Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in the Maldives.

We are concerned by a number of recent steps taken by the Maldivian government which undermine human rights in the country. These include; signs that the death penalty is to be reintroduced, restrictions on the right to protest and the intimidation of civil society, human rights organisations and members of the media. Other concerns include the arbitrary detention of political figures and the decreasing independence of institutions and the judiciary. I raised all of these issues with the Maldives government during my visit to the Maldives on 17 and 18 January. In particular I reiterated the UK’s principled opposition to the death penalty.