The government of Germany will provide 6 million rufiyaa (€ 330579) over the next two years to expand the Access to Justice (A2J) Project in Maldives.

President Mohamed Nasheed attended the ceremony held at the President’s Office today to sign the agreement of German assistance to strengthen Maldivian justice sector between the German government and UNDP.

Assistance Residence Representative Zindu Salih signed the agreement on behalf of UNDP while German Ambassador to the Maldives Jens Plötner signed the agreement on behalf of the German government.

Speaking at the ceremony, President Nasheed underlined that justice was the cornerstone of the democratic transitions in the Maldives.

“Justice has always been the cornerstone of all our cries [for democracy]. The whole essence of democracy and people wanting democracy was also fundamentally because of a need to have justice,” President Nasheed said.

Noting that judicial reforms and justice have been the main challenge in the democratic reform process in the Maldives, the President reaffirmed the government’s commitment to reform the judiciary within the framework of the Constitution.

He said the German government’s assistance to the Access to Justice Project is “very timely that we are now able to work more vigorously towards judicial reform and capacity building in the judiciary.”

President Nasheed thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the government of Germany for the assistance and the Chancellor’s continued engagement with the Maldives.

“We thank the German government as we have never thanked before. This is a new leaf of more solid German engagement with the Maldives,” he added.

Speaking at the ceremony, German Ambassador Jens Plötner said “Without justice, there can be no vibrant democracy. This simple but fundamental truth is at the core of Germany’s commitment to and support for the Access to Justice Programme.”

The A2J project aims to strengthen the justice sector by increasing public confidence in an independent judiciary, reducing barriers to accessing justice especially in the outer islands and addressing the issue of lack of legal representation. This would be achieved by training personnel in the justice system and by increasing awareness about legal rights among marginalised groups like women, children and the elderly.

Speaking at the ceremony, UNDP’s Assistant Resident Representative Zindu Salih said that with the constitutional guarantees for a host of human rights and freedoms, there is a parallel need to set up strong systems that could safeguard and deliver these rights and create a fair, equal and just nation.

The new phase funded by Germany, titled “Strengthening Democracy through Access to Justice”, will be implemented by UNDP in collaboration with the Government of Maldives and justice sector institutions, including the Attorney General’s Office; Prosecutor General’s Office; Ministry of Home Affairs; the Judiciary, and the Faculty of Sharia’h and Law of the Maldives National University.