Maldives - World Health Organization, South

Maldives
COUNTRY POLICY AND STRATEGIES FOR COMBATING GBV
Legal framework
on the Girl Child and
SAARC Convention on
Preventing and Combating
Trafficking in Women and
Children for Prostitution.
! Maldives acceded to the
Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) in 1993.
Policies
! Maldives is a participatory to
the Beijing Platform for
A c t i o n a n d t h e
Commonwealth Plan of
Action on Gender and
Development.
! The Ministry of Gender and
Family was restructured
following the cabinet
reshuffle of July 2005 to
focus on gender, child
protection and family.
! The Family Law provides for
judges to order divorce in
cases of domestic violence
but legislation on GBV is yet
to be developed.
! The Ministry of Gender,
Family Development and
Social Security (MGFDSS)
is mandated
1 to formulate
policies, to implement
activities and to monitor the
situation with respect to
! Maldives is a participatory to
the SAARC Plan of Action
1
women and violation of their
rights.
! The National Gender Policy
was endorsed by CEDAW in
2006.
! The Ministry of Gender and
Family was merged with the
Ministry of Health after the
election of the new
government in November
2008. The current policy of
the government of Maldives
on gender is mainstreaming
gender into all sectors.
(Gender mainstreaming
policy, 2010)
Strategies
! The National Reproductive
Health Strategy 2008-2010
has identified gender in guiding principles,
objectives and strategy and has also focused on
gender-based violence.
! The UNFPA country programmes 2008-2010
have established a comprehensive model of
health sector response to gender-based
violence.
Programmes and plan of action
! Strengthened national response, including by
the health sector, to violence against women
and girls, taking into account linkages to
protection and legal services (UNDAF 20112015, expected output).
! The 7th National Development Plan 20062010 considers gender-based violence as an
integrated, zero-tolerance approach and also
advocates for the elimination of violence
against children.
COUNTRY SITUATION OF GBV
The Ministry of Gender and Family, Maldives with
technical assistance from WHO and financial
support from UNFPA and UNICEF, conducted the
Study on Women's Health and Life Experiences.
The sample size represented 6% of all households
in Maldives and 5% of the women's population
1
aged 15-49 years .
Salient Findings
Percentage
The study consisted of a cross-sectional
population-based household survey of women
aged 15-49 years in 2582 households across the
whole country.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
The most prevalent form of intimate partner
violence is emotional abuse (29.2%) followed by
physical violence (18%) and sexual violence
(6.7%). Physical or sexual violence was reported
by 19.5% of the women. 1 (Figure 1).
31.5
24.8
15.7
14.4
Intimidation
(n=221)
Verbal abouse
(n=221)
Physical violence
(n=220)
Sexual soercion
(n=239)
Figure 1: Percentage of women reporting different forms of intimate partner violence, Maldives, 2006
Intimate partner violence: All statistics related to
intimate partner violence are calculated as a
proportion of women aged 15-49 years who have
ever been in a relationship (married or just dating).
Physical violence by an intimate partner: Was
slapped or had something thrown at her that could
hurt her /was pushed or shoved or had her hair
pulled or cut / was hit with fist or something else
1
Domestic Violence bill is in the parliament. Deliberation at comiitteee stage has been finished. The bill was submitted to parliament in
2010
2
that could hurt /was choked or burnt on purpose
/Perpetrator threatened to use or actually used a
weapon against her.
perpetrator had done things to scare or intimidate
her on purpose (e.g. by yelling or smashing things)
Sexual violence by an intimate partner: Was
physically forced to have sexual intercourse when
she did not want to /had sexual intercourse when
she did not want to because she was afraid of what
partner might do/was forced to do something
sexual that she found degrading or humiliating.
3.50%
Emotional violence by an intimate partner: Was
insulted or made to feel bad about herself/was
belittled or humiliated in front of other people/
36.50%
49.60%
10.40%
Unknown
Mild
Moderate
Server
Figure 2: Percentage of different severities of injuries among women who have ever been injured by a partner,
Maldives, 2006
Mild: cuts, punctures, bites, scratches, abrasions, bruises.
Moderate: sprains, dislocations, burns.
Severe: penetrating injuries, deep cuts, gashes, broken eardrums,eye injuries, fractures, broken bones,
broken teeth, internal injuries.
Unknown: other injury.
2
Booklet- [“You think violence against women doesn't happen in Maldives?” Think Again]
3
The prevalence of girl child sexual abuse is 12.2% in Maldives and the highest reported rate is from the
2
capital, Male (16.3%). (Figure 3).
100
90
80
70
Percentage
60
50
40
30
20
16.3
12.7
10.8
10
8.9
North
North
Central
Central
South
Central
11.7
12.2
10
0
South
Male
Maldives
Figure 3: Percentage of women who reported experiencing sexual abuse before the age of 15, by region,
Maldives, 2006
Girl child sexual abuse appears to be perpetrated predominantly by family members (48%). Acquaintants
2
(26%) and strangers (26%) are also perpetrators of girl child sexual abuse. (Figure 4)
26 %
48%
26%
Family
Acquainyance
Figure 4: Perpetrators of girl child sexual abuse, Maldives, 2006
2
Booklet- [“You think violence against women doesn't happen in Maldives?” Think Again]
4
Stranger
COUNTRY ACTIVITIES IN COMBATING GBV
GWH-SEARO conducted a survey in October 2009 among the gender focal points in the WHO country
offices of Member States using a questionnaire containing 23 questions under four clusters. The findings
of the survey for Maldives are listed below.
12
10
10
Scale*
8
6
4
4
4
5
5
5
3
3
2
0
Logislations/Police/
programme
Resources
Research
Country Situation
Total no. of indicators
Evidence**
Figure 5: Country activities in combating gender-based violence in Maldives, 2009
* The scale represents country-specific situation plotted against the maximum rating for 4 clusters of
indicators:
(1) Legislations/policies/programmes (2) Resource (3) Research and (4) Evidence
** A lower score reflects lower evidence of GBV
5
S.No. Category
Activities
1.
Legislation/policies and
programmes on GBV
The country has a national action plan, health policy and
multisectoral action plan on GBV.
2.
Resources for combating
The following resources are available:
Ÿ Workshops and training for health providers.
Ÿ Activities on gender mainstreaming for prevention of GBV.
Ÿ Data collection system for GBV exists in hospitals, NGOs,
legal aid centres, social support centres and in police stations.
Ÿ The facilities for helping the victims of GBV are available in
the police department, legal aid centres and in counseling
centres.
Ÿ There is budget allocation for GBV in the country.
3.
4.
Research on GBV
Evidence on GBV
Research has been conducted on the cause and consequences of
GBV.
Ÿ The country has findings on types of GBV, findings related to
the cause of GBV and findings related to women’s health due
to GBV.
_ 15 year-olds.
Ÿ GBV is present in > 15-years-olds and in >
Ÿ Violence during pregnancy is present.
Additional Information
Victims of GBV
Violence during pregnancy
Spouse, family members and domestic helpers
have been found to be the victims of GBV.
Violence during pregnancy is present in physical,
psychological, sexual, emotional and economic
forms.
Types of GBV
Age of GBV victims
GBV is present in physical, psychological, sexual,
emotional and economic forms.
GBV in less than 15-year-olds exists in physical,
psychological, sexual, emotional and economic
forms.
Findings related to women's health after GBV
Mental disturbances, suicide, attempts at suicide,
abortion and miscarriages, disability and death
have been found to be related to women's health
after GBV.
GBV in more than or equal to 15 year olds exists in
physical, psychological, sexual, emotional and
economic forms.
6
PARTNERSHIP IN COMBATING GBV
Maldives have implemented a project titled “Advocacy on gender equality and male
participation through mass media”. Combating
violence against women is one of the important
components of the project.
Government initiatives
! On November 25, 2009, the Members of
Parliament in Maldives signed a declaration
supporting the elimination of violence against
women, recognizing the problem of domestic
violence facing Maldives and undertaking to
bear it in mind when legislating. The signing
marked the 10th anniversary of the
International Day for the Elimination of
Violence Against Women.
! The Ministry of Gender, Family Development
and Social Security (MGFDSS) has conducted
an orientation and sensitization workshop on
VAW for the employees of ward offices and
r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m t h e Wo m e n ’s
Development Committees. Sensitization
workshops and training, advocacy and
awareness-raising activities on the issues of
Domestic Violence (DV) / Violence Against
Women (VAW) are also being carried out by the
MGFDSS.
! Recognizing gender-based violence as a public
health issue, Maldives tertiary hospital and the
Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH),
established the Family Protection Unit under
the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
in August 2005. The unit was established with
the support of the Ministry of Gender and
Family, Ministry of Health and with funding
from UNFPA and UNICEF, to provide support
to victims of gender-based violence and child
abuse that come through the hospital.
! As part of a multisectoral approach to
addressing gender-based violence, four
participants from Indira Gandhi Memorial
Hospital (IGMH), the police and the Ministry
of Gender and Family undertook training on
‘Forensic Investigation of Rape Cases’,
conducted by the Amity Institute of Advanced
Forensic Science and Research and Training in
India.
! With Ministry of Information, Arts and Culture
and UNFPA as the executing agency, the
Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social
Security, Television Maldives and Voice of
7
Country Contact Information:
Aminath Shenalin (Ms)
WHO Country Office, Maldives
Tel. +960 332 7519, 332 2410
Fax.+960 332 4210
Email: shenalina@searo.who.int
Produced by:
Gender, Women and Health (GWH)
Department of Family Health and Research
World Health Organization, Regional Office for South-East Asia
World Health House, Indraprastha Estate
Mahatma Gandhi Marg, New Delhi-110002
Phone: 91 11 23370804, Ext 26301
Fax: 91-11-23379507, 23379395, 23370197
Email: suchaxayp@searo.who.int