Of the 589 complaints submitted to the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) during the first eight months of this year, the Commission has decided not to investigate 51 percent of them.

Releasing details of the complaints received between January and the end of August, HRCM stated that only 284 cases were accepted for formal investigation. The remaining 305 complaints were dismissed at the preliminary stage, as most of them either fell outside the Commission’s mandate or were matters that should first be submitted to the relevant authorities concerned.

The Commission noted that complainants have been advised to first submit such complaints to the relevant authorities, and to approach HRCM only if they are dissatisfied with how the authority handled the matter or if there is undue delay in addressing the complaint. Additionally, complaints that warranted the attention of other institutions were forwarded to those respective bodies.

Including cases carried over from previous years, a total of 297 cases were concluded and filed during this period, with the highest number of cases resolved in July alone — 61 cases in that month. The Commission further stated that 72 percent of the cases it decided to investigate this year were concluded within 90 days.