Foundation convenes a workshop on applying “A Human Rights-Based Approach to Judicial Decision-Making” in Kulhudhuffushi, the Maldives

Between 23-24 October 2024, judges from the Magistrate Courts attended the last of the three workshops delivered in the Maldives’ atolls in 2024 on this topic.

The workshops are part of the second stage of the training-of-trainers programme organised and delivered by the Max Planck Foundation in partnership with the Department of Judicial Administration and the Judicial Academy since 2023. Following the completion of both training-of-trainers programmes in 2023, judges from the specialised courts, the High Court and the Supreme Court cascade their experience together with the acquired knowledge and skills through three capacity-building workshops for magistrates of the Maldives in 2024.

The programme aims to introduce the concept of a human rights-based approach to judicial reasoning and recognise its significance in advancing the rights of vulnerable and marginalised individuals, such as women, children, persons with disabilities, migrant workers, and persons deprived of liberty. The workshop for the magistrates was designed in consultation with judges who attended the training-of-trainers programme.

Justice Aisha Shujune from the Supreme Court of the Maldives delivered the inaugural session on the introduction to international human rights law and the obligations emanating from the international instruments ratified by the Maldives. Justice Shujune also conducted a session on gender-based violence and the role of the judiciary in adjudicating such cases.

Judge Huzaifa Mohamed from the High Court of the Maldives conceptualised a human rights-based approach for the magistrates and underscored the significance of judicial reasoning to strengthen this approach. Judge Huzaifa’s subsequent session delved into the application of the principle of the best interests of the child in the Maldivian context.

Judge Dheebanaz Fahmy from the High Court of the Maldives presented on applying a human rights-based approach to fundamental rights applications brought before them. She also conducted sessions on the right to equality, non-discrimination, and fair trial rights that underpin such an approach.

Each session had a thematic and practical component geared towards encouraging participants to reflect on the opportunities and challenges of integrating a human rights-based approach in their work. This made the workshop highly interactive, where the participating magistrates analysed several case studies, shared their findings in the larger forum, and had peer-to-peer exchanges.

This workshop was the third and last in the roll-out programme organised under the German Federal Foreign Office-funded project At the Crossroad Between Progressive Reforms and Democratic Backsliding: Supporting the Stabilisation of the Maldives’.