Attorney General Ahmed Usham has said that criminalising genocide is essential to safeguard the legal arguments presented by the Maldives at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in defence of Palestinian and Rohingya Muslims.
Usham made these remarks on X amid concern that the proposed bill is an attempt to suppress anti-Zionist sentiment and criticism surrounding the Rasmalé project.
The government-sponsored bill, introduced by Maafannu South MP Abdulla Rifau, was scheduled for its first reading in today’s parliamentary session but was abruptly removed from the agenda. The Parliament Secretariat has yet to disclose the reason for its removal.
Regarding the criminalisation of genocide, Usham noted that the Maldives acceded to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on April 24, 1984. The convention mandates that member states enact necessary domestic legislation and establish criminal penalties for acts of genocide.
"Forty-two years have passed since then, and the Maldives has yet to fulfill this obligation," Usham said.
Usham further emphasised that failing to meet this requirement could undermine the Maldives' efforts to hold nations accountable at the ICJ for ongoing and past genocides against Muslims.
"While the Maldives calls on other nations to respect the Genocide Convention, our failure to fulfil a mandatory obligation under that same treaty impacts the legal standing of the points we submit," he explained.
The Attorney General maintained that the proposed amendment to the Penal Code is a necessary step to align national law with international obligations.
The Maldives formally moved to intervene in the case against Myanmar regarding the genocide of Rohingya Muslims on November 16, 2023. More recently, on October 1, 2024, the country filed to intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel concerning the genocide in Gaza.
The government’s bill defines genocide as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, including killing members of the group or causing serious bodily or mental harm. Critics argue the current phrasing of the article could be interpreted to penalize Maldivians for anti-Zionist rhetoric if such speech is construed as calling for the destruction of a specific group.
The bill proposes prison sentences ranging from 10 to 25 years for the crime of genocide. It also seeks to criminalise direct and public incitement to commit genocide.
