Attorney General Ahmed Usham has explained that the government bill to criminalise genocide in the Maldives Penal Code is being introduced to meet longstanding obligations under the Genocide Convention.
In a social media post, Usham noted that the Maldives acceded to the convention on 24 April 1984. Member states are required to enact domestic laws defining the offence and setting penalties. The 2014 Penal Code did not include genocide, leaving the obligation unfulfilled for 42 years.
The bill, submitted on behalf of the government by Maafannu South MP Abdulla Rifau, would make specific acts against a national, racial, ethnic or religious group a first-degree felony. These include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, and forcibly transferring children. The basic sentence is 10 years, with a maximum of 25 years.
Direct and public incitement would also be an offence. Superior orders or claims that the act was permitted by law would not constitute a defence. When committed by the President, a minister, a member of the People's Majlis, a judge or a senior security commander, the offence would be a first-degree felony; otherwise it would be second-degree.
Usham pointed out that the Maldives has intervened in International Court of Justice cases concerning alleged genocide, including The Gambia v. Myanmar and South Africa v. Israel. Failing to implement the convention domestically, he said, weakens the legal position the country advances in those proceedings.
Work on the bill is expected to begin in the People's Majlis shortly.
