On Monday, a proposal was presented to Parliament to amend the Penal Code, aiming to make genocide and actions that endanger the national economy criminal offenses.

The bill supported by the government was proposed by ruling PNC’s South Maafannu MP Abdulla Rifau (Bochey).

The main aim of the bill is to recognize genocide as a criminal offense in line with the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which the Maldives has signed.

Furthermore, the suggested law aims to implement penalties for these offenses and make treason against the state and actions that jeopardize economic security illegal. It also suggests harsher punishments for crimes against the Islamic faith.

The legislation suggests including a new section named ‘Genocide’ following Chapter 140 of the Penal Code. This section categorizes five actions taken against a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as criminal offenses:

- Eliminating individuals from a particular faction

- Inflicting significant physical or psychological injury on individuals of a particular group.

- Intentionally imposing living conditions on a particular group that are designed to lead to its physical annihilation, either fully or partially.

- Enforcing actions aimed at hindering reproduction among a particular population.

- Coercively relocating children from one particular group to another group.

The legislation indicates that these actions must be performed with the goal of annihilating the protected group, whether entirely or partially.

The suggested modification aims to make illegal four types of actions taken with awareness of, or willful indifference to, the likelihood that they might inflict serious harm on the state’s economy. This encompasses harming essential infrastructure or computer systems linked to that infrastructure.