UN Human Rights Council 46: UK statement for the Universal Periodic Review Adoption – Republic of Maldives

Thank You, Madam President,

The United Kingdom welcomes Maldives’ engagement with the UPR, and recognises the progress made since the 2015 review. We commend recent developments, particularly in the field of consolidating democracy, improving governance and promoting respect for human rights. We encourage Maldives to continue this work, and hope that the ongoing judicial reforms will lead to greater access to justice and to effective prosecutions.

The UK is pleased that the Maldives supports our recommendation to strengthen existing national legislation to ensure all modern slavery crimes are fully criminalised in line with international conventions. We believe this is an important step to safeguard the most vulnerable, and we hope changes to legislation will be implemented as soon as possible.

We also welcome Maldives’ support of our recommendation to expand and protect space for civil society organisations to operate. Freedom to discuss social issues of all kinds is important to promote inclusive and cohesive communities.

The UK welcomes the Maldives’ robust, open and merit-based process when selecting national candidates for UN treaty body elections. We continue to advocate strengthening the quality, independence and diversity of Treaty Body membership to all States.

Thank you.