Male’, Maldives — The Parliament has requested the opinion of the general public in amending the Human Trafficking law of Maldives.
The National Safety and Foreign Relations committee of Maldives informed that they are currently investigating the bill presented by the MP of Hinnavaru, Jeehan Mahmood on November 2020 to amend the “Human Trafficking law” of Maldives.
The decision to amend this bill comes after Maldives became a part of the agreement, “Countries Against Transitional Organized Crime.” All the countries in this agreement will need to amend their Human Trafficking law in accordance to the protocol presented by the agreement.
This is why, the People’s Majilis tweeted today to inform that under the Anti-Human Trafficking Act, 2013 (Act No. 12/2013), the Majilis opens opportunities for the general public to present ways on amending the Human Trafficking Law of Maldives.
The new amendments brought to the bill defines human trafficking and child trafficking. The bill also states that exploitation will be treated as a separate crime and if an individual is involved in any such acts or has taken part in activities related to such an act, then it will be considered a crime in the country.
The most important amendment brought to this bill is removing instructions from the initial law that states that if an individual is proven guilty for the Human Trafficking act, then the court will decide on a punishment for the individual and that the court must take the financial status of the perpetrator into consideration when setting compensation as a verdict. The new amendment does not have any such instruction. Additionally, the new amendment states that the perpetrator must compensate for any financial loss and health issues caused to the victim due to Human Trafficking.
The Majilis informed all the citizens who are interested in providing opinions to send in their opinions via email to committee@majilis.gov.mv before 1400hrs of February 22nd. Apart from this, the Majilis informed that they will also be accepting letters from citizens regarding their opinions on the Human Trafficking law.
