HRCM officials pay monitoring visit to Kudahuvadhoo Police Station

Officials from Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) have paid a monitoring visit to Dh. Kudahuvadhoo Police Station.

The visit took place last Saturday – as part of HRCM’s duty as the National Preventive Mechanism of the Maldives (NPM).

According to HRCM, the purpose of the visit was to assess the general condition of the police station, how detainees at the station are treated and whether such individuals have been subject to any form of violence or torture – whereas any circumstances which may lead to such exists.

HRCM also said that observing whether the detainees are treated as stipulated in the Maldivian Constitution, Anti-Torture Act and other national and international laws and regulations – were also amongst the reasons for the visit.

Other purposes of the visit included inquiring about the difficulties faced by employees at the station – and assessing the extent to which the rights entitled to them by the Maldivian Constitution and other national and international laws are protected.

Another purpose as per HRCM was to monitor if the recommended measures by the Health Protection Agency in light of the COVID-19 pandemic – are fully adhered to by employees, even while attending to detainees.

HRCM said that a report would be formulated penning down their observations and recommendations on things which needs to be improved in the upcoming days. This report will be shared with Kudhuvadhoo Police Station, the President’s Office, People’s Majilis and other relevant authorities.

They also noted that follow-up would be done afterward in collaboration with Maldives Police Service – to inspect the implementation of the recommendations in the report and the strides made to achieve it.

This is the second time a monitoring visit had been paid to Kudahuvadhoo Police Station by HRCM officials. The first time a monitoring visit was paid in this regard was in January 2014. A report was formulated and submitted to the relevant government authorities listing their observations and recommendations for improvement.