PRESS RELEASE

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DELEGATION VISITS MALDIVES

Male', 28.03.2005

The European Parliament's Delegation for relations with countries of south Asia and the SAARC visited the Maldives 25-28 March 2005. This is the first time ever the European Parliament comes to the country.

The delegation was led by Mrs. Neena Gill (UK), Chairperson of the Delegation. It included five other Members of the European parliament (MEPs), from four different political groups: Mr. Jan MULDER (Netherlands), Mr. Jo LEINEN (Germany), Mr. Thomas MANN (Germany), Mrs. Jean LAMBERT (UK) and Mr. Ivo BELET (Belgium).

They met with President Gayoom on the 27 March and with several members of the government, including the acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General, the Minister for Planning and National Development and the Minister for Trade.

The MEPs also met with the Human Rights Commission, visited the Rehabilitation Centre on Maafushi Island and met with Mohamed Zaki, Ahmad Didi and Fathimath Nisreen, the persons sentenced because of their activity in the Sandhaanu newsletter.

The MEPs, who are involved in the European Union's budget for aid, also visited the Centre for Disaster Management in Male'. They were impressed by the quality of the planning and the good co-ordination of the different ministries among themselves and with international donors.

They visited the severely tsunami-affected island of Haafushi and went to Maamigili to meet the people displaced from the evacuated island of Madifushi.

The MEPs appreciated that relief operations have been carried out in such a way as to provide not only the most basic humanitarian relief in an efficient way, but also to quickly establish decent temporary shelters.

They were extremely impressed to observe that building of new permanent houses was already taking place in a very efficient manner, involving the people concerned both in the construction work itself and in the design of their future homes.

The MEPS noted that the affected persons showed lots of energy and were optimistic despite their sufferings.

The MEPS have decided to commit themselves in their parliamentary activity to making the European public aware that, albeit there have been fewer casualties in the Maldives than in other countries of the region, the damage to the infrastructures and the economy is proportionally higher and that the donors should not overlook the needs of the country.

They will communicate their conclusions to the European Commission, which manages the budgets for humanitarian and reconstruction aid.

In the Parliament, the MEPS attended the proceedings of the Special Majlis. They called on the Speaker of the People's Majlis, the Speaker of the Special Majlis and had a number of meetings on several occasions with Members of the Parliament.

They discussed extensively with parliamentarians from all political tendencies issues such as the reform agenda and the conditions for it to be successful, the situation of Human Rights in the country and the functioning of the judicial system, the post-tsunami international assistance, in particular from the European Union (EU), and the trade relations of Maldives with the EU.

Regarding the reform agenda, the delegation expressed its support both for the principles and the objectives of this programme. While fully confirming the content of the resolution passed in the European Parliament on 16 September 2004 based on the then prevailing situation, they ensured their Maldivian counterparts that they would confirm sympathy and confidence in the reform agenda with their colleagues in the House.

They felt however that the success of the reform process depended heavily on the ability of the government to prove its commitment to implementing the principles of the reform agenda even before the new constitutional framework is in place, and on the Special Majlis' efforts to proceed as quickly as the society expects it to.

Mrs. Gill said: ''It is critical that the Special Majlis delivers a text compliant with international standards and in line with the public's expectations. Otherwise, the frustration both inside and outside the country would be as high as the current hopes are.

This involves in particular a marked improvement of the press and media scene to allow the expression of a plurality of opinions, in particular in the audiovisual media, a faster and more liberal consideration of requests for creating new media, in particular newspapers, encouragement rather than control of civil society organisations and openness in the judicial proceedings so as to better protect the rights of the individual in criminal law cases both before and after judgment. All these are policy actions that can and should be implemented even before the new constitution.

If such positive moves are delayed the international community would find it difficult to believe that the intentions of the government are genuine. They are needed at the beginning, not at the end of the reform agenda.''

In the view of the representatives of the European Parliament, such positive moves would also help create a climate of trust between the various parts of the political spectrum so as to ensure that the Maldives enter multi-party democracy in a climate of healthy political competition rather than of mutual distrust and confrontation.

The MEPs also shared their experience with their colleagues of the Special Majlis on constitutional matters and on a number of aspects of parliamentary work, in particular on steering committee, in-house political working groups and organisation of speaking time.

Mr. Jo Leinen, who is the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee in the European Parliament, said: ''the prestige of a Parliament is greatly enhanced when its Members accept to subject themselves to a number of technical limitations for the sake efficiency, thus delivering tangible results to the citizens. Constraints such as deadlines, rules on the presentation of amendments in the house, limitations in the speaking time, delegation of house-keeping decisions to the Speaker or to a steering committee, far from weakening the privileges of the members, allow them to concentrate on the substance of their political work and carry their tasks in a more satisfactory way both for them and for their voters.”

The European Parliament is the democratically elected body of the European Union. Its 732 Members are elected directly by the citizens of the 25 countries which are Member states of the EU. More information on the European Parliament at www.eurooarl.eu.int

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