Mariya Ahmed Didi

Mariya Didi (Maldivian:މާރިޔާ ދީދީ; born August 18, 1962) is a Maldivian barrister and politician who served as the Minister of Defense of the Maldives. After being the campaign manager for president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih during the 2018 elections, she was appointed the nation's first-ever female Minister of Defence.

Mariya Didi, in her capacity as Minister of Defence, oversees a total of 8 critical institutions, namely Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Maldives Customs Service, Maldives Immigration, Aviation Security Command (AVSECOM), Anti-Trafficking in Persons (Anti-TIP), and Maldives Hydrographic Service.

Mariya Didi instituted the tradition of engaging regularly with the MNDF leadership and defence sector agencies through weekly plenary meetings and multi-agency sit-downs, where the latest information and updates are exchanged in cross-sector settings.

Education
Mariya Didi has a bachelor's degree in law (LLB) (Hons) and a master's degree in law (LLB) (Hons) from the University of Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom. She completed her professional qualifications in England and is among the first two Barristers to be called to the Bar of England and Wales, and is a Barrister of the prestigious Gray's Inn, England, having done her pupillage at Albion Chambers, Bristol.

In 2007, she was awarded the International Women of Courage Award by the US Secretary of State for her work promoting women's rights.

Mariya Didi is married to Mr. Mohamed Amir. She has one daughter and two sons.

Career
A former Member of People's Majlis and a leading human rights activist, Mariya Didi is the first female lawyer of the Maldives. As an elected Member of Parliament for 4 consecutive terms, she sat in the Drafting Committee of the 2008 Constitution. In 2007, she was awarded the International Women of Courage Award by the US Secretary of State in recognition of her contribution to democracy and human rights in the Maldives.

Mariya Didi was elected as Chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the largest political party in the Maldives. Under her chairmanship, the party won their first multiparty democratic presidential elections held in the Maldives in 2008. The electoral win marked an end to the preceding 30-year-old authoritarian regime and established democracy in the Maldives.

Role in democracy
On 7 February 2012, the then-President Mohamed Nasheed of Maldives resigned suddenly in a “Coup d'état”. On the day of the President's resignation and on the day after, Mariya Didi was beaten by rogue members of the security forces, who had allegedly joined hands with the then Vice President, who succeeded the President.

In the 2018 presidential elections, Mariya Didi was the spokesperson for President Solih's campaign, and headed its crucial Male’ constituency, where half of the Maldivian population live. The campaign was run at a time when space for democratic expression and political activity was severely constricted, under the authoritarian rule of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's regime. The regime unlawfully arrested Supreme Court justices, opposition political figures, and detained and disappeared journalists, crushing the nation's democratic institutions and by extension, public confidence in state institutions. Trust in MNDF reached an all-time low as citizens watched soldiers in riot gear storming Majlis chambers, and crudely forcing opposition MPs out of parliamentary sittings. MDP went on to score a resounding victory in the 2018 election, bringing the rule of the dictator to a decisive end.

Contributions
In the first year of her tenure, Mariya Didi led an initiative to professionalize, modernize and depoliticize the nation's defence forces to restore public trust and confidence in MNDF and fortifying civil-military relations. In this regard, some landmark steps include guiding the formulation of MNDF's Capstone Doctrine, designing multiple programmes and endeavours geared towards building MNDF's professionalism, operational capacity and interoperability, and setting up MNDF's first-ever military justice system. Additionally, empowering MNDF's grievance mechanism, launching multiple soldier welfare initiatives, and encouraging forums for democratic debate and dialogue in the armed forces.

Mariya Didi opened up the defence sector's doors to the press in the spirit of public transparency. Prior to the move, defence sector institutions such as the MNDF had long been known for their limited, only-on-needs-basis interactions with the press, resulting in the defence forces being viewed with mistrust and a culture of secrecy. To democratize the forces, Mariya Didi broke MNDF's alleged tradition of secrecy. She did so by obliging to the summons issued by the parliament's National Security Services (241) committee and their inquiries, in order to respond to the allegations and aspersions cast on the integrity of the nation's defence forces.

Mariya Didi is recognized for her role in working closely with the National Security Advisors of fellow member states India and Sri Lanka, to set a Charter for the Colombo Security Conclave, which began as a trilateral security framework with 4 pillars for security cooperation among the 3 countries.

In November 2021, Mariya Didi became the first Minister from outside India to officiate the Passing Out Parade (POP) - Autumn Term at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Ezhimala - Asia's largest naval academy.

Women in the military
A recipient of the US State Department's International Women of Courage Award for her commitment to democracy and human rights, Mariya Didi is widely celebrated for her work to ensure gender equality in the armed forces. At no time in the MNDF's 130-year long history, and in over 3 decades since female soldiers were first recruited to the apex military organization, had its Advisory Council ever had female membership. Mariya Didi initiated the restructuring of the council to allow membership of Lieutenant Colonels and thereafter appointed 2 female Lieutenant Colonels to the council for the first time. These steps were taken as part of a mission to ensure female representation at the highest level of MNDF's decision-making, following the promotion of 3 female officers to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Mariya Didi mandated that all internal committees of MNDF shall have at least one female soldier. In August 2021, MNDF appointed its first-ever Female Information Officer. In early 2021, Lieutenant Firushana Thaufeeg, the first-ever female Maldivian officer cadet to have been sent to the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK returned home to much fanfare, having attained the Best International Student Award from the Short Commissioning Course.

Today, female soldiers are taking on roles traditionally reserved for their male counterparts and gaining increasing visibility as Sergeant Majors, Personal Security Officers (PSOs), Special Protection Group (SPG) agents, honor guards, shooters and firefighters.

Efforts against terrorism and violent extremism
Mariya Didi is known for her commitment to the Solih administration's efforts to counter Terrorism and Violent Extremism in the country, through the enforcement of its Zero Tolerance Policy on Terrorism and Violent Extremism. Ever since the Solih administration took the initiative in November 2018 to publicly acknowledge the threat of Terrorism and Violent Extremism for the first time, many proactive steps have been taken at all levels of governance and policy-making to tackle this difficult challenge. These steps include the formulation of the National Action Plan on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism. Under Mariya Didi's leadership, the National Counter Terrorism Centre played an instrumental role as the Maldives’ national lead agency for coordinating efforts to prevent Terrorism and Violent Extremism through a 'whole-of government' and a 'whole-of-society' approach. The past 3 years, in particular, has seen the centre's national footprint expand and evolve, as evidenced by the many seminars, workshops and mobile intervention programs, in collaboration with local and international partners.

Efforts against human trafficking
In December 2019, Mariya Didi was handed the Maldivian government's anti-human trafficking portfolio, which had been placed on the policy backburner for years by the previous administration. In the first 2 years, she oversaw a series of unprecedented developments including the setting up of the nation's first-ever [rotational] shelter for Victims of Trafficking, its first-ever Anti-Trafficking in Persons Office, and the accompanying appointment of a Director of Anti-Human Trafficking. Additionally, the allocation of federal funding for the anti-human trafficking cause, the formulation of Maldives National Anti-Human Trafficking Action Plan 2020–2022, and the alignment of the 2013 Anti-Human Trafficking Act with the UN Palermo Protocol. These prompt-yet-substantive changes contributed to the Maldives' upgrade to Tier 2 in the 2021 US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report, after several years of being relegated to "Watchlist" status.

Covid-19 pandemic
Mariya Didi, under the guidance of His Excellency President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, became a leading face of the Maldivian government's COVID-19 containment effort in early 2020. From March 2020 when the State of Public Health Emergency was first declared, until it scaled down to a Health Emergency in July 2020, Mariya Didi chaired hundreds of critical “Emergency Cell” meetings at NEOC and oversaw the setting up of many facilities nationwide to deal with the pandemic.

Despite constraints posed by COVID-19, at least 60 percent of MNDF soldiers were trained, both locally and internationally.