126. Ministry of Law and Gender believes that the current Child Rights Act (9/91) needs to be changed in order to protect children from abuse and ill treatment, and the ministry is currently drafting a new bill which gives more emphasis on protecting children from abuse and ill treatment within the family. The committee may wish to ask the government 1. Measures taken to implement necessary legislative changes to protect children from all forms of abuse. 2. Rehabilitation programmers for child victims to help the victims to recover and reintegrate into the society Juvenile Justice (Article 40) 127. Report published by Juvenile Justice Unit (JJU) under Ministry of Home Affairs show that number of children involved in criminal activities are increasing at an alarming level.217 However the state has fallen short addressing the root cause of the problem and taking effective measures to address this issue. There are no correctional facilities for the children in conflict with the law and the rehabilitation programs are mostly one on one session conducted by JJU. Disaggregated data of juvenile delinquents who entered the available rehabilitation programs and return to the society are not maintained. 128. Maldives has adopted restorative justice system in prosecuting Juvenile delinquents and follow basic principles of UN guidelines in administering juvenile justice. Even though juveniles are sentenced, 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.218 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 impact addressing these issues. 129. 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.219 130. Status offences such as running away, smoking, hanging out late at night without parents, etc. are seen as an offense by some agencies. Currently, there is no efficient and effective system to deal minors who are involved in status offences and often they end up becoming an offender. The committee may wish to ask the government 1. Status of Evidence Bill, Witness Protection Bill, Criminal Procedure Code and Juvenile Justice Bill. 2. Coordination amongst stakeholders dealing with child abuse and rehabilitation measures of victims. 3. Availability of counseling facilities at educational institutions. 4. Establishment of independent forensic institution 5. Status of abolishing death penalty for minors. Page 30 of 39