Asian Centre for Human Rights

A place-holder, I hope. This would hardly have been my first around-the-world choice for the Maldives, but at present I can't find any other books set in that country.

I had known zilch about the Maldives before reading this book/pamphlet, which describes some rather shocking violations of human rights: arbitrary detentions, torture of prisoners, lack of free speech, rigged elections, etc. Perhaps things have improved since 2005 when the book was written; Wikipedia says they have a new president now. The previous president served from 1978 to 2008, which fact alone should raise alarm bells. No president ought to serve that long.

Books like this make me glad I live in America, which isn't perfect, but which definitely has a better human rights record than most other countries. In the meantime, I'll continue my search for a decent novel or whatever set in this tiny cluster of islands, population 300,000 and change.… (mer)