UN Official Assesses Religious Freedom In Maldives

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion, Asma Jahangir, on Wednesday completed a visit to the Maldives. She welcomed enactment of the country's new Law on the Human Rights Commission but said that it does not meet the requirements of the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination because the law requires that all Commission members be Muslim. (All residents of the Maldives are Muslim.) (Minivan News.) She said that in her report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, she will recommend that Maldive prisons be more religiously sensitive to the spiritual and dietary needs of foreign prisoners. (U.N. Press Release; Jahanigir's Press Conference Statement). However, according to Minivan News, Maldives Justice Minister Mohamed Jameel strongly criticized the U.N. official's visit, saying: "I have been told that she is asking people why this is not allowed in Islam and why that is not allowed in Maldives. It's because of her attitude that I am condemning her visit. I condemn anyone who comes to Maldives under the shadow of human right activists while challenging the Islamic unity in Maldives. It doesn't matter even if it is the United Nations or any other organization."