Jaariyaa kulhigadu saabithu vejje

Kuda anhen kudhin jinsee gulhun hinguma hadhu fahana alhaafaivaa group meehun gengulheykan ragalha saabithu vejje eve. Human Right Commissionun noos bayaanugai bunefieve. Thireegai mivanee Minivanews gaivaa ekamaa gulhey habareve. 

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has said it was “certain” that reports of an under-age concubine taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital for a pregnancy test were true.

Speaking at a press conference today, Ahmed Zahid, vice-president of the commission, said the commission’s investigation has turned up new information, but it could not reveal any details at this point.

“But what we want to tell you with assurance and certainty is that the Human Rights Commission is now certain and sure that it happened,” he said. “A girl under the age of 18 who was a concubine went to IGMH and had a pregnancy test at the hospital.”

He added it was not based on hearsay or a blog post.

The commission has confirmed that the incident occurred and the hospital knew of it, he continued, but the commission needed “a clue” to find the girl.

“But we haven’t got the information from IGMH that it was a specific person on a specific day at a specific time,” he said.

But, he added, the commission received confirmation from the doctor who saw her pregnancy report and asked her female guardian about it. The girl had reportedly gone to the emergency room because of a stomachache.

Zahid said the doctor was told that she was a concubine. “When the doctor at first did not understand what a ‘jaariya’ [concubine] was and he asked again differently, he was told that she was a jaariya kept by her husband.”

Since the doctor was not a gynaecologist, Zahid said, the doctor did not ask for the girl’s name and referred her to a gynaecologist.

Ahmed Saleem, president of the commission, said the report in question, which would reveal the girl’s identity, was missing.

The commission’s investigation revealed that 85 under-aged girls took pregnancy tests and ten girls tested positive, Saleem said, adding that the concubine could be among those ten.

He further said police were investigating the case.

Last month, senior officials of IGMH criticised the commission for publicising information of its patients, characterising it as “irresponsible” and a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.

Ahmed Razi, senior medical consultant, said it was unwise for the HRCM to reveal the information while police investigations were ongoing.  

National attention

The issue of young girls being kept as concubines and sexually abused was brought to public attention by lawyer Azima Shukoor at an opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) rally in September.

Azima told Minivan News at the time she had read a post on freelance journalist Hilath Rasheed’s blog, which described a case of a girl taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) for medical treatment.

In September, President Mohamed Nasheed asked the relevant authorities to investigate the reports.

At a press conference last month, Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, state minister for Islamic affairs, criticised the HRCM for asserting that religious extremists in the country were keeping under-aged concubines without proof.

“Where is that concubine? Where are the parents of the so-called concubine? Where are the records at the hospital that the concubine was supposedly taken because she was pregnant?” he said.

He added that it sounded more like rumours spread to bring Islam into disrepute.

Shaheem said none of the investigations conducted so far had revealed any concrete information.

“I don’t believe at all that people are keeping concubines in the Maldives,” he said. 

Regrettable

Zahid said he regretted the Islamic ministry saying the reports were intended to dishonour Islam.

The issue was not about religion but about children’s rights, he said.

Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Kareem, a member of the commission, said it was surprising that people were connecting the commission’s investigation to religion.

“When they [Islamic ministry] first got the news, they said that must be intended to bring Islam into disrepute and there’s no truth to it and the Human Rights Commission is being irresponsible in talking about it,” he said.

It was regrettable that government institutions were making such statements, he continued, as the HRCM would not publicise information without sufficient evidence.

The commission was alerting the public to the issue because it was a serious problem, he said.