A senior UN official has told Maldives Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim about Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s concerns over the declaration of a state of emergency there by President Abdulla Yameen, according to a UN spokesperson.
Miroslav Jenca, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, spoke to Asim and directly relayed to him the concerns Guterres had expressed in his statement on the Maldives, Farhan Haq, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson, said on Thursday.
In the statement released on Tuesday, Guterres asked the Maldives government “to uphold the constitution and rule of law, lift the state of emergency as soon as possible, and take all measures to ensure the safety and security of the people in the country, including members of the judiciary.”
On Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein made a harsh criticism of Yameen.