Thank you Mr. Chairman,

The Maldives would like to take this opportunity to thank the Secretary-General, the Special Representative on Violence Against Children; the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, prostitution and child pornography, the Executive Director of UNICEF and the Committee on the Rights of the Child for their reports under this agenda item.

My delegation wishes to note the significant strides that have been made worldwide, since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. The Maldives, in which children currently account for approximately 43 percent of its total population, attaches great importance in advancing the rights of children. As a State Party to the CRC and its two Optional Protocols, the Maldives is committed to ensure that the treaty obligations under these instruments are met and implemented. In February this year, the Maldives also signed the third Optional Protocol on a communications procedure, which would allow children to file individual complaints of violation of their rights, once it enters into force. The Maldives, being among the core group of countries that supported this initiative, hopes that it would be a credible tool in protecting the rights of children throughout the world. My delegation also wishes to encourage member States who have not done so, to consider signing and ratifying this new optional protocol.

Mr. Chairman,

Children’s right to education are integral to the development of their personalities, talents and abilities. The Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education remains a key priority for the international community, and it is important to build on the several milestones that have been achieved, including rising enrolment in primary education, as well as primary school enrolment of girls equalling to that of boys. The Maldives currently boasts universal access to free primary education and has achieved major improvements in its efforts to expand access to secondary education and beyond.

The Maldives remains committed to further develop and sustain these achievements; especially on enhancing the quality of education, providing inclusive education, particularly for children with special needs; as well as expanding and improving early childhood care and education. In this regard, the Pre-Schools Act which came into force this year, is part of our efforts to formalize early childhood education, and to make such opportunities accessible on an equitable basis to all children regardless of economic and social status.

The Maldives further remains committed to improving the health and wellbeing of children through affordable and quality health services, and by providing better access to healthcare. Although tackling the persistently high levels of under nutrition remains a challenge in the country, child survival has improved over the years. The Maldives has given utmost priority to the Reduction in Child Mortality Rates; and is proud to note the decline in trends of both the infant mortality rates and child mortality rates during the past 10 years.

Mr. Chairman,

While a number of initiatives exist, awareness has improved and attitudes have begun to change, children across the world continue to suffer and witness violence, abuse, exploitation and maltreatment regardless of their culture, class, or ethnic background.

Although the children in the Maldives are protected by law from physical and psychological abuse, a National Study on Violence against Children in 2008 in the Maldives has revealed that violence against children exist not only at home, but also at schools. The Maldives has relied heavily on the United Nations Study on Violence Against Children, and have put into operation many of its recommendations, including the child helpline, which was established in 2010.

The Maldives has undertaken a number of legislative and regulatory measures, as well as policy initiatives to strengthen the protection of children in the country. In this regard, the Special Measures for Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse Law passed in 2009, has lead to an increase in the number of cases being prosecuted, and the proposed Evidence Bill will also make it easier to prosecute and convict perpetrators of crimes against children. We are also currently in the process of revising the Children’s Bill, to replace the existing Act on the Protection of the Rights of Children 1991 This proposed Act will ensure that Maldivian domestic law is in greater compliance with the Convention and its optional protocols.

Mr. Chairman,

The shooting of the 14-year old school girl in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai, has been a horrific reminder of the urgent need to address the significant challenges faced by the international community in advancing the rights of children. Children are the most vulnerable members of our society, and there are millions of children like Malala across the world who are being denied their basic rights to education and well-being, millions of children live in poverty, become child brides, are trafficked and/or exposed to discrimination, violence, abuse and exploitation every single day.

We also remain deeply concerned by the serious situation posed by children in armed conflict. The recruitment and use of children in armed forces and armed groups, as well trafficking of children, their sale and sexual exploitation in organized crime are extremely troubling to the international community. The Maldives, in its national capacity and as a responsible member of the Human Rights Council, will continue in our efforts to combat these outrageous acts.

Mr Chairman,

My delegation was pleased to co-sponsor the resolution commemorating the International Day of the Girl Child. The inaugural celebration held last week was an important milestone in highlighting the vulnerabilities of the girl child, and the need for increased global action to protect their rights.

The Maldives believes that promotion and protection of children is a shared responsibility. To make greater advances and build on the progress that has already been achieved, requires concerned efforts by national governments, stronger inter-agency collaboration amongst stakeholders at all levels, as well as greater investments internationally.

Before I conclude, let me express my Delegation’s appreciation to UNICEF, for its continued assistance and support in enhancing the national capacity and strengthening the institutional mechanism dealing with all matters relating to children. We also look forward to collaborative engagement with the international community in the promotion of children’s right to survival, protection and development.

Thank you.

Statement by Ambassador Ahmed Sareer, Charge’ d’affairs of the Permanent Mission of the Maldives to the United Nations on Agenda Item 24 (a) – Follow-up to the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, 17 October 2012

Thank you Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I wish to thank the Secretary-General for his comprehensive reports on this agenda item, and commend Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharya, Under-Secretary General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States for his presentation on the subject.

The Maldives would also like to thank the Ad Hoc Working Group to further study and strengthen the smooth transition process for countries graduating from the least developed country category, for the report they produced on the basis of their work.  In particular, my Delegation wishes to record our appreciation to the distinguished permanent representatives of Belgium and Malawi for guiding the deliberations of the working group as co-chairs.

Let me also express our appreciation to the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) for their recent report produced during the fourteenth session earlier this year.

Mr. Chairman,

Being the most recently graduated country, the Maldives is in the second year of a three-year smooth transition process. Unfortunately, due to the daunting challenges arising from the inherent vulnerabilities of the country, the infancy of this program, and the lack of a coordinated commitment from our bilateral partners, this process has, up to now, been far from smooth.

The national transition strategy put in place to see us through this graduation proves to be hugely deficient, with the process requiring unexpected and uncalculated drastic changes to our national developmental policy and economic framework, thereby negatively affecting every sector of Maldivian society. As we argued, prior to our graduation, and as has become abundantly clear from our experience, graduation policy needs to be revamped and the creation of a greater role for the UN in donor monitoring is necessary.

Mr. Chairman,

The smooth transition strategy developed for the Maldives focused primarily on trade development with a secondary objective of maintaining development financing. Maldives has engaged extensively with the World Trade Organization (WTO), paving the way for measures that gave preferential treatment to LDC graduates. Efforts of the Maldives has been extended to all LDCs, such as our campaign for an extension on the application of the TRIPS agreement, which once won for the Maldives was then extended for all LDCs thereby moving the bar forward seven years.

The Maldives has been an advocate of Small and Vulnerable Economies, gaining access to the Enhanced Integrated Framework, and utilizing our Trade Policy Review to draw the attention of World Trade Organization Member States to the consequences of graduation and negotiate an Everything But Arms trade agreement with the European Union.  We now also have a similar zero tariff agreement with China for 60% of Maldives’ exports.

Mr. Chairman,

The Maldives reiterates its intention to join the EU’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+) scheme in an effort to ensure market access. However, it should be noted that the cost of meeting the eligibility requirements of this scheme will be substantial, requiring compliance with 27 international conventions on good governance, environment and labor.

The efforts expended by the Maldives to ensure that our trade options remain open were extensive but ultimately insufficient. When the Maldives first started contemplating graduation, our primary export item, tuna, contributed to more than 15% of our GDP. Today, due to the decline of the industry, in large part resulting from the depletion of tuna stocks in Maldivian waters, it now contributes an estimated 1.5%. By the time of our graduation in 2011, the primary focus of supplementing our trade agreements begun to have less impact on relieving the gap left by the loss of LDC status, particularly in official development assistance.

Mr. Chairman,

While the Maldives was able to hold a successful donor conference in 2010, with pledges of $313 million US dollars linked to the conference’s key themes of macro-economic reform, public sector reform, good governance, social development and climate change; the Maldives has seen only a fraction of those pledges fulfilled.  

The withdrawal of official developmental assistance from some major traditional donors and lack of access to concessionary finance, as well as the inability to reassess the situation in the country, has led to massive shortfalls and the formation of risky economic policies, some of which have proven to be harmful to the nation’s economic stability.

Instead of being an indicator of a robust business environment conducive to increased private and public sector investment, graduation from LDC status has led to greater economic uncertainty. Substantial Foreign Direct Investment did not materialize in non-traditional sectors, meaning any sector except the tourism industry. The fact remains that even today, the Maldives consists of a number of islands without even the most basic sewerage and water systems, with a geography that makes internal trade almost prohibitively expensive, and a fishing industry that is on the decline.

Mr. Chairman,

A smooth transition plan needs to be continually reassessed, and we must ensure that it is both effective and relevant. Graduation from LDC status is not meant to threaten the success of LDCs but rather to help them in the next logical step of their national development. While the formulation of our strategy was adequate for the time, it was not adaptive to the rapidly changing situation of the Maldives economy in the face of world economic slow-down. Indeed, the Maldives had success in pioneering new measures to mitigate the effects of graduation, however the question of whether those efforts were enough has not been answered in the positive. While a coherent formation of a national strategy, completed with the input of all stakeholders, is paramount, the execution of that national strategy must be monitored and supported as well. It is my Delegation’s proposal that this is done annually after graduation for the first three years and then triennially after that.

The Maldives emphasizes the need for a consultative mechanism that brings together multilateral agencies and donor states with the graduating country. We emphasize the need for this mechanism to be enduring in that it should remain active during the entire transition process and integrated with other consultative process between the graduating nation and its development partners.

Mr. Chairman,

The Maldives further believes that the vulnerabilities of nations must be taken into account as well. Though we enjoy a robust world-class tourism industry that has become the backbone and foundation of our economy, the Maldives remains extremely vulnerable to external shocks. Further, given the dispersed geographical nature of my nation, infrastructure development costs are often prohibitively high.  As with most Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the Maldives’ key productive capacity is inextricably linked to its natural environment and the durability of its fragile ecosystem. Given common measures for development, this means that our relatively high per-capita income often masts our high economic vulnerability and structural handicaps.

Mr. Chairman,

When it comes to the world’s least developed nations, it must be an obligation of the international community, in particular the United Nations, to ensure that the progress made by graduating countries is not reversed during the transition process. Yet the existing guidelines are lacking and unable to meet the burden they were designed for. It is in this spirit, and as a result of the arduous work of the Ad Hoc Working Group and drawing from their recommendations, together with the support of the LDC Group, that the Group of 77 and China will be submitting before this Committee a draft resolution on this subject, with the full support and endorsement of the Maldives. The draft resolution is aimed at easing access to concessionary finance, development assistance, technology transfer, and capacity building, while reinforcing procedural monitoring mechanisms of the entire process.

Thank you.