A century of social policy

The first boys’ school marked a shift towards general education as public policy, beyond schooling that had been limited to a minority.

Opened as a branch of the boys’ school and later became an exclusive girls’ school.

A constitutional referendum replaced the monarchy. The first President, Mohamed Amin, was overthrown within a year, and a 1954 referendum restored the monarchy.

Independence from Britain on 26 July 1965.

After an April 1968 vote to end the monarchy, a new Constitution establishing the Second Republic was adopted on 11 November 1968.

Established in Malé, two years after the Allied Health Services Training Centre of 1973.

The first drug legislation, described as very simple and reflective of the drug situation of the time.

Residential care for boys described as having behavioural issues. Later renamed the Educational and Training Centre for Children; closed in 2013.

Accession to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Established alongside the Vocational Training Centre and the Institute for Teacher Education, later amalgamated into the Maldives College of Higher Education.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified on 11 February 1991 and the first domestic child rights law passed the same year. Law 9/91 was largely declaratory, setting out principles without enforcement mechanisms, institutional mandates or penalties.

Established within the Ministry of Home Affairs as secretariat to the National Council for Children’s Rights, chaired by the Minister of Home Affairs.

Accession with reservations on Articles 7(a) and 16. The Optional Protocol followed in 2006 and the Article 7 reservation was withdrawn in 2010; reservations on parts of Article 16, on equal rights in marriage, remain.

By the first reporting cycle to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, a growing gender-inequality agenda moved the Unit for the Rights of Children to the Ministry of Youth, Women and Social Welfare.

Law No. 17/77 amended to distinguish users from suppliers, with harsher punishment for suppliers and opportunities to reform for users.

Established on 1 August 1997.

Established on 16 November 1997 to coordinate demand reduction, manage rehabilitation programmes and liaise with national and international drug control and law enforcement agencies.

Consolidated the existing training centres into a single college.

Established by Presidential Decree to regulate higher education quality assurance; renamed the Maldives Qualifications Authority in 2010.

Enacted on 12 December 2000. The primary law on marriage, divorce, custody, maintenance and related family matters. Amended in 2013 and 2016.

The 20 September 2001 repeal of mandatory reporting provisions left a gap in the legal framework for reporting child abuse that was not closed until the Child Rights Protection Act 2019.

Introduced condominium registration, allowing individual units within a building to be registered, mortgaged and sold.

Adoption of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The Optional Protocol on children in armed conflict followed in 2004.

Accession to the Convention Against Torture.

Established in March 2004 as a wholly government-owned entity.

Accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and to the CEDAW Optional Protocol in the same year.

The first systematic child protection guidance, drawing on England’s Working Together guidance.

A one-year Advanced Diploma in Social Service Work, later replaced by the four-year undergraduate Social Work degree at the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Established the Employment Tribunal to protect the rights of employers and employees.

Issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, with capacity building among its six focus areas.

The first national drug control master plan, developed with UNODC assistance.

Introduced in 2008 by one account and 2009 by another; Madhana Plus in 2010 extended cover to international medical services for an annual contribution of MVR 1,500. Both were replaced by Aasandha in 2012.

Ratified on 7 August 2008.

Formed on 27 August 2008 under the National Social Health Insurance Act and mandated to administer the National Social Health Insurance Scheme.

A child under 13 is not deemed able to consent to sexual acts. Like the later Sexual Offences Act, it prescribes burdensome evidence requirements for proving sexual violence.

Assistance for the elderly began as the Senior Citizen’s Allowance in January 2009 and, after the Maldives Pension Act (8/2009) in April, became the Old-Age Basic Pension for citizens over 65, alongside the contributory Maldives Retirement Pension Scheme.

Toll-free child helpline initiated by the government in November 2009.

Replaced atoll and island chiefs with elected councillors, who hold significant power in the atoll community, including in child protection.

Maintained by the Maldives Police Service and in use since 2010, collecting aggregate data on case types by atoll, resolution times and trends. Expanded into a multi-sectoral platform in 2016.

Established by the Ministry of Health and Family with UNICEF support as a community-led approach to social problems and timely access to services; revisited in 2016.

A ceiling of MVR 3,000 a month has applied since the scheme’s inception in 2010.

Ratified in April 2010.

Enacted on 8 July 2010. Affirms rights to education, healthcare, employment, access to public spaces and freedom from discrimination, and established the non-contributory, non-means-tested Disability Allowance of MVR 2,000 a month.

Passed in August 2010, establishing the Tobacco Control Board. The first regulation under it, the ban on smoking in public places, took effect in January 2013.

Replaced the 1977 law. Established the National Drug Agency and a Drug Court, and introduced measures to move drug-dependent people into treatment and rehabilitation.

The legal basis for the National Social Health Insurance Scheme.

The national thalassaemia programme includes a legal requirement for screening before marriage and legalises prenatal diagnosis and medical termination of pregnancy.

Introduced in January 2012 for all Maldivian citizens, replacing Madhana and Madhana Plus. Expanded in 2014 to Husnuvaa Aasandha, an unlimited scheme.

Established in 2012. The formal regulatory framework came with the Child Rights Protection Act 2019 and the Regulation on Reintegration in 2020.

Ratified in April 2012. Recognised and criminalised domestic violence for the first time.

Criminalises trafficking in persons, with 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment, and provides for protection and assistance for victims.

Adopted by the Ministry of Education so that children with disabilities can attend mainstream schools without discrimination. The implementing unit became a department in 2018.

Regulation under the Disability Act requiring accessibility in health facilities, education, training and therapy centres and centres for people under state care. Compliance remains weak.

Ratified on 7 August 2013.

The new criminal code. Section 416 governs abortion, criminalising it after 120 days of gestation except in defined circumstances.

The national legal framework regulating government-provided social protection and assistance.

Ratified on 13 May 2014, providing for sexual offences and the procedures relating to them. Its section 20 recognised marital rape only in four conditions until the 2021 amendment.

Passed on 27 April and ratified on 13 May 2014. Every workplace must display its sexual harassment policy, publish its complaint procedure and brief employees on it.

Established by upgrading the former College of Islamic Studies.

Implemented by the Ministry of Education through the adoption of its Child Protection Policy.

The Ministry publishes offenders.mv, listing people sentenced for child sexual abuse under Act 12/2009, searchable by name, national ID or island.

The regulatory framework under which the Ministry of Health acts as national authority for health policy, and the law governing practice of the health professions.

Developed by the Ministry of Health with WHO technical assistance.

The police-maintained database became a multi-sectoral platform for reporting and data sharing.

The health sector’s strategic plan, which with the RMNCAH strategy addresses gender-based violence within the health system.

Ratified on 28 April 2016.

Established as a separate ministry on 22 June 2016.

Passed by the People’s Majlis on 16 August 2016 and gazetted on 23 August. Prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender and promotes gender equality in public and family life. Article 42 requires a national action plan.

The first National Action Plan on Prevention and Response to Violence Against Children, renewed for 2024–2028.

Launched on 1 October 2017, the International Day of Older Persons.

Formed by the government that took office in November 2018, with a mandate covering all social protection and services.

‘Caring State and Dignified Families’ mandates the Ministry to run country-wide parenting awareness programmes, including on child maltreatment and abuse.

Published with the Education Sector Analysis, with support from the Global Partnership for Education.

Developed by the Ministry of Education and UNICEF and launched in February 2019 under the government’s 100-day plan.

Finances 65 per cent of the cost of health services for Maldivian nationals living in India and Sri Lanka.

The 2019 amendment to the Decentralisation Act reserved 33 per cent of local council seats for women. At the next election 388 women were elected, 39.5 per cent of seats.

Established in 2019 with budgetary support allocated for mental health care.

Endorsed in 2019 in line with the government’s manifesto and the Strategic Action Plan.

Ratified on 20 November 2019. Restored mandatory reporting of child abuse, created the Children’s Ombudsperson and provides the framework for foster and alternative care.

Ratified alongside the Child Rights Protection Act. Sets the age of criminal responsibility at 15.

Replaced separate strategies with one covering reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health as a continuum of care.

The Regulation on Reintegration (2020/R-30), in force from May 2020, covers foster care with an emphasis on long-term planning, kinship care and family settings. The Regulation on Alternative Care Provision Guidelines (2020-R-69) defines alternative care as temporary shelter arrangements by the State.

Appointed by the President on 23 July 2020 under the Child Rights Protection Act.

Ratified on 10 November 2020.

Ratified on 6 December 2021. Nullified section 20, criminalised marital rape without exceptions, and revised the section 6 definition of rape.

Community-level identification and referral run through the Haalu Kihine programme and the IBAMA mechanism, whose name translates as ‘You and I together’.

First established in January 2022.

Launched in March 2022 with a Steering Committee chaired by the President, as the instrument required by Article 42 of the Gender Equality Act.

Opened on 10 October 2022 in partnership with Cadabams Hospital of Bangalore.

Developed under the World Bank-funded COVID-19 Emergency Income Support Project and endorsed by Cabinet on 16 October 2022.

The third national strategy, listed alongside the Domestic Violence Prevention Act among the key instruments in UNICEF’s 2025 Situation Analysis.

Launched in January 2023; 14,566 people registered as of July 2025.

An additional MVR 1,000 added to the basic allowance from June 2023, giving a range of MVR 3,000 to MVR 6,000.

Renews the plan first formulated in 2017.

Regulation under the Disability Act on providing employment opportunities to persons with disabilities.

Identifies domestic violence as a strategic priority alongside organised crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking, cybercrime and terrorism.

Integrated in late 2024, enabling cross-referencing against the National Social Protection Agency’s database of assistance recipients.

The current strategic framework for mental health services.