Maldives

Maldives is a group of around 1,200 small islands located in the Indian ocean of which 200 are inhabited with a population of 581,600. The male population is higher at 63 percent compared to women at 37 percent. Population of children between the ages of 0 – 17 is 23 percent. 39 percent of the children in Maldives are Male. Although lower secondary school net enrolment is 90 percent higher secondary school net enrolment is only 45 percent.

Violence against children include child abuse, sexual abuse, online exploitation, bullying, domestic violence and neglect and some children faced gender-based violence (GBV) in their home environments.

Poverty rate is 10 percent in Male while it is much higher at 40 percent in the atolls, hence children sometimes migrate to the capital in search of employment without their parents. 38 percent of women aged 45 to 49, 13 percent between 15 to 49 had undergone Female Genital Mutilation, however the percentage of FGM among girl between the ages of 1 – 14 and 15 – 19 was only 1 percent, indicating that incidents of FGM is declining.

According to the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2016–2017, the birth registration of children under 5 years of age was 98.8 percent. The Maldives has committed to eliminating child marriages by 2030. Maldives is on its way to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by fulfilling essential health and education services.

Islam is the state religion of the Maldives, and most citizens follow Sunni Islam. The country requires its citizens to be Muslim. Propagation of any religion other than Islam is a criminal offense. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs (MIA) continued to maintain control over all matters related to religion and religious belief. A Maldivian woman can marry a non-Muslim only if he converts to Islam.

In November 2019, Maldives passed the new child rights protection act and the new education act in 2020. With these different acts, the enabling environment has been provided and is aligned with the CRC. The Education Act mandates the state to provide education to all children. There are some parents wanting to carry out home-schooling, but the government has standards in place that prevents this. Education indicators are comparatively high in the Maldives. Statistics related to children in conflict with the law indicate that they are school dropouts. The authorities are looking at ways to retain them at school.