In recent years, the Maldives has strengthened its focus on protecting children and adolescents. The Maldives was among the first countries to sign and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. This marked a national change in the way children are viewed and treated – as human beings with a unique set of rights. Since

then, the government has created special institutions,

such as the Family and Juvenile Courts, to better

address legal issues facing young people. They

have also implemented interventions at the local, atoll and national levels, including a national child protection policy for educational settings. For years, the country has worked to improve the

situation for children, and have established a number of

mechanisms for reporting – and preventing –

protection concerns around the country.

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Regardless of these successes, however, in the Maldives,

many children are still forced to grow up too fast. The

country’s wide geographic dispersion sets some

families hundreds of miles from the capital,

separating communities by a vast distance and at times,

a rough expanse of sea. Because of this, some spend their

childhoods in remote island communities, far from the systems designed to protect them. Others grow up in one of the most

densely populated cities in the world, the Maldivian capital

of Malé. And some, especially the adolescents, migrate

from small islands to large ones, hoping to attend a

secondary school with more diverse classes. Each

reality can place children at risk of exploitation, at

times funneling them into drug abuse and crime.

It's time to learn more about UNICEF The Maldives!