Ahmed Moosa (Sappe')
Editor in Chief

 DO Announcement 
Dhivehi Observer call off it's Maldives Tourism Boycott Campaign

London - 27 - Aug. 2004

Given the grim situation in our small nation and the plight of the people, we have decided to call off the 'Maldives Boycott Campaign' with immediate effect. DO will do whatever it can to ease the sufferings of the people in Maldives. With the limited resources and severe restrictions of DO reporters and informant, we are working round the clock to bring to readers of DO as much information as possible regarding the crisis in the Maldives.

We call on the international community and friends of Maldives around the world to help our people today.

 

 

 

 

Maldives has been ruled by one of the most evil dictators in the world, Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom for the past 26 years. The peace loving people of Maldives has been deprived of their most basic human rights.

The UN reports that 42% of the local population are living on just over $1 a day which, according to international standards, means that they are living below the poverty line. They also found that 30% of Maldivian children under 5 are suffering from malnutrition, a situation as acute as sub-Saharan Africa. Fruit, vegetables, even fish are largely imported and not freely available to most Maldivians.

Please think about it before you go to the Maldives for your holiday

  • do you want to be lavishing and relaxing on the beach when a few meters from you a young boy gets beaten to death by 12 policemen?

  • do you want to be dancing with the waves and enjoying the sun when unarmed people are shot and killed in the island next to yours?

  • do you love Maldives, do you love Maldivians?

If so please help us by cutting all your ties off with this dictatorial regime. Without your dollars and pounds, Gayyoom will have to come to terms with reality and bring an end to the torture and oppression.

Here are some reasons why you should stay away from Maldives for now, until this regime is history

"Key characteristics of this tyranny are, rampant nepotism, suppression of any form of political opposition, complete control of media and communication, arbitrary arrests, torture and death in custody, endemic corruption and misuse of public funds, intimidation of the parliament reducing it to a rubberstamp body, ballot rigging and total mismanagement of public services."
Maldivian Democratic Party

"In the past decade, dozens of people - including politicians, journalists and others protesting government policies - have been detained arbitrarily in defiance of their fundamental right to freedom of expression and assembly. Several prisoners of conscience have been tried and convicted by the Criminal Court without having access to a lawyer, or to an independent and impartial appeal mechanism."
Amnesty International

"It is simply not good enough for travel companies to make deals with dictators of paradise island hell-holes and then shrug off criticism as if the conditions of the local people is none of their business"
EU Parliamentarians

For more information www.dhivehiobserver.com/truth

 


 | Main | News | Dhivehi | Editorials | Opinions | Open Forum | About Maldives | Downloads | About us | Links |

© Dhivehi Observer 2004