The Ombudsperson’s Office for Transitional Justice (OTJ) has conducted a series of focus group discussions on complaints about human rights violations, inhuman treatment and torture in Maldivian prisons that occurred from 1st January 1953 to 17th November 2018.
The meetings were held over two days and discussions were held with several relevant state institutions and mental health institutions. The main objectives of these meetings were to highlight the findings of OTJ’s closed hearings on torture in Maldivian prisons, to discuss ways to prevent such incidents, and to exchange relevant information. In addition to this, making recommendations to state institutions to improve the conditions of prisons in the country in light of the information obtained from the focus group discussions was also one of the main aims of these meetings.
The discussion meetings were held from 03 July 2023 to 04 July 2023. The meetings were attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health, Maldives Police Service, Maldives Correctional Service and Hulhumalé Hospital.