Army’s intervention in immigration is progress, not policy failure: Human Resources Minister

The country’s defense forces have taken over front-line immigration services as well as the employment arm of the Human Resources Ministry amidst an ongoing investigation into allegations of what Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid claimed was corruption in the work permit system.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Latheef claimed that cabinet’s decision to deploy the military to oversee immigration was further encouraged by the revelation that the Maldives remained on the US State Department’s Tier 2 Watch List for human trafficking. The report criticised the country for having increasing number of migrant workers from Bangladesh and to a lesser extent, India, being subjected to forced labour in the Maldives, as well as showing little evidence of increased efforts to tackle the problem.

Latheef claimed that despite an apparent lack of direct action on suspected human trafficking, his office had supplied a database of information and accounts from 16,000 illegal immigrants working in the country that had been used to identify companies and employment agencies suspected of foul play.