Family environment and alternative care parental guidance(Article 5 ), separation from parents (Article 9), parental responsibilities; state assistance (Article 18) 21. The divorce rate remains high and has seen a further increase in this reporting period. In 2008 for every 100 marriages, there were 42 divorces recorded and this figure rose to 59 in 2013, which shows an increase of 41 percent.36Maldives being a Muslim country, matters relating to family and marriage law are based on Shari’ah Law. Therefore, a woman after a third consecutive divorce from her husband is permitted to marry her ex‐husband only after another man contracted marriage and divorced her. Paragraph 121 of the state report states that “it is often the third divorce that marks the final breakdown of the marriage”. Although this is a contributing factor that would increase the divorce rate, there has been no research undertaken to understand the reasons for increase in divorce rate.Anecdotal evidence suggests that mutual misunderstanding, financial problems, domestic violence and extramarital affairs as factors that contribute to marital problems or divorce.37 22. The enforcement of Family Act (4/2000) made divorce without approval and outside court (i.e. verbal declaration of divorce by husband) an offence that would incur a fine not exceeding MVR5000 (US $324). Meanwhile, recent data does not show an optimistic result, as out of court divorce increased by 40 percent, and divorce petitions by wife increased by 22 percent from 2008 to 2013.38 23. On an average 539 cases of divorce per year concluded in reconciliation which also shows a 31 percent decrease in divorces that concluded in reconciliation from 2008 to 2013.39 It is observed that not all domestic issues faced by couples are brought to the attention of public authorities, thus cases that does get lodged could be a reflection of the severity of cases. For example Maldives Police Service (MPS) looked into an average of 67 cases per year related to dispute between couples.40 Most women remain concerned about high divorce rate with limited counseling services for problems with spouse or family.41 Generally few seek counseling services for marital problems.42 24. The instability of the family impacts mental wellbeing of children, and children from broken families remain vulnerable; face neglect, or show deviant behavior. Most gang members are not children (most are under the age of 25) many first joined while they were in school.43A number of them joined gangs when their parents divorced or after death of a parent.44 Recorded data shows that a 35 percent of average juvenile offenders came from broken homes.45 25. Demographic Health Survey (DHS) published in 2009 showed that 71 percent of children under the age of 18 lived with both their parents.46 DHS report also stated that 6 percent of children do not live with biological parents, out of which most children belong to the age group of 15 – 17 years (15 percent). As mentioned in the paragraph 121 of state report, this shows children living with parents despite the high divorced rate. Discourse on impact of divorce or disputes amongst couples that affect children needs to be generated and highlighted as it impacts the quality of parenting. 26. The custody of the child is retained with the mother or in few cases with the person to whom custody is entrusted, until the child completes age of 7 years, after which the person whom custody is entrusted can apply for an extension and court has discretion to grant custody of female child till 11 years of age and male child till 9 years of age.47 Where the court has ruled otherwise, the child Page 8 of 39