2. Women displayed increased confidence with their human rights
awareness with 60.5% reporting moderate awareness, compared to
46.6% of men. There was no significant difference in the findings to the
2011 report.
3. Only 36.5% of respondents were able to name five human rights,
suggesting a decline from 45.1% in 2011
4. A significant positive change is in the decrease of the number of people
who could not name any human rights (44.5% in 2011 compared to
15.4% in 2019).
5. More women (38.9%) were able to identify five human rights compared
to men (32.0%) mirroring the greater awareness of human rights
reported by women in the previous query.
6. The respondents believed that rights of the child were the most
important from a provided list of twenty-one human rights. This is a
considerable departure from previous findings of 2011 where the right
to access education was cited as paramount.
7. Women’s right to equality was identified as the second most important
human right at 10.9%, with the right to education and right to adequate
healthcare trailing closely at 10.5% and 10.1% respectively. In 2011,
freedom of expression was ranked as the most important human right,
with the right to education in second place.
Democratic Reform
1. People overwhelmingly asserted (85.7%) the importance of knowing
about the rights and freedoms guaranteed under second chapter of the
constitution. This view holds merit across the gender, geography and
nature of local island/atoll/municipal administration without significant
variation.
2. A marked improvement of 20.2% (up from 11.2% in 2011) of the
respondents reported having read the Chapter II: Fundamental Rights
and Freedoms of the Constitution.
3. More men (23%) than women (18%) reported having read the
constitutional chapter on rights.
4. 77.6% of the respondents supported an initiative for the government to
provide copies of the constitution to every household in the country.
5. No significant difference was observed between respondents who
thought the democratic process was successful (31.o %) and those who
thought it was not (30.0%). 18% of respondents believe the democratic
process has been successful to some extent.
6. Men were noted to be slightly more satisfied (38.0%) with democratic
and political reform than women (28.1%)
7. Corruption (21.0%) and lack of trust between political parties (20.0%)
were considered the leading factors undermining the success of the
democratic process.
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