HRCM Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the Maldives, May 2020 (36th session) October 2019 Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) was first established under Presidential Decree on December 10, 2003. On August 18, 2005, the Human Rights Commission Act (6/2006) (hereinafter referred to as the Human Rights Commission Act) was ratified, thereby making HRCM the first independent and autonomous statutory body in the Maldives. The amendments brought to the Human Rights Commission Act in August 2006 broadened the mandate and powers of the HRCM, making it compliant with the Paris Principles. With the ratification of the Constitution of the Republic of the Maldives (hereinafter referred to as Constitution) in August 2008, the HRCM was made an independent and autonomous constitutional body. The HRCM currently holds ‘B’ status with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and is an Associate Member of the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF). In December 2007, the HRCM was designated by a Presidential Decree as the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment (OPCAT). As prescribed under the OPCAT, the HRCM was designated as the NPM in legislation with the ratification of the Anti-Torture Act (law number 13/2013) in December 2013. The report encompasses human rights issues faced between the period of 2015 to 2019. The report focuses on issues of child protection, juvenile justice, migrant workers, access to justice, persons with disabilities, health, freedom of expression, education for children with disabilities, housing, environment and climate change, Gender equality and violence against women, freedom of assembly and religious extremism. Each thematic area is concluded by recommendations. The 15 thematic areas of the report were prioritized using a top-down approach where the recommendations of UPR and concluding observations issued by UN human rights treaty bodies were analyzed to according to the significance of the issues emphasized. Report was compiled based on information received from the relevant stakeholders including government authorities, institutions, civil society in addition to existing in-house monitoring data. In addition, HRCM also conducted a series of meetings in the past three months to facilitate constructive dialogue on the implementation of the recommendations. The process undertaken to compile the report is attached in Annex 2 and work done to monitor the implementation of the recommendations on an annual basis is attached in Annex 4. It is also imperative to note that main stakeholders emphasized on the need to incorporate the plan of actions formulated since the change of the government in November 2017, however due to restrictions in the word limit or limitation in the number of pages of the UPR stakeholder submission, HRCM focused on the issues faced during this period along with the necessary positive initiatives.