Foreign relations of the Maldives

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maldives

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Maldives

Constitution President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom Majlis Political parties Elections Atolls Foreign relations Foreign aid

Other countries · Politics Portal view • talk • edit

Maldives follows a nonaligned policy and is committed to maintaining friendly relations with all countries. The country has Permanent Mission to UN Offices in New York and Geneva, High Commissions in Sri Lanka, India and the United Kingdom, Malaysia, a trade representative in Singapore, and a Tourist Information Bureau in Germany. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka maintain resident embassies in Malé. Denmark, Norway, the UK, Germany, Russian Federation, Italy, France, Netherlands, Turkey, and Sweden have consular agencies in Malé under the supervision of their embassies in Sri Lanka and India. Maldives is the only country that has a Consulate in a non-metropolitan Indian City. The Consulate was established in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala State, on 12th July 2005. The UNDP has a representative resident in Malé, as do UNICEF and WHO. Many countries have nonresident ambassadors accredited to the Maldives, most of them based in Sri Lanka or India.

The Maldives does not have any disputes with any of its neighbours. India provides extensive security co-operation especially after Operation Cactus in 1988 which repelled Tamil mercenaries who invaded the country. The maritime borders with India and Sri Lanka were demarcated through bilateral negotiations and agreements deposited with the UN Secretary General. The maritime border with the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) remains undemarcated, with negotiations with the UK being broken off by the Maldives in the late 1990s. However, the Maldives has rejected offers by Mauritius to open negotiations on the demarcation of the maritime boundary between the Chagos Archipelago, which forms part of the BIOT.

As founder member in 1985 of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, SAARC,which brings together Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, country plays a very active role in SAARC. The Maldives has taken the lead in calling for a South Asian Free Trade Agreement, the formulation of a Social Charter, the initiation of informal political consultations in SAARC forums, the lobbying for greater action on environmental issues, the proposal of numerous human rights measures such as the regional convention on child rights and for setting up a SAARC Human Rights Resource Centre. The Maldives is also an advocate of greater international profile for SAARC such as through formulating common positions at the UN.

The Maldives also maintains close cultural relations with Islamic countries, and is a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). However, the Maldives has often distanced itself from positions taken by the OIC on matters such as the Kashmir dispute, which it regards as a bilateral to be settled peacefully between India and Pakistan. It has also not supported the OIC position on issues such as that of Cyprus, subscribing to the stance taken by the UN.

In 1982, the Maldives joined the Commonwealth of Nations, first as special member and in 1985 became full member.

The Maldives has lately become a very strong advocate of human rights, as one of the earliest supporters of the Human Rights Council. For the past two years running, the Maldives was the only South Asian country to have voted against North Korea on human rights issues. In 2006, the Maldives acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, together with its optional protocol, as well as the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 2005, the Maldives became one of the promoters of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture after having earlier acceded to the Convention against Torture. The Maldives is party to the Child Rights Convention, the Convention on the elimination of discrimination against women and its optional protocol. In April 2006, the Maldives issued a standing invitation to all special procedures mandates of the UN human rights machinery to visit to the Maldives.

While strongly supportive of the Palestinian cause, the Maldives had however, not supported earlier calls for the expulsion of Israel from the UN, upholding its commitment to maintaining the universality of the UN. In 2005, the Maldives co-sponsored the resolution tabled by USA on the holocaust remembrance and in 2007 it also co-sponsored the US-led resolution on condemning holocaust denial. In response to the Oslo peace process, the Maldives relaxed private sector restrictions on ties with Israel.

At the UN, the Maldives has highlighted the vulnerability of small states to various threats including terrorism, activities of mercenaries and organised crime. It is also a strong advocate of counter-terrorism, and is party to all the main UN conventions against terrorism.

Development co-operation is a major priority of the Maldives and it has been campaigning at the UN for a more structured means of graduation from the list of least developed countries targeted for preferential assistance. The main donors of the Maldives are Japan, India, and Australia.