15. Frequent media reports about infanticide and abandonment of infants, plus prevalence of illegal and unsafe abortions indicate that sexual relations among adolescents and unmarried adults are common.18 19 Access to contraceptives and contraceptive information is limited to married couples to a certain degree in atolls. Furthermore, age appropriate sex education is not provided in schools and parents are not aware of the importance of such education.20 HIV/AIDS 16. The health system is not ready to address a potential HIV outbreak as it lacks prevention programs and specialized care for population groups at risk. HPA mandated with HIV/AIDS prevention/control is not adequately funded and lacks capacity to lay down such a system. There are no prevention services for high risk groups, increasing the risk of spreading HIV.2122 High risk factors including sharing of needles to inject drugs, high sexual activity among adolescents and youth could contribute to an increased prevalence of HIV/AIDS.23It is alarming that there is no screening system for HIV/AIDS and STI in the prison system; considering some of the identified HIV patients go in and out of prison as repeated offenders.24 Strengthen existing healthcare system to address current problems in the health services especially emphasizing life‐threatening illnesses and incidents. Take necessary actions to address HIV/AIDS related human rights issues, including prevention for high risk groups. Child Rights 17. Children born out of wedlock face discrimination. Paternity testing is not admissible evidence in court and such a child would be denied father’s name, inheritance and child maintenance. Violence against children takes place in all settings. Only a small proportion of reported child abuse victims get justice, and remain re‐victimized due to systemic failures. Most prevalent challenges include delays in obtaining evidence and overly strict evidentiary requirements.25 The legal age of consent, along with societal attitudes to treat child abuse as private matter or to force child abuse victim to deny testimony in court to protect family honor as perpetrator is usually a family member providing financial support are factors that cannot be disregarded.26 Moreover, state has fallen short to publish child sexual offender‘s registry. Additionally, overall functioning of victim support system is effected due to a weak child protection system that is under resourced, with inconsistencies in capacity and coordination. Family Act allows marriage of minors under specific conditions. There are reports of registration of child marriages without counsel of MLG as Shari’ah is basis for defining marriage practices.27 18. There are many reasons as to why youth join gangs which include in search of identity and protection while unemployment remains as a major driving factor.28 The political and business elites exploit gangs in exchange for financing.29 With criminal records or inability to exit gang life makes it difficult for youth to find employment, rehabilitation opportunities and remain stigmatized by society.30 Depending on the nature of crime, implementation of the sentence for a minor can be delayed for a set period of time or until they reach 18 years, on condition of substantial changes in behavior.31 Although, human resource, rehabilitation and support programs remain limited for proper functioning of a juvenile justice system; the lack of political will along with resource constraints impacts addressing these issues. 19. Despite existence of a longstanding moratorium, a regulation on procedures for death penalty was recently introduced and its enforcement for minors is delayed until 18 years of age. The age of criminal responsibility is 15 years and minors can be held for Hadd offences. Bills such as Criminal Procedure Code, Evidence Bill and Witness Protection needs to be enacted and state is yet to establish an independent forensic institution to provide accurate information to make an impartial decision on matters concerning administration of death penalty.32 6 Human Rights Commission of the Maldives – UPR submission 2014