FOREWORD The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives has now successfully conducted three comprehensive Human Rights Surveys in the Maldives. The “Rights” Side of Life: A Baseline Human Rights Survey was first conducted in 2005 in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The second baseline Human Rights Survey, Six years on The “Rights” Side of Life, was carried out in 2011 by the HRCM and UNDP. Now, the third continuation, Reflecting 15 years: The “Rights” Side of Life was conducted by the HRCM and Family Protection Authority (FPA) in partnership with UNDP in 2019. The objective of these longitudinal surveys are to determine the extent of awareness among the general public about human rights; their attitudes towards human rights issues; and their awareness of the existence of HRCM, its functions and its effectiveness in performing them. The current study also focused on Domestic Violence to understand the current situation in the country and provide insights on the extent of the additional work required to address any shortcomings. This report highlights human rights concerns that have magnified over the past seven years since the publication of the previous survey Six years on “Rights” Side of Life. These concerns have manifested into serious issues demanding immediate national responses. The support for gender equality has diminished and women’s rights seem to have suffered even more over the years. What is significantly worse is the emergence of a religious extremist narrative that has been used to weaken support for gender equality and women’s rights. The fact that growing concern regarding child sexual abuse has been consistently highlighted in all three surveys, indicates the inadequate response of the State to remedy this issue. We believe that it is vital for the state to effectively address the spreading of religious extremist ideologies and xenophobia. The decline in the approval rate of HRCM in relation to the 2011 findings has to be considered with gravity. This affects the respect for human rights among people in general, perception and faith in the institution and the impact of the current and future work of HRCM. It underlies the findings in this report suggesting that the majority of Maldivians are now aware of HRCM. Similarly, the lack of awareness on the constitutional role and functions of HRCM as an oversight body, should also be a primary concern for the Commission to address. The Commission would like to state that while steps have been taken to address these issues highlighted in this report, there still remains a lot more that needs to be done. It is our hope that with the findings of this survey, we would be able to build upon it to enhance and reinvigorate the specific roles and functions of the HRCM to meet the diverse expectations of the public and to serve the iii