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| Human rights & gender equality advocate, Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib |
Following is an exclusive interview given to
Adam Mohamed of Adamington Online by the Research and Advocacy Coordinator at non-partisan
NGO Transparency Maldives, Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib via an email after a Direct
Message (DM) session of Twitter. Human rights
& gender equality advocate Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib’s research interests are in the areas of
human rights, gender equality and the religion Islam. He is also known
as an active member in the civil society sector of the Maldives.
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Adam Mohamed: In general, Human rights
are known as the moral principles which describe certain standards of human behavior.
What is the broad definition of human rights according to the universal
declaration of human rights?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: According to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the foundation of freedom, justice and peace
is the equal rights of humans. The failure to recognize and disregard human
rights has resulted in cruel acts limiting space for enjoying human rights. The
UDHR sets a common standard of achievement for all the peoples.
Adam Mohamed: People who do not know
their rights are vulnerable and easy prey for ill-intended individuals. It is
also said that countries such as Syria, Somalia, Libya, Cuba and Saudi Arabia
are more places where people suffer from some of the most severe, systematic
abuses of human rights. Do you believe that human rights violation is happening
in Maldives in a wide range without being noticed to the established system in
our nation?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: It is possible that
individuals who are not aware of what their rights are might fail to realize when a right has been abused. It is the duty of the State to protect and
promote human rights and freedoms as stipulated in Article 18 of the
Constitution.
Majority of the countries,
including the Maldives are party to the major human rights treaties. Despite
this, more than 150 countries out of the 193 countries that belong to United
Nations (UN) engage in torture. The universality of human rights is often
questioned and contested with valid reasoning. Traditional human rights
champions, including Europe and the United States (US) have involved in rights
violations, for instance US used torture after 9/11, and still use drone strike
in which civilians are killed. Therefore, it is inconvenient to say which
countries are more vulnerable and which countries are offenders when it comes
to human rights.
Multiple human rights
violations do take place in the Maldives, without a doubt. And the ‘established
system’ is very well aware of such violations and often complicit. A
fundamental idea of the rights-based approach is that the individuals/citizens
are the rights holders whereas the State is the fundamental duty bearer. It is
therefore a responsibility of the State to ensure that rights are not violated.
Chapter two of the Maldives Constitution lists the fundamental rights and
freedoms. However, in the past few years, several rights, including freedom of
assembly and freedom of media has been deteriorated through legislative
changes. Additionally, the State is failing to ensure fundamental rights such
as right to life, liberty and security of person. One can argue that it is
systematic failures that led to the brutal murder of Dr. Afrasheem Ali in 2012,
abduction of Ahmed Rilwan in 2015, and the recent brutal murder of Yameen
Rasheed, and the several other murders of Maldivians and expatriate workers in
the Maldives.
Adam Mohamed: Fundamental rights are
generally regarded as a set of legal protections in the context of a legal
system which belong without presumption or any cost of privilege to all human
beings. What do you believe as the biggest threat or challenge facing to the fundamental
human rights in Maldives?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: Politics transcends
everything including human rights. I strongly believe that it is the elite
political culture that is a key challenge to the protection of human rights in
the Maldives. Undemocratic practices and the complicit relationship between
politics and corrupt and criminal elements in the society hinder the protection
of human rights, in efforts to maintain the elite political culture.
Adam Mohamed: Democracy is said to be at
risk in Maldives precisely as many citizens today don't feel they are effective
participants in the political process due to many barriers within the system.
What should be the central premise of democratic practice in a democratic
nation?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: Citizens do participate in
the political processes in the Maldives. For instance, in the 2013 Presidential
Elections over 90% of eligible voters voted. Political parties have significant
membership. However, the political culture of the Maldives does not facilitate
deliberative democracy, and therefore people’s participation does not
necessarily include reasoning and justifications of political decisions.
Adam Mohamed: A nationwide survey report,
titled, “A Troubled Future for Democracy” by Transparency Maldives two years
back says that most citizens lack confidence in key state institutions
including the parliament and the courts of Maldives. How important is it to
have effective links between the citizens and the state in a democracy?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: The legitimacy of a
government in a democracy is grounded in the support and trust of the citizens.
The low level of trust in State institutions in an expression of thinning
legitimacy of a government. To ensure a legitimate democratic system of
governance, it is important that the State genuinely understands the discontent
of the citizens, and regain trust. One avenue through which this can be
achieved is by promoting deliberative democracy where State actors continuously
and vigorously engage with citizens.
Adam Mohamed: A democracy is said to be a
system of government in which power is vested in the people which provides its
citizens with the most freedom. In your opinion, is democracy the best form of
government for Maldives?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: There is a strong support
for democracy in the Maldives. In 2015, 62% of Maldivians agreed that democracy
is the best system for Maldives, despite problems as shown in the survey “A
Troubled Future for Democracy”. This is an increase from 59% in 2013. However,
it is important to address the existing issues including addressing the elite
political culture in the Maldives. Democracy and Ethics, as John Keane argues,
is much neglected today. Democracy’s key ethic, humility is necessary to ensure
equality.
Adam Mohamed: Islam specifies 3 basic
features which should be in a government: leaders must be elected by the
people, subject to sharia and committed to practicing "shura". Some
believe that democracy is in contradiction with Islam; however, while much of
the Muslim population in the world lives within democratic countries. In your
view, can we say Islam isn't compatible with democracy?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: Neither democracy, nor Islam
is a fixed; both are multi-vocal. There are multiple debates around the
compatibility of democracy and Islam. During former President Maumoon’s
presidency, one of his key efforts was to promote one-people “eh baeh vanthakan” as opposed to
diversity and acceptance of diversity. This effort was a huge failure. Multiple
issues related to ideological divides today is partly a reflection of this
failure. The focus of this matter (compatibility of democracy and Islam) should
be on coexistence. A prediction that I would agree is that Maldives requires a
reconfiguration of the political system to ensure humility and tolerance in
order to avoid a major conflict between multiple ideologies.
Adam Mohamed: Media plays a crucial role
in shaping a healthy democracy & is said to be the sword arm in a
democracy. How important is the role of an independent media in a democratic country?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: Independent media can be a
tricky term. For example, if we look at media landscape in the Maldives, most
or all of the media are aligned with one or the other political party, or are
owned by politicians. Conversely, a free media is important for a democratic
society. Authoritarian regimes often control the media to serve and maintain
their power structure. However, in a
democracy media should be able freely disseminate politically relevant
information to the public so that the public is well informed. Free media, in
this case acts as a watchdog. Additionally, media should also be able to
function as a public forum that reflects the diversity of the society.
Adam Mohamed: The success of democracy
depends on the decentralization of power. Through a system of local governance,
people can obtain their democratic rights. How do you believe decentralization
could satisfy the needs and grievances of the people at local and regional
level?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: Decentralization is
advocated as a way out of corruption, weak institutions and low levels of
legitimacy among other things. It is also meant to address poor public service
provisions. There are multiple factors that would make decentralization meaningful. For instance, strong local accountability mechanisms should be in
place to ensure that citizens can hold politicians responsible and accountable
for their decisions. For local governments to function properly, and address
the needs of citizens, devolution is necessary. With devolution, the central
government transfers decision making, finance, and management powers to local
governments. Without these powers, it
would be impossible for a local government to properly govern the geographical
boundary over which they have authority upon.
Adam Mohamed: According to the
constitution, Maldives is a multi-party democracy; a system of government in
which more than two political parties truly have a chance to get real political
power. In Maldives we see that one political party typically holds a majority
in the legislature and is usually referred to as the majority or governing
party while the other is the minority or opposition party. In this context, do
you believe a bi-party system could be useful to Maldives than a multi-party
system?
Mr. Ibrahim Thayyib: I strongly believe that
right to association should not be limited; likewise no one should be forced to
belong to an association. Article 30(a) of the Constitution states that every
citizen has the right to establish and participate in the activities of
political parties. I also dispute the dissolution of ‘small’ political parties
in the Maldives. Once again, the focus should be about moving away from the
elite political culture towards humility, deliberation, diversity and
tolerance.
Note: Mr. Ibrahim
Thayyib is a human rights & gender equality advocate & a certified
Gender Trainer from Maldives. He holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights & Democratization from the University of Sydney, Australia. He is
currently the Research and Advocacy Coordinator at Transparency Maldives,
a national chapter of Transparency International which is the leading global
movement against corruption.
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