Maldives: Conclusive report into child concubines soon- Police

Two months long police investigations into alleged incidents of under-age concubines where children have been kept as sex slaves by religious extremists will conclude soon.

“Police have gathered information from the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital into the matter. At this moment we cannot say whether alleged reports into child concubines are true or false,” Police Media Coordinator Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam told Asian Tribune.

“But it won’t take long before we conclude the probe proving the matter either way.”

Media reports citing incidents where children have been taken to hospitals after being sexually abused by men who keep them as concubines surfaced last month.

It prompted President Nasheed to order a police probe, with the Family and Child Protection Unit, under the Criminal Investigations Department of Police now investigating the matter.

A parliamentarian from the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party too had informed President Nasheed of incidents of child concubines.

The MDP MP “told the president of several cases where under-age girls taken to hospital were discovered to have been sexually abused,” Minivan news reported quoting President Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair.

“The women who took the girls had told the doctors that they were their husbands’ concubines,” Zuhair had said in the media report.

Sexual abuse and discrimination against women and the girl child, largely blamed on religious extremism, remains a major issue in the Maldives.

One in three women between the ages of 15 and 49 reported some form of physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives, according to the Maldives’ Gender Ministry.

And, one in six women in Male’ and one in eight countrywide reported experiencing childhood sexual abuse under the age of 15.

Adding to the disturbing figures, the Maldives Human Rights Commission recently lambasted the government over mounting religious extremism in the country that has resulted in discrimination against women.

Ahmed Saleem, President of the Commission recently told a news conference that extremism has seen girls not being sent to schools, not giving vaccinations to children and forcing girls to marry at a young age.
"We are not just saying these things. We are saying this with proof and evidence. Not giving vaccinations to children is also a reality. Also, forcing girls to marry at a young age, this too is a reality. We have evidence of this,” media reports quoted Saleem as saying.

However, the Commission has yet to come up with conclusive evidence on child concubines.

A probe into reports of under-age concubines has revealed that 85 girls below the age of 18 have taken pregnancy tests at the IGMH this year, from January to September.

Further investigations are on to determine if these are related to concubines, according to the commission.

- Asian Tribune -