Male’, Maldives – Prosecutor General of Maldives Hussain Shameem has stated that the courts of Maldives were able to sentence only two child sexual abuse cases of 232 filed in 2020.
PG Shameem wrote on his personal blog that in 2019, the PG Office had sent 142 charges of 23 different types of sexual abuse towards children. He informed that 102 people were charged for these acts and that majority of the charges were presented to Male’ courts amounting up to 70 cases.
According to PG Shameem, the court had announced a verdict on 15 cases that year, however, he stated that 85 of the cases that he sent on 2019 are still unfinished by the court.
In addition to this, PG Shameem noted that the PG Office had sent 232 charges of 29 different types of child sexual abuse in 2020 and that majority of the cases this time were also presented to the courts in Male’ city. These cases amount up to 115 according to PG Shameem.
Out of the vast amount of cases that were sent to the court on 2020, PG Shameem noted that only two cases were finished by the court during a yearly period. PG Shameem detailed that the completed cases were a case sent to HA. Maaradhoo Magistrate Court on January 10, 2020 and a case sent to HA. Filladhoo Magistrate Court on April 1, 2020.
This is 0.68% of the cases that were presented that year (2020). … Completed 2 cases are from Haa Alif atoll.
PG Shameem
However, Shameem noted that the country has successfully increased prosecution in child sexual offenses at a rate of 65% in 2020, compared to the year before, increasing the reliability citizens have on the government. This is why, he stated that the citizens are less hesitant in filing complaints for such cases compared to how it initially used to be in Maldives.
