The Maldives government has agreed to accept recommendations given by Universal Period Review at the UN Human Rights Council regarding the reforms in the judicial system in the country.
To ensure transparency and fairness, Maldives’ UPR has given 258 recommendations, out of which Maldives has accepted 198 rejecting 60.
According to Maldives Independent, the judiciary came under fire during the UPR session on May 6 over “politicisation,” inadequate qualification of judges, and lack of conformity to international fair trial standards as well as the Supreme Court’s contempt of court cases against the Elections Commission and Human Rights Commission of Maldives.
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The recommendations included reforming the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) process of selecting and appointing judges, reviewing the oversight body’s composition, and implementing recommendations made by the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers in 2013.
The government had initially deferred a decision on 78 recommendations – including calls for judicial reform from numerous countries – pending “national level consultations.”
The council was informed of the decision to accept 67 and reject 11 earlier this month.
The government said it has published a five-year legislative agenda with the support of the UNDP for legal reform whilst the Supreme Court in August endorsed a “continuous education curriculum” for building capacity in the judiciary.
Read the full report here.