Foreign Ministry has reported that a delegation from Amnesty International is set to visit the country from the 23rd to the 26th of this month.
A press release issued by the Ministry stated that the Amnesty delegation will engage in discussions with key partners and conduct their enquiries into the current status of the internal situation of the country.
The press release noted that Amnesty delegation that visited the Maldives in April 2015, had only held discussions with the opposition.
The release also noted that the Government had requested for meetings with the delegation and had opened up opportunity for them to meet jailed former President Mohamed Nasheed.
Additionally, the press release refuted the previous reports issued by Amnesty citing that they had engaged with only one side of the issue. As such, Foreign Ministry noted that such one sided reports would damage the work carried out by the Government in strengthening the democratic process and the development of the nation.
The press statement added that the foreign partners should conduct themselves in a manner that did not encroach on the societal unity of the nation.
“The general human rights situation in the Maldives has been improving steadily. This Government has enacted a total of 18 key human rights legislations within a period of less than 18 months, which is an unparalleled record in the history of the Maldives,” Minister Dunya said.
The statement added that the Government has so far facilitated visits to the Maldives by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Commonwealth and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and engaged with them at the highest levels. The Government has further facilitated visits to former President Nasheed in prison by the ICRC, the Commonwealth Representative as well as the delegation from the OHCHR.