Home > Projects > Maldives > At the Crossroad Between Progressive Reforms and Democratic Backsliding: Supporting the Stabilisation of the Maldives

At the Crossroad Between Progressive Reforms and Democratic Backsliding: Supporting the Stabilisation of the Maldives

The Max Planck Foundation launched its third project in the Maldives through funding from the German Federal Foreign Office. The project aims to support the advancement of the Maldivian Government’s progressive reform agenda, and to also ensure the long-term, systematic implementation of these reforms by state and non-state justice system actors. The project seeks to achieve these goals in two ways. Firstly, it will support the progressive reform agenda, ensuring that the legislative process is insulated from anti-democratic influences and that sustainable standards for better law-making are institutionalised. Secondly, it will promote public trust in the justice system by equipping judges, lawyers and civil society actors with the knowledge and skills necessary for the sustainable implementation of justice sector legislation critical to the protection of fundamental rights, the interests of vulnerable groups and the promotion of social cohesion. The overall objective of this project is to contribute to the long-term stabilisation of the rule of law, democratic principles, and public trust by supporting the development, implementation, and institutionalisation of a progressive legal framework in the Maldives and to the production of high-quality legislation in the long-term. To this end, the Foundation will cooperate and liaise with the Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Judicial Administration and the Judicial Academy, the Bar Council and civil society organisations.