To protect children and women and people with special needs and children’s rights; and to establish gender equality; and to foster healthy family relations; and to create the right skills and capacity for child-rearing and to create awareness among the society of these skills (Task seven of 13)11. [own emphasis] Task number Nine is more particularly geared towards the protection of rights, but again, children are not the specific focus of the task: To protect the rights of women and children, senior citizens and people with special needs; and to work with other relevant authorities to find solutions to problems (emergency issues) that obstruct these rights (Task nine of 13).12 Tasks 12 and 13 also mention children in the context of working towards their protection along with that of the family and other vulnerable groups. Such lumping together of children and their rights with other ‘vulnerable groups’ in society reinforces the general perception of children as no more than another segment of society that needs protection. The recognition UNCRC affords to children as not just vulnerable beings but also as citizens with their own rights who have valuable contributions to make to the development of society is not present within this policy document. That there is no such recognition of children by what appears to be the foremost state authority assigned to assure children’s rights is further confirmed in the Department’s Task No. 10. Having included children in Task Seven and Nine (as discussed above) within vulnerable groups of society, Task 10—which commits to increasing the participation of such groups ‘in the political, economic and social development of the Maldives’—excludes children from such groups13. This deliberate exclusion of children from participatory mechanisms meant even for vulnerable groups, in which they are normally included, reveals the extent to which children’s participatory rights remain formally unrecognised, if not wholly unknown, in the Maldives. Furthermore, the vagueness of the Department’s mandate regarding children’s rights manifests itself as a broad lack of focus in all matters of the State concerning children. It means there is no State authority to co-ordinate efforts for the realisation and assurance of the rights enshrined in the UNCRC, and thus children at large—not just their views and opinions—are very often neglected or pushed to the bottom of the State priorities list. It also means that there is no overall State body with the oversight or responsibility to ensure State institutions and others are not violating children’s rights. The Gender and Family Department, for example, coordinates all the various Family and Children’s Service units based in the atolls, and is also in charge of the alternative care institution, Kudakudhin ge Hiyaa [Children’s Shelter] on the island of Villingili. Although not specifically mentioned as part of its mandate, and as shall be seen later in the report, its Children’s Service 11 Ibid, 8 Ibid 13 Ibid 12 11