From sunrise to sunset: Maldives backtracking on democracy

Abstract

Since 2008, the Republic of Maldives has gone through considerable constitutional changes, ending a period of 30 years of authoritarian rule by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. While his regime had been challenged from the early 1980s, President Gayoom was eventually forced to introduce a reform process in 2004, which later on led to the enactment of a new constitution in 2008. The latter guaranteed the full separation of powers, as well as the creation of independent institutions to monitor the three branches of power and safeguard human rights. Following Mohamed Nasheed’s democratic election in 2008, a full range of fundamental rights was promoted, and human rights abuses reduced drastically. However, there was also a substantial lack of progress in some fields. Most importantly, Mohamed Nasheed did not take any steps to investigate human rights abuses that occurred prior to 2008, thereby creating a culture of impunity for perpetrators of past human rights violations. Besides, due to poisonous party politics, the reform process was brought to a standstill several times. At the occasion of the 2009 parliamentary elections, less than a year after the presidential elections, the ruling party - the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) - was unable to secure a majority. A number of important legislations, including the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Civil Procedure Code, the Evidence Act, and the legislation on the right to peaceful assembly therefore remained pending. Despite commendable attempts by various institutions to act independently, all suffered from political polarization, often resulting in conflict of interest and inertia. Despite constitutional changes, the different sections of the judiciary failed to become fully independent. Tensions culminated when Mohamed Nasheed ordered on 16th January 2012 the arrest of Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed. On 6th February, a police mutiny sided with the opposition and on 7th February, Mohamed Nasheed resigned. The Vice-President, Mohamed Waheed, took on the responsibilities of President, which the MDP immediately labelled as a coup. President Waheed rejected international calls for early elections saying it was neither practical nor constitutional and, instead, established a Commission of National Inquiry to “explore the facts, circumstances and causes of the events of 7th February 2012 that resulted in the transfer of power in the Maldives”. The Commission’s report was made public on 30th August, concluding that the change of President of 7th February was legal and constitutional. However, more than six months after taking over power, the coalition government of Mohamed Waheed has been accused of a wide range of human rights violations, from violent repression of street protests, arbitrary arrests, sexual harassment of female protestors, torture and harassment of pro-opposition media, to legal and physical harassment of members of the opposition. The authorities have also failed to investigate crimes on an impartial basis. Despite all the evidence available, the investigation for the attempted murder of human rights defender Hilath Rasheed on 4th June 2012, has been stalled.