More than half (55.6%) of the respondents reported being moderately aware of human rights. While 13.4% claimed to have a high and 23.2% reported to have a low understanding of human rights. Women appeared to be more confident about their awareness of human rights with 60.5% exhibiting moderate awareness, while 46.6% men stated the same. There was no significant difference in the findings in relation to that of 2011. Interestingly though, when asked to name five human rights, only 36.5% of the respondents were able to do so. This outcome is concerning as it is a decline from 45.1% people who could name five human rights in 2011. However, a significant positive change is the decrease in the number of people who could not name any human right from 44.5% in 2011 to 15.4% in 2019. More women (38.9%) than men (32.0%) were able to name five human rights. Rights of the child was identified as the most important human right, ranked the first place (18%) from a provided list of twenty-one. This is a divergence from findings of previous years. In 2005, the highest ranked right was access to health services (82.4%) and in 2011 it was the to education (86.7%). Interestingly, 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 health following closely at 10.5% and 10.1% respectively. Table 5: Five Human Rights considered as the most important, by gender Top 5 rights (ranked) 1. Children’s rights Male Female Total 14.37% 19.93% 18.01% 2. Women’s rights to equality 7.10% 12.90% 10.93% 3. Access to good quality of education 9.14% 11.23% 10.53% 4. Access to health services 8.78% 10.86% 10.14% 5. Adequate food 8.70% 8.00% 8.23% Another interesting trend to be noted is the rise in ranking of women’s right to equality over the years. In 2011, women’s right to equality was ranked in sixth position , while in 2019 it has been identified as the second most mentioned human right. This finding is significant as it strongly corresponds to the fact that the number of women who are aware of human rights has increased exponentially over the years. It is widely believed that women’s rights and empowerment directly correspond 20 to the rights of the child1. Women’s right to equality was the second most important human right (10.9 %) in this 2019 survey, replacing right to education which was ranked at as the second most important in 2011. Followed closely by access to education at 10.5%, which replaces the right to housing as the third most important human right in 2011. Table 6: Five Human Rights considered as the most important, by region Urban 1. Children’s rights 14.84% 2. Access to health services 9.39% 3. Women’s rights to equality 8.26% 4. A secure family life 7.89% 5. Access to good quality of education 7.61% Outer Islands 1. Children’s rights 19.52% 2. Women’s rights to equality 12.19% 3. Access to good quality of education 11.92% 4. Access to health services 10.50% 5. Adequate food 8.66% The people living in outer islands and urban regions also ranked the rights of the child as the most important followed by access to healthcare in the urban region and women’s equality in the outer islands. Studies on the impact of women’s awareness, education and empowerment show that when women are empowered with education, health and human rights awareness, they are better able to ensure and prioritize rights of their children, the health of the family and work to provide education for their children2. Additionally, in its resolution 32/20, the Human Rights Council has recognized that education was a multiplier right that empowered women and girls to make choices to claim their human rights, including the health and education of their families, economic growth and political participation3. Hence the outcome of this survey affirms with the correlation between an increase in women’s awareness of human rights and identification of the rights of the child, women empowerment and right to education as the most salient of human rights. 1 https://www.unicef.org/policyanalysis/files/Women-Children-Rights-UNFPA-UNICEF_final.pdf 2 https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/84203/9789241505420_eng.pdf 3 https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/ReportGirlsEqualRightEducation.pdf