Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues in relation to the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Maldives *

1.The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, of 10,700 words maximum, by 15 June 2025. The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

2.Please provide updated information on measures taken or envisaged to:

(a)Withdraw its reservations to articles 14 (1) and 21 of the Convention;

(b)Strengthen the implementation of legislation related to children’s rights, in particular the Child Rights Protection Act of 2019 and the Juvenile Justice Act of 2019;

(c)Develop a comprehensive policy on children’s rights covering all areas of the Convention and the Optional Protocols and ensure that the new National Development Plan includes children’s rights;

(d)Appoint new members of the Council for Protecting the Rights of the Child who are specialists in children’s rights.

3.Please explain:

(a)The measures taken to provide coordinated and consistent budget allocations and efficient use of resources for children’s rights, and introduce monitoring and accountability mechanisms for budget spending;

(b)The steps taken to consolidate fragmented data collection and to make data available and accessible to the public and all relevant stakeholders;

(c)The mandates and the division of work between the Children’s Ombudsperson’s Office and the Human Rights Commission of Maldives regarding children’s rights and efforts to ensure their effective execution of their mandates and regarding their independence.

4.Please explain the measures envisaged or taken:

(a)To eliminate discrimination against girls, children with disabilities, children of unmarried parents and children from non-Muslim parents, discrimination based on religion and gender orientation, and discrimination against children with regard to access to services, particularly children with disabilities and children in outer islands;

(b)To address delays in birth registration and remove obstacles in obtaining birth certification and national identification cards for children;

(c)To prevent statelessness of children, particularly when a child is born to a foreign mother;

(d)To ensure access to information for children, including in the digital environment.

5.Please provide updated information on the measures taken:

(a)To explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in all settings and to repeal provisions allowing its use, such as article 44 (a) of the Penal Code;

(b)To address, prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children, including sexual and gender-based violence, abuse, neglect, domestic violence and online abuse;

(c)To improve protection of children against all forms of violence, particularly sexual and gender-based violence;

(d)To strengthen detection, reporting, investigation and judicial intervention in relation to cases of violence against children, particularly sexual and gender-based violence;

(e)To address cases of child marriage and extremist religious views contributing to such practice.

6.Please update the Committee on any steps taken:

(a)To increase the number, accessibility and affordability of childcare facilities;

(b)To strengthen the fostering system;

(c)To address stigma attached to children in alternative care;

(d)To stop frequent relocations of children in alternative care for short periods of time as a form of punishment;

(e)To raise awareness, particularly among religious and community leaders, about kafalah and its benefits.

7.Please specify measures taken to implement policies aimed at protecting children with disabilities, particularly in remote islands, to establish a national registry for children with disabilities, to prevent bullying and violence against them and to strengthen services, access to assistive devices and healthcare.

8.Please update the Committee on the measures taken:

(a)To address disparities in access to basic healthcare, maternal health services and mental healthcare for children in remote islands;

(b)To reduce the rise of non-communicable diseases and address malnutrition and rising obesity due to unhealthy diets and inactivity;

(c)To provide access to sexual and reproductive health services and education, including access to abortion services and counselling for adolescents;

(d)To improve mental health services, including by decentralizing them, and to increase the number of well-trained and qualified mental health professionals working with children;

(e)To address tobacco, alcohol and drug use by children, including through rehabilitation services and awareness-raising activities.

9.Please provide updated information on the measures taken:

(a)To strengthen effective targeting of social protection for children and address child poverty;

(b)To address the adverse effects of climate change, pollution and environmental degradation on the enjoyment of children’s access to clean air and water and other rights and explain how children’s rights are incorporated into national climate strategies and the nationally determined contributions.

10.Please update the Committee on the measures taken:

(a)To strengthen and expand access to inclusive education for children with disabilities, girls, and children in rural areas and remote islands and to improve infrastructure and training of teachers;

(b)To address the low rate of enrolment in secondary schools and the challenge of transition to upper secondary education;

(c)To strengthen vocational training;

(d)To increase the number of early childhood education facilities and of trained educators.

11.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to protect children working in family businesses, and to strengthen the training of and resources for labour inspectors, monitoring, and the prosecution of cases of child labour;

(b)Resources and efforts for the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act of 2019, including the training of professionals, and ensuring that juvenile residential centres are operational and meet safety, security, living and educational standards, and in this regard explain the rationale for the “Hope Island” rehabilitation facility;

(c)Steps taken to increase the use of non-custodial measures, including diversion and rehabilitation;

(d)The rationale for the intentions to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 years of age.

12.Please provide information about the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography – in particular on measures to criminalize all offences under the Optional Protocol, to prevent child prostitution and its links to tourism and drug abuse, and to protect victims of offences described in the Optional Protocol.

13.Please provide information about the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict – in particular with regard to peace education, violent extremism and radicalization, the criminalization of child recruitment, and measures for the identification and the physical and psychological recovery of children who may have been recruited or used in hostilities abroad.

Part II

14.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update, of no more than three pages, on the information set out in its report with regard to the following:

(a)New bills or laws, and their respective regulations;

(b)New institutions and their mandates or institutional reforms;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans and their scope and financing;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

15.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines regarding children and the social sectors, indicating the percentage of each budget line in terms of the total national budget and the gross national product. Please also provide information on the geographical allocation of those resources.

16.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data, for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographical location and socioeconomic status, on the following:

(a)Cases of abuse and violence perpetrated against children, including all forms of corporal punishment, domestic violence, sexual and gender-based violence and abuse, and sexual harassment, and on the investigations and prosecutions and the sentences handed down in the State party in such cases;

(b)Cases of child marriage and the prosecutions and sentences handed down in the State party in such cases;

(c)Children in alternative care;

(d)Children living in poverty;

(e)Adolescent pregnancies;

(f)Substance abuse among children;

(g)Asylum-seeking, refugee, migrant, and unaccompanied children in detention/out of detention;

(h)Children in street situations;

(i)Children who are victims of trafficking, and the investigations and prosecutions conducted for cases of trafficking of children, including information on the sentences handed down to perpetrators and the reparations afforded to victims.

17.Please provide data, for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographical location, regarding the situation of children deprived of a family environment, showing the number of children:

(a)Separated from their families, including data on the duration of the separation;

(b)Placed in institutions and foster care, indicating the number of relocations and the reasons, the specific institution in each case and the overall number of institutions.

18.Please provide data, for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographical location, on the number of children with disabilities who are or have been:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary schools;

(d)Attending regular secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Out of school;

(g)Abandoned by their families.

19.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data, for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, type of offence, ethnic and national origin, geographical location and socioeconomic status, on children alleged as, accused of or recognized as having infringed criminal law who have been:

(a)Arrested;

(b)Referred to diversion programmes;

(c)In pretrial detention;

(d)Serving a sentence in detention, indicating the length of the sentence.

20.Please provide information on how a children’s rights-based approach is integrated into the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including with regard to the participation of children and data collection, and on how those measures promote the realization of children’s rights under the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto.

21.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report that may have become outdated by more recent data collected or other new developments.

22.In addition, the State party may list areas affecting children that it considers to be of priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.