The focus areas have been adapted from the UN Committee’s General Comment No. 12 on the implementation of Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)8. The review also comprises stakeholder interviews that provide some insights into how informed and aware they are of the rights of children to participate in decisions that stakeholders are making on their behalf. Findings and extracts from these interviews are also included in this section as part of the Desk Review. Institutional Overview There is no independent institution such as a Children’s Ombudsman that monitors the welfare of children and ensures that children are represented and their voices heard in society. Neither is there a stand-alone State body mandated with the protection and assurance of children’s rights as enshrined in the UNCRC. There are various key institutions that play important roles in the decision-making processes that affect the daily lives of Maldivian children. These include the Department of Gender and Family Protection Services at the Ministry of Health and Family, the Child Protection Unit run by the Maldives Police Services, and the Juvenile Justice Unit (JJU) run by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry of Education, being in charge of the school system nationwide, also plays an important role in deciding how a large part of children’s daily lives are lived. There is, however, no specific State body charged with coordinating the various efforts of these separate departments; and for monitoring the welfare of children and the provision of their rights. The Department of Gender and Family Protection Services at the Ministry of Health and Family appears to be the foremost authority with the broadest of mandates in this regard. It is, however, only a small Department within an institution overwhelmingly focused on the provision of health and social services9. The Department itself is in charge of the following: (a) State care facility for the vulnerable 1. Facility for people with special needs, Guraidhoo Island, Kaafu Atoll (b) State care facility for children 1. Kudakudhinge Hiyaa, Villingili Island (c) Family and children’s service centres (Various atolls)10 Within thirteen specific tasks designated to the Gender and Family Protection Services, the protection of children’s rights gets only a cursory mention, and such references are invariably bundled in with the rights of other vulnerable groups in society: 8 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, “General Comment No.12: The right of the child to be heard”, CRC/C/GC/12, July 20, 2009, accessed on 25 October 2011, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4ae562c52.html 9 “Mandate of the Ministry of Health and Family”, Ministry of Health and Family, accessed at: http://www.health.gov.mv/PDF/mandate.pdf on 7 December 2011 10 Ibid, 3 10