Human Trafficking in [Maldives Street Children in [Maldives] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Maldives] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the
first ten years of the 21st Century -
2000 to 2009
The Maldives is primarily a destination country for
migrant workers from Bangladesh and India trafficked into forced labor and,
to a lesser extent, a destination country for women trafficked for the purpose
of commercial sexual exploitation. An unknown number of the 80,000 foreign
workers currently working in the Maldives – primarily in the construction and
service sectors –face fraudulent recruitment practices, confinement,
confiscation of identity and travel documents, debt bondage, or general
slave-like conditions. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report,
June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Maldives. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Human
trafficking in the Maldives? maldivesdissent.blogspot.com/2009/03/human-trafficking-in-maldives.html
The Human Rights Commission of the
Maldives has in its latest report slammed the country's treatment of migrant
workers, warning that the practice of bringing a person in for one job and
making them work on another may amount to human trafficking. Migrant labourers
pay as much as 2,000 US Dollars to agents to get into what they think is the
lucrative Maldives labour force, only to be
hoodwinked into lesser jobs, lesser pay and appalling working conditions.
What is even more disturbing is that it is now almost certain that Maldivian
government officials and employment agents have profited from this
exploitation. But the dispossessed labourers found themselves in a place that couldn't have
been more different to their dreams. Without proper documents they were
unable to report to the police and susceptible to exploitation and extortion
by unscrupulous Maldivians. ***
ARCHIVES *** Bur of
Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2008 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – The law
did not prohibit trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that
persons were trafficked to, from, through, or within the country. SECTION 6
WORKER RIGHTS – [d]
Child labor was a problem in fishing, small commercial activities, and family
enterprises. The Child Protection Unit of the Ministry of Health and Family
was responsible for monitoring compliance with the law. The Ministry of
Health and Family, the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports, and the
Family and Child Protection Unit of Maldives Police Service received
complaints of child labor, conducted inquiries, and initiated legal action
when necessary. The
Protection Project - The Maldives [DOC] www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/maldives.doc GOVERNMENT
RESPONSES – According
to the Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study The underclass: the dark side of labour
migration www.minivannews.com/news_detail.php?id=6143 ROSY
PICTURE - Jeehan says workers are sometimes “given a different
picture and find themselves in a situation for which they weren’t prepared.
Some get on a plane to go to Malaysia and end up in the Maldives.” Most workers, she adds, arrive in the
country with valid work permits but are abandoned by sponsors and have no
other method of renewing their visas. “They don’t purposefully come as
illegal workers,” she says. “It’s fraud and no one
is accountable.” It is not hard to
come by a story of a construction worker, who lured with a promise of a
well-paid job in sunny Maldives, willingly mortgages his house or takes out a
second loan to pay between US$2,000 to US$3,000 to a broker to facilitate his
travel arrangements as well as secure him a lucrative job. Instead, many end up living in cramped
quarters with low wages, if they are paid at all. Some are stranded at the
airport and left to fend for themselves without even their passports in their
possession, says Ajwad Ali, permanent secretary of
the labour ministry. Human
trafficking in the Maldives? maldivesdissent.blogspot.com/2009/03/human-trafficking-in-maldives.html
The Human Rights Commission of the
Maldives has in its latest report slammed the country's treatment of migrant
workers, warning that the practice of bringing a person in for one job and
making them work on another may amount to human trafficking. Migrant labourers
pay as much as 2,000 US Dollars to agents to get into what they think is the
lucrative Maldives labour force, only to be
hoodwinked into lesser jobs, lesser pay and appalling working conditions.
What is even more disturbing is that it is now almost certain that Maldivian
government officials and employment agents have profited from this
exploitation. But the dispossessed labourers found themselves in a place that couldn't have
been more different to their dreams. Without proper documents they were
unable to report to the police and susceptible to exploitation and extortion
by unscrupulous Maldivians. [Click here
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Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
Human Trafficking in [Maldives Street Children in [Maldives] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Maldives] [other countries]