Maldives: Legal Systems

(asked on 27th January 2016) - View Source

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 independence of the legal system in the Maldives.


Answered by
Lord Swire Portrait
Lord Swire
This question was answered on 3rd February 2016

We are concerned about the erosion of judicial independence in the Maldives. A 2013 UN report by the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers raised serious questions about the impartiality of judges, the fact that many interventions by courts were arbitrary and that due process was not being followed. We do not believe that the situation has improved since. I raised the issue of judicial independence when I met key members of the Maldives government, including President Yameen, during my visit to the Maldives on 17 and 18 January.

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