8 May 2013, Male'; The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Violence against Children Ms. Marta Santos-Pais has ended her 5-day official trip to the Maldives.
Ms. Santos-Pais arrived in the Maldives on the 3rd of this month and during her stay she had conducted extensive consultations with local stakeholders including Government Ministries, the judiciary, political parties and visited the Child Care Facility on the island of Villingili. As per her mandate, Ms. Santos-Pais had focused her visit on understanding the national child protection mechanism and identifying the gaps within.
Before concluding her visit, the Special Representative held a de-briefing to the Government which was attended by the Minister of Gender, Family and Human Rights Ms. Azima Shakoor, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ms. Dunya Maumoon and senior officials of the Gender Ministry and Foreign Ministry. Ms. Santos-Pais also held a joint briefing, together with Minister Azima, for members of the press later in the afternoon in which she shared her findings with the media. In her remarks, Ms. Santos Pais noted the need to build capacity of professionals serving in the protection system and emphasized the need to pass some of the key bills in Parliament that would strengthen the legal framework surrounding children's rights. She also identified the need to sensitize the public on child abuse issues and suggested the designing of an information dissemination strategy that would raise societal awareness. The Special Representative further laid emphasis on the need for all political leaders and parties to put children's issues first and highlighted that partisan politics should not adversely affect the reforms urgently required to the national child protection system of the country.
In her remarks at the press briefing Minister Azima thanked the Special Representative for her constructive visit and the engagement she had maintained with all local stakeholders. Commenting on the findings of Ms. Santos-Pais, the Minister concurred on the urgent need to fill the existing gaps in the child protection system including the enactment of important bills that would enhance the protection of children's rights in the Maldives. Minister Azima expressed Government's commitment to eliminate violence against children and to consolidate the protection system.
Ms. Marta Santos-Pais was seen off at the airport by the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Mr. Hassan Shifau and members of the UN Country Team in the Maldives.
ENDS.