Sunday 15 Nov 2026
The UN headquarters in New York.
The Maldives has voted against a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling on countries to impose a moratorium on the death penalty.
The 193-member UNGA adopted the resolution introduced by Mexico on Friday, with 133 countries voting in favor, 33 against and 16 abstaining.
Maldives voted against the resolution along with India, Bahrain, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
The resolution expressed deep concern about the continued application of the death penalty and reaffirmed the right of all countries to develop their own legal systems, including determining appropriate legal penalties in accordance with international law.
It called upon all states to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty. It also called upon states which have abolished the death penalty not to reintroduce it.
The resolution expressed deep concern that, despite the global trend towards limiting the application of the death penalty, there was a significant surge in reported executions in 2025.
The resolution called upon all states to progressively restrict the use of the death penalty and not to impose capital punishment for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age or whose age above 18 years at the time of the commission of the crime cannot be accurately determined.
It also called for restricting the use of the death penalty on pregnant women or on persons with mental or intellectual disabilities, as well as on older persons, and to reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed, including by removing the mandatory application of the death penalty.
The vote came less than a week after the Maldives government introduced a bill to enforce the death penalty in the in the country.
The bill, introduced to the Parliament on November 9, declaring execution by hanging as the sole method of capital punishment.
According to the bill, the execution must be overseen by a seven-member panel once death row inmates undergo the appeal process, and if all of the victim’s heirs agree to it at court.
It also states that the execution must be carried out behind closed doors, and prohibits recording or disseminating any audio or images of the execution.
The bill also lists circumstances where the enforcement of the death penalty may be postponed, this includes if death row convicts appeal it or file for a postponement of execution. The bill states that the enforcement of the death penalty pay be postponed if the mental and physical health of convicts are deemed to have deteriorated, but only until they recover.
And in the case of pregnant death row convicts, the enforcement of death penalty will be postponed until they give birth and their child reaches two years of age.
The Maldives had also introduced the death penalty for drug traffickers back in December 2025. Home Minister Ali Ihusan has said the government was in the process of revising legal procedures to implement the death penalty against drug traffickers as well.
The Maldives has maintained a de facto moratorium on the death penalty since 1954.
But in 2023, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration announced plans to reinstate the death penalty, following a similar attempt made during former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration.
And in March, President Muizzu announced that the Attorney General’s Office was close to completing drafting a bill to enforce the death penalty.
In July, Yameen, who had pushed to lift the moratorium during his administration, said he was against the move, alleging that incumbent Maldivian judges lack impartiality.
