consider the second periodic report of Uruguay (CRC/C/URY/2).

Report of the Maldives

The second and third periodic reports of the Maldives are presented in one document (CRC/C/MAL/3), which covers the period since the initial report (1996-2006) and was prepared under the auspices of the Government of the Maldives by the Ministry of Gender and Family in cooperation with a high-level, multi-sectoral Steering Committee comprising of relevant ministries and departments, non-governmental organizations and UNICEF. The document attempts to provide a more comprehensive and detailed view of the initiatives undertaken by the Government of the Maldives to implement the Convention and difficulties encountered. The Government of the Maldives, in an effort to further the implementation of the rights of the child guaranteed in the Convention, has adopted several measures, including a National Plan of Action (2001-2010), towards enhancing the well being of the Maldivian children. The Government is also undergoing revision of several laws relating to children.

Notable progress has been made in the health and education sectors towards the enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Convention. However, a significant limitation to fulfilling the obligations under the Convention is the limited capacity and human resources constraints faced by the Government. The lack of trained professionals working on children’s issues, particularly on children’s rights, poses a challenge when trying to translate the Convention to policies and programmes. Despite the constraints, some progress has been made in the period covered by the report. Legislation to protect and promote the rights of children is also an area which needs further attention as poor legislation or lack of legislation can be a major impediment in the fulfilment of the obligations under the Convention.

There are a growing number of social challenges facing the Maldives today which will need to be addressed in any measure taken to implement the Convention. Young Maldivians are growing up in a steadily more prosperous and developed country, but at the same time face rising youth unemployment and a rapidly growing drug addiction problem. The Government of the Maldives in its “Vision 2020” has planned to establish a minimum standard of 10 years of formal schooling throughout the country. Progressively taking up steps to reduce the gender inequities and to promote child rights will be another area of action. Plans include the establishment of a countrywide child protection system, reviewing and strengthening existing legislation relating to child rights, strengthening state care facilities and services and protecting the rights of children with special needs. The Cabinet has also recently recommended the reorganization of the administrative framework of the Ministry of Gender and Family, and has established the Family and Child Protection Authority.

Introduction of Report

AISHATH MOHAMED DIDI, Minister of Gender and Family of the Maldives, introducing the reports, said regular reporting of the progress on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Maldives had not taken place satisfactorily during the past 10 years, but this was not because the Maldives disregarded the importance of the implementation of the Convention or the importance for the enjoyment of children’s rights. Nonetheless, the importance given to protecting the rights of the child was evident in its actions. Much of the services for children had been delivered according to tradition with good will and common sense, which resulted in adequate systems and mechanisms not being established, and the rights of the child not being delivered in a holistic, systematic manner. The lack of a monitoring mechanism hampered the process of monitoring the implementation of the Convention, and reporting to the Committee. With exposure to rights-oriented trainings and educational opportunities, a change in mindset had taken place, resulting in an environment that promoted aligning of national standards for human rights with international instruments.

The Maldives was proud to report its achievements for its children. Wherever children lived, a primary school existed, hence access to primary education was not an issue. The Maldives had constantly put in special measures to reduce maternal mortality and infant mortality. Since ratifying the Convention, the Maldives had struggled to provide adequate services for children in need of protection, despite legislation stipulating that such services were basic rights. The main reasons were difficulties in making the services accessible to children, due to the geographical dispersion of communities, and the limited financial, institutional and human resources. The Maldives today was going through a period of major political reform and democratic transition targeted to strengthen democratic governance and human rights protection. Efforts to incorporate the Convention into Maldivian domestic legislation were underway. Further, a holistic system of juvenile justice was being mapped out by means of a Juvenile Justice Bill which was now being drafted.

With regards to institutionalising the monitoring and implementation of the Convention, the Government had put in place a specialised division in the Ministry of Gender and Family. The Minister said that since the restructuring of the Ministry, a paradigm shift in child protection had occurred from working with children to working with families at risk so as to safeguard children. Very little effort had been put to familiarise children with the Convention; a culture of involving children in implementing and monitoring their rights was yet to be established. The area of disabilities happened to be one of the weakest areas of implementation. Prevalent drug misuse among young people and the misuse of children in politically-motivated violence were major issues the Government had to grapple with. Numerous projects were being undertaken and had been planned for the future and the challenges that the Government was dealing with. The Minister recognised that there was much more to do, and sought the learned opinion of the Committee, Ms. Didi concluded.

Questions by Experts

Kamal Siddiqui, Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of the Maldives, said the Maldives was the inheritor of a rich civilisation, and had made tremendous progress over last years. But for the recent tsunami, its progress would have been even greater. It had also made substantive headway in democratic governance since independence. Social progress could be summed up by the fact that among the countries of South-East Asia, it was the State that had made the best progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. However, the tsunami and the rise of the sea were tremendous obstacles.

With regards to the report, Mr. Siddiqui said a number of previous recommendations had not been sufficiently addressed, and asked for the reasons for the mixed outcome, as well as for a timeframe for the full implementation of these recommendations. There was no Constitutional bar to withdrawing the reservations of the Maldives to various articles of the Convention. The adoption of the National Plan of Action for the Well-Being of the Maldivian Child was welcomed, but the Expert asked whether sufficient resources had been allocated to its implementation, and whether civil society was being involved in this.

There were three bodies for coordination and implementation of the Convention, and reports suggested these were being starved of resources, and he asked for a comment on this. Mr. Siddiqui was happy to note that efforts were being made to disseminate information on the Convention, but this was not systematic or targeted, and most parents, care-givers, teachers and children were not aware of the contents of the Convention. Except for the extension of the age of the child from 16 to 18, there had been no amendments to the law on the protection of the child, and domestic laws on this matter remained far from that of the Convention.

Nevena Vuckovic-Sahovic, Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of the Maldives, said she had undertaken an in-depth study into the situation of the Maldives, and among things that had struck her was the high level of divorce. Since the last report had been submitted, it appeared that there had been a significant change with regards to the development of civil society. The latter appeared to have been developing, and the report acknowledged involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the drafting of the report, however, it was unclear to what extent and at what stage of the drafting of the report. There did not appear to be very many child rights organizations. Civil society would be needed to provide services for the Government, and the latter should encourage it, facilitating registration of NGOs, including children’s organizations. The inclusion of the concept of child participation should be encouraged within society, including with parents, Ms. Vukovich said.

Other Experts raised a wide range of issues, including, among other things, whether the Convention was directly applicable by the Courts and whether legal authorities were aware of the Convention and its contents sufficiently to apply its norms; issues related to potential conflicts with secular law and Sharia law; whether there was work to promote religious tolerance; the need to raise the age for the end of compulsory schooling; whether the new Judicial Bill would address the issue of some child sexual offenders getting off scot-free and ensure that none were pardoned under any circumstances; whether the current democratic process would allow amendment for the Constitution which stipulated that all Maldivians were Muslims; issues related to adoption in particular with regards to kafala; the need to avoid stigmatising children born out of wedlock with regards to their family name; and whether there were any plans to address issues related to unwanted pregnancies.

Response by Delegation

AISHATH MOHAMED DIDI, Minister of Gender and Family of the Maldives, responding to these questions and others, said some members of the Committee had been misinformed. The age of the child in the Maldives was 18, and not 16, and this had been the case since 2002. Grade 10 was the end of compulsory education, and this was at the age of 16, not at 10 or 12. With regards to pardoning sexual offenders, this was an issue which the Ministry was strongly advocating to be changed. The traditional punishment for sexual offenders had been banishment, and the Government had strongly advocated to change this, and jail them instead.

The delegation said the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had never been very strong in the Maldives, but in the creation of the report they had been involved, and given as much time as necessary. This included brand-new NGOs, and the Government had consistently been working with the care society as key partners in the protection of the child. With regards to the reporting of children in the media, work had been done with the Ministry of Information and the media in order to create responsible guidelines in this area, mainly taken from the UNICEF guidelines on this topic.

Child participation was an area in which work needed to be increased, the delegation said, but so much work had taken place in this area that it was difficult to distinguish good practices. It was in the area of education and schooling that most of the child participation was taking place. A Children’s Forum would be established this year to prepare for the National Child Conference, so children would be able to participate truly. There had been a lot of training of professionals involved in helping children who had been sexually abused and exploited. The Government responded rapidly to allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation in the home and in schools, and had been working on strengthening legislation on this topic. A victim of sexual abuse was not criminalized, but there was a grey area with regards to sexual abuse and sexual misconduct, and the Government was working to clarify this, in particular with regards to the age of sexual consent. Sexual misbehaviour carried a legal sentence, and a revised Penal Code which had been proposed said that any child under the age of 18 could not consent to sexual behaviour. The police and other investigators had been specifically trained on how to investigate sexual offenders with regards to children. The proposed Penal Code contained harsh punishments for sexual offenders, noting aggravating factors.

The Maldives had made two reservations to the Convention, and the Government had committed to removing that on article 21, noting that there was no legal impediment to this, the delegation said. On the participation in the ILO, the Maldives was hopeful that it would be able to as of this year, and would be able to ratify its Conventions. The Maldives was a dualistic State - it had to integrate the Convention into national legislation for it to be applied directly. Some provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child had been incorporated into the Child Protection Act, but the delegation acknowledged that this was insufficient. The Maldives was seeking help from other international organizations in this regard, so that it would have comprehensive legislation including the provisions of the Conventions to which it had acceded. On the Human Rights Commission, this had had a rocky start, but the Paris Principles were now incorporated, other than that on religion. Children could directly complain or appeal to the Commission.

On the formation of associations and the development of civil society, there were a large number of associations and NGOs that were registered, although few of these worked for the benefit of children. The Government intended to submit a bill on civil society to the Parliament, and amend the need for registration of civil society organizations. A project aimed to include civil society further in Government decision-making, the delegation said. On the issue of the right to form associations by children, the Parliament Secretariat had a Children’s Parliament every year. There was no rule that children could not participate in NGOs. The age of conscription to the police force and the armed forces was 18. There had been very few reported cases of infanticide since 2005, and the Government was working on those that had been reported. The issue of pardons had been institutionalised, with published regulations and a systematised process. On non-Muslim prisoners and the freedom to practise religion in prisons, the issue had been taken on board, and work was being done to be able to respond to prisoners’ religious requirements if necessary.

With regards to the issue of children not being allowed to participate in political parties, the delegation said that political parties were a recent development, and there were no firmly established guidelines on these rights and responsibilities. Current regulations prohibited those under 18 from participating in political activities. The Ministry of Education required assistance as to how to involve children in the political process and the freedom of expression. Non-Muslim students attended schools, and were not obliged to study religious subjects. There was an emerging trend of parents discouraging girls from attending school - however, these were very few cases, and the Ministry of Education was working directly with these families and with religious scholars to advocate education. Until now, all children who had stopped attending school on these grounds had returned to full-time education. The Ministry was also working to allow schools to recognise the positive contribution that children could make to their management.

On marriages, the legal age was 18, but there was unfortunately a provision in the law that said that under extraordinary circumstances, a child over 16 could get married, the delegation said. In 2005, a mechanism had been set up whereby the marriages of children between 16 and 18 could only be solemnised after evaluation by the Ministry of Gender and Family, and after review by the National Council for the Protection of Children. Four marriages had been solemnised over the last two years, mainly in cases where the bride had children out of wedlock. Marriages were legally recognised when they were registered in court. The court recognised the legal birth of children who were born to marriages that had not been registered, and they were given all legal rights as those for a child born in a registered marriage. There were two types of divorce - those in and those outside of courts. If it was the former, then the man was fined. Divorce rates were increasing, and the Family Law was being revised, incorporating measures to ensure that children and women’s rights would be protected.

The Juvenile Justice Act focused on non-custodial measures. With the help of UNICEF, judges were being trained on the Convention and the new legislation. There had been consultations with stakeholders on this Act, and it was hoped that positive effects would come from it. With regards to the Budget, there was no involvement of civil society. There had been a 300 per cent increase for the child protection budget since 2005. On the coordination of the implementation of the Convention, this was currently a challenge, but there were some very good practices, such as child registration. Every child was vaccinated. There were child protection committees on every atoll, that would be examining issues related to child rights, but this was a seed that had only been planted last year, and it required further watering.

The Maldives was finding the issue of dealing with different religions and strains of Islam very difficult, the delegation said, as it was not an issue it had had to grapple with before, Ms. Didi said. There were new biases coming into the country with regards to the girl child, and today the Maldives was facing this new challenge, which it had to address. Interpretations of Islam had become politicised.

Further Questions by Experts

In a second round of questions, Mr. Siddiqui, the Rapporteur, said the Committee was pleased to learn of the State party’s efforts to reduce poverty, and that it was in the process of developing a safety net programme to deal with the needs of children living in poverty. However, there were reports of disparities between the main islands and the atolls, and the North and South of the country. The delegation should explain how it intended to deal with these problems.

Ms. Vukovich-Sahovic, the co-Rapporteur, said she wished the Government full success in its work. With regards to family issues, the NGO report had noted a drop in divorces after the enactment of the Family Law, but this had then increased again. She believed this had increased due to the mechanisms for implementation, and its amendment. Sometimes, a divorce was better for children. There was a problem with regards to the absence of joint responsibilities, and she asked whether the Family Law incorporated joint custody for parents, and if the Government was considering incorporating this principle, as parents should have joint responsibility. From the point of view of the Convention, all children were legal. Did the Family Law contain a definition of family, she asked.

Other Experts raised a wide range of issues, including, among others, the problem that the Maldives was surrounded by countries which were an imminent danger with regards to, among others, organised child sex rings and sex tourism, and what the Maldives was doing to protect its culture in this regard and how it was encouraging children to report when they were in danger; what were national efforts to implement the recommendations contained within the Secretary-General’s report on Violence Against Children in the context of the process of legal reform; what happened in case of an allegation of sexual abuse by a woman or a girl-child and whether the accused was arrested and the victim provided with care; whether alternative care resources outlawed corporal punishment; whether play and recreational facilities for children were available; why school attendance was not compulsory and what was being done to hasten the adoption of a law making it so; what was being done to train teachers in new methods of teaching and learning and making lessons more interactive; whether children’s opinions were given weight in school decision-making; and what provisions were in existence for minors who had committed serious offences, including courts and detention facilities.

Response by Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, Ms. Didi said that as of today, the Maldives would have three female judges. With regards to child participation, the level of this as outlined in the Convention was not happening. Child-centred activities existed, both on television and in schools, but the whole concept of child participation with respect for the views of the child required further examination. Another issue that required further dialogue was the participation of children in political parties. The latter was a very new concept - there had been no political parties before 2005, and the Maldives was still determining what the role of these parties was. Therefore, it was somewhat wary with regards to child participation. At the moment, there was also no Bill on regulation of political parties, there was instead a regulation which stipulated that only those above 21 years of age could be involved in politics. The Maldives would welcome any suggestions as to how to involve children in the political process in a positive manner, the Minister said.

The reports said that the Maldives was going through a constitutional reform process, Ms. Didi said. The Constitutional Assembly had the power to recommend changes, but it was difficult to impose principles such as secularism in a society that was not ready to accept it. The concluding observations of the Committee in 1997 had not been publicised, and this had continued to not happen. However, the observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women had been published in newspapers, and this would continue. On poverty alleviation and the disparity between the atolls, there were indeed disparities, and this was due to the fact that vulnerability of an island was less if the population was above 2,000, as services and investment went more to larger population areas. Another problem was the strength of the monsoons, which made transport between the islands very difficult.

On access to healthcare, the delegation said there were health facilities in a large number of islands, and the Government aimed to provide them wherever the population of the island was above 700, and had reached that target this year. It was also working to expand its outreach services. Maternal mortality had been a challenge, and the rate was still high. The percentage of breast feeding up to six months was low. There were problems with regards to working mothers, although the Government provided for these to return home at lunchtime to breastfeed. Health facilities were provided to children without parental presence - however, if surgery was required, there was a need for signed parental consent. Family planning methods such as condoms were not provided to children, but work was being done on this issue. There was a stigma with regards to tuberculosis, and often the infected went through a stage of denial. Free treatment was given to all who were infected, and there was great concern for the emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis in neighbouring countries.

Drug usage was high, and there were increasing numbers of those injecting, with the concomitant HIV/AIDS risk, the delegation said. Up until now, the majority of HIV/AIDS infections had been due to seamen, but an information programme had contributed to reducing this. Condom use needed to be further promoted, and solutions for drug-users implemented - however, a large part of the population accepted neither of these. There had been criticism of efforts to distribute condoms by non-governmental organizations, and it was clear that the community was not ready for this yet. With regards to premarital sexual health, the community policy and preference was currently only to distribute information to those who were married.

With regards to education, and the issue of play and recreation in schools, the delegation said that from the schools perspective, from 1983, physical education had been a key objective in the national curriculum. However, it was recognised that there were not enough opportunities and facilities for recreation and play, and the Government was very concerned about this. The Government had an objective to have at least one trained physical education teacher per school. It was also working to obtain land for playgrounds, and was retraining teachers in child-friendly strategies, re-equipping and re-structuring classrooms to change the focus from the teacher to the students and to facilitate learning. On the cost of education, it was true that school textbooks and uniforms were paid for by parents, however, there were safety nets in place to ensure that no child was deprived of the opportunity of going to school and being educated simply because the parents could not afford it. There was a range of funds in this regard. There was a plan to provide a school on each atoll with vocational training. There was a shortage of teachers, and 500 teachers were trained per year.

The Government was working on various strategies to ensure the provision of secondary schooling to all groups of children across the country. From the policy perspective, there was a major focus on child-centred teaching, the delegation said. Pre-schooling was currently a community endeavour. Research had shown the Government that it should support this community-based focus, and it was doing so through regulating teacher-training, and with projects to ensure a child-focused approach. Since 1999, a landmark project entitled First Steps Maldives had taken place, Ms. Didi said, and this had examined the psycho-social elements linked to pre-school education, and this had been used as a good practice model. This project had now become policy, and it covered pre-school education and beyond. The Government was reluctant to bring pre-schooling into the fold of Government-managed schooling due to the didactic nature of teaching currently, and was reluctant to use a model that might disturb the positive situation that currently existed.

On incorporating children’s views into school management, this was currently the aim of the Government, however, it called for a major paradigm shift, the delegation said. There were no schools that did not have toilet or sanitary facilities. However, these required a lot of improvement in some schools. Some of the toilets were not very child-friendly, but the Government was working on making them so. There were ongoing training programmes for school heads and textbooks writers, and the Government was very much helped by UNICEF in this regard. Initiatives existed to ensure that every child would have access to full schooling by the year 2010. With regards to child protection, and measures to prevent commercial child sexual exploitation, the Child and Family Protection Authority had taken steps towards developing a coherent policy for all stakeholders. UNICEF supported technical assistance in this initiative. This issue would be discussed in depth at the National Child Protection Conference in August. On measures to reduce violence against children, the Maldives was keen to implement those included in the Secretary-General’s study on Violence Against Children. NGOs who worked on protecting children were included in the planning of these projects.

In cases of physical sexual abuse of a child, the police were involved, and a team of medical legal people did an assessment of the child, providing medical care as required. When all other options were exhausted, and only then, would the child be put into care. After investigation by the police, the perpetrator would be taken to court, where a custodial sentence could be imposed. Should the perpetrator be a member of the family, then the Government would be wary of returning them to the family afterwards. The issue was of course very sensitive, Ms. Didi said, and the Government recognised that the best solution was not to remove the child from the family, but to remove the perpetrator instead. However, in the majority of cases, the suspect was arrested, and the child was returned home. It was rare for a child to be removed from the family. The Government was working with the police, the medical community and the social sector to provide legal redress to victims of abuse and neglect, the delegation said. Currently boys were taken into State care if there was no possibility for them to be taken into kinship care. Children who turned 10 whilst in children’s homes were not forced to leave that home. There was provision for children to lodge complaints with the Child Protection Authority. There was an intention to upgrade training for child protection staff every year.

There was an increasing number of children and young people using drugs, the delegation said, and the Government was under-resourced in this area, both with regards to funds and resources. The Government had decided it needed to tackle the issue more strategically, and would be lobbying for more stakeholder participation. A child impact assessment was being carried out to note discrepancies and to harmonise policies, including with United Nations requirements and Conventions. On mechanisms for family law, at the time that it was codified, the fining that had been put in place for divorcing outside the courts had been seen at the time as a deterrent, however, it no longer served this purpose. Joint responsibility for children existed, and both custody and maintenance could be joint. The age of criminal responsibility was currently 10, but no child under 12 had ever been convicted in a court. There was a bill which incorporated a provision to change criminal responsibility to the age of 14 currently before Parliament.

The Juvenile Justice Unit would collaborate with all Governmental agencies and facilitate the situation for children, the delegation said. There was no corporal punishment for children and no punishment that could harm the child or be detrimental to its health could be given by law. Ms. Didi said that society had changed to the extent that neighbours would report to the police if a child was being beaten. However, corporal punishment did still occur. With regards to children bearing children born out of wedlock, Sharia punished this by flogging, and the Government had managed to remove this so that no child was beaten. In cases where a child was beaten, a prosecution was put in motion, the delegation said, and the perpetrator was punished. In the case of a father with custody beating a child, this custody was removed from him.

No child under the age of 14 was allowed to work, and the proposed Bill currently before the Parliament raised this to the age of 18, except for educational purposes and with the consent of the parents, when children could be employed from the age of 16, under certain conditions.

Concluding Remarks

KAMAL SIDDIQUI, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the reports of the Maldives, in preliminary concluding remarks, said the discussion had been highly constructive and fruitful. He would not summarise the discussion, as that was not possible. He wished to compliment the delegation for taking an open, frank, and self-critical approach, as this had made the discussion so rich. The dialogue was meant to take an objective view as to what was actually happening, in order to come up with recommendations for the State party. He hoped that in the process a positive handle would be provided for those in the Government and civil society who wished to fully implement the Convention. There was no doubt that the Maldives had come a long way in this regard, as the delegation had said, but it was clear that many challenges remained to be overcome.