Advocating the Rights of Children (ARC) has today briefed UN Member States and international Civil Society Organizations on the recommendations it submitted to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Maldives. The recommendations, focusing exclusively on the rights of the child, were made in view of improving present realities and challenges at the grass roots level, and if accepted by the State under review, would have a significant impact on the rights of the child.
The Universal Periodic Review is a mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which monitors the situation of human rights in all 193 members of the United Nations once in every five years. The review puts forward recommendations from UN members to the state-under-review, with constructive, practical and realistic recommendations to improve the human rights situation on the ground.
The Maldives was first reviewed in November 2010 and accepted a number of recommendations from Member States on child rights. Subsequently, the Maldives submitted its Mid-term Assessment on the progress of implementation of agreed recommendations in July 2013. The Maldives is due to be reviewed under the second cycle of the UPR in May this year, during which countries will make recommendations to the State to improve its record on human rights.
The pre-session briefing held in Geneva today, was organized by UPR Info and conveyed information to other Member States on the current situation of human rights in the Maldives. The recommendations made by ARC were from the two submissions to the UN in September last year; an individual submission by ARC and a joint submission on behalf of Child Advocacy Network of Disability Organizations (CAN DO). The submissions provide an in-depth analysis into the challenges and gaps in the country’s child protection system, as well as progress on the implementation of Maldives’ own commitments to improve child rights in the country.
At the sidelines of the briefing in Geneva, ARC also met with a number of delegations and NGOs to provide updates on the situation of child rights in the Maldives. ARC was represented at the briefing by Mr. Javed Faizal, Director and Mr. Muruthala Moosa, Advocacy and Outreach Manager.
ARC extends sincere gratitude to Seagull Group Pvt Ltd for their generosity in sponsoring the travel to Geneva by representatives of the organization.