Maldives: Report on the Environment for Media

29 January 2025

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), in collaboration with the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA), recently launched the report Maldives: Overview of the Environment for Media, providing a broad look at the situation facing the media and journalists in the Maldives. The report is an updated version of a 2021 report by the same name prepared by CLD in collaboration with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and MJA.

“The environment for freedom of expression and media freedom in the Maldives varies considerably based on the political environment,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “We call on the current government to preserve the positive elements of the legal framework while also introducing the needed improvements, as outlined in the report, to bring laws and practices into line with international standards.”

The report starts by providing an overview of international standards on freedom of expression, followed by an analysis of Maldivian constitutional guarantees. Subsequent sections of the report focus on regulation of the media, content restrictions and transparency, each broken down into sub-sections. The report concludes with a detailed “Blueprint for Change: Promoting Freedom of Expression”, which puts forward numerous recommendations, including the following:

• • Putting in place effective measures to end attacks on journalists for exercising their freedom of expression and to bring perpetrators to justice.
  • Repealing the Newspapers and Magazines Act, 1978.
  • Undertaking a comprehensive review of restrictions on content to bring them into line with international standards.
  • Amending the Communications Authority of Maldives Act and Broadcasting Act to ensure the independence of their respective regulators, namely the Communications Authority of Maldives and the Maldives Broadcasting
  • Bringing the Right to Information Act more fully into line with international standards, including by removing overbroad exceptions and empowering the Information Commissioner to enforce his or her decisions through a non-criminal judicial procedure.

The report is available here.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy