President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has ratified the Anti-Human Trafficking Bill today. The Bill, passed at the 17th sitting of its third session of the Parliament on 3rd December, has been published in the Government Gazette following ratification..
The new legislation clearly makes trafficking in persons an offence in the Maldives.
The main objectives of the Anti-Human Trafficking Act include:
• Preventing trafficking of persons through and across the Maldives
• Establishing the crimes of trafficking in persons and prescribes the punishments
• Provide for prosecution of perpetrators of trafficking in persons
• Providing protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking
• Promote and protect human rights of trafficked victims
• Engage in cooperation with local and international NGOs working against human trafficking to combat trafficking in persons