HRCM highlighted the sexual abuse of children
and the weak state response to address this
serious violation of child rights as a grievous
concern in its 2015 submission to the CRC periodic
report13. The Maldives’ 2018 Human Rights
Report by the US State Department reports that
the majority of the child abuse cases reported to
Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services
were sexual abuse cases, while the same was true
for 45% of child abuse cases reported to Maldives
Police Service by July 2018.
The previous figures are analogous to the findings
of this survey with increasing community concern,
where 93.6% (95.5% female and 90.4% male) of
respondents affirmed child sexual abuse of girls
as a serious issue. This concern has increased over
the years with 82.1% in 2005, and 93.3% in 2011.
When asked whether sexual abuse of boys is a
serious issue, 91.7% agreed. In comparison to
the previous report, there seems to be a slight
decrease in number of women who considered
sexual abuse of boys to be a serious problem. In
2011, 97.2% of female respondents said that it
was a serious issue compared to 93.3% in 2019.
However, there seems to be a slight increase
in number of male respondents who thought
sexual abuse in boys is a serious issue with 89.6%
affirming this belief in 2019 compared to 85.9%
in 2011.
OTHER ISSUES REGARDING
RIGHTS OF CHILDREN
Less than a third of respondents (27.9 %) reported
being satisfied with the level of protection
afforded to children, while the majority (48.2%)
were dissatisfied.
10.8% of the respondents
chose not to answer or reported not knowing
the answer when they were asked how they felt
about protection assured for children.
From those who reported being satisfied with
the level of protection given to children, 32.3%
were men and 25.5% were women. It is to be
noted that, of the dissatisfied respondents, the
majority were women at 54.0% followed by men
at 38.0%. The number of women dissatisfied with
the protection afforded to children has decreased
in comparison to 2011 where 66.0% female
respondents expressed their dissatisfaction.
13
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20
Documents/MDV/INT_CRC_IFU_MDV_20377_E.pdf
44
Similarly, the number of men dissatisfied with
the protection provided for children has also
decreased; in 2011 41.8% men reported they
were dissatisfied.
The 2011 findings generally indicated that
younger respondents were dissatisfied with the
protection services given to children (with the
exception of the 60-69 age group). However,
the 2019 findings indicate otherwise where the
older the respondent, the more dissatisfied
they appeared with the protection afforded to
children.
Table 51: Perception of protection of child’s rights in the Maldives, by age
Age group
Neither
satisfied nor
Satisfied dissatisfied
Dissatisfied RF
DK/NA
16 - 19
20 – 29
30 – 39
40 – 49
50 – 59
60 – 69
70 and above
na
32.61%
26.42%
27.42%
28.64%
29.91%
26.09%
41.67%
22.22%
23.91%
13.96%
12.58%
7.77%
12.15%
17.39%
0.00%
14.29%
31.52%
47.55%
50.00%
50.97%
49.53%
52.17%
58.33%
50.79%
1.09% 10.87%
0.75% 11.32%
0.65% 9.35%
0.97% 11.65%
0.00% 8.41%
2.17%
2.17%
0.00% 0.00%
0.00% 12.70%
Grand Total
27.88%
13.08%
48.23% 0.73% 10.08%
Respondents from the urban regions were
more dissatisfied with the protection services
for children in 2019 (53.1%), while in 2011
respondents from the outer islands were
increasingly dissatisfied (66.7%).
Table 52: Perception of protection of child’s rights in the Maldives, by region
Neither
satisfied nor
Satisfied dissatisfied Dissatisfied
RF
DK/NA
Outer islands
28.72%
11.78%
45.21%
1.18% 13.11%
Urban
26.54%
15.17%
53.08%
5.21%
Total
27.88%
13.08%
48.23%
0.73% 10.08%
The survey inquired further with the respondents
who felt that protection given to children
was inadequate. 20.8% said access to quality
education needed to be improved and 12.9%
of this group felt that the response to violence
against children should be strengthened. Notably
9.6% of people believed gender discrimination
needed to be prevented. While in 2011 the
strongest support was for prevention of violence
against children (35.2%) and access to quality