Dr. Mariya Ali is an Honorary Knowledge Exchange Associate of Oxford Brookes University, School of Law, where she is active in advocating and publishing in the area of children’s rights. She also works in a research role at a charity, Shaftesbury Young People. Prior to this, she served as the Deputy Minister for Health and Family in the Maldives from 2009-2011, holding the portfolio of social services. In this role she introduced a licensing mechanism for social workers as part of the modernisation of the child protection system in the Maldives and many projects to further women’s and children’s rights. She was appointed as an Under Secretary of the Policy Office, at the Office of the President of the Maldives focusing on social policy. Prior to this appointment she has worked in therapeutic and research roles in several countries with UNICEF and WHO. She holds a BA in Social Work and an MA in Child Welfare and became the first tertiary trained social worker in the Maldives. She gained her PhD in Human Rights in 2013, focusing on protecting the rights of victims of child sexual abuse under Shari’ah. She is an advocate for children’s rights under Islamic law. |Dr. Mariya Ali is an Honorary Knowledge Exchange Associate of Oxford Brookes University, School of Law, where she is active in advocating and publishing in the area of children’s rights. She also works in a research role at a charity, Shaftesbury Young People. Prior to this, she served as the Deputy Minister for Health and Family in the Maldives from 2009-2011, holding the portfolio of social services. In this role she introduced a licensing mechanism for social workers as part of the modernisation of the child protection system in the Maldives and many projects to further women’s and children’s rights. She was appointed as an Under Secretary of the Policy Office, at the Office of the President of the Maldives focusing on social policy. Prior to this appointment she has worked in therapeutic and research roles in several countries with UNICEF and WHO. She holds a BA in Social Work and an MA in Child Welfare and became the first tertiary trained social worker in the Maldives. She gained her PhD in Human Rights in 2013, focusing on protecting the rights of victims of child sexual abuse under Shari’ah. She is an advocate for children’s rights under Islamic law. |Dr. Mariya Ali is an Honorary Knowledge Exchange Associate of Oxford Brookes University, School of Law, where she is active in advocating and publishing in the area of children’s rights. She also works in a research role at a charity, Shaftesbury Young People. Prior to this, she served as the Deputy Minister for Health and Family in the Maldives from 2009-2011, holding the portfolio of social services. In this role she introduced a licensing mechanism for social workers as part of the modernisation of the child protection system in the Maldives and many projects to further women’s and children’s rights. She was appointed as an Under Secretary of the Policy Office, at the Office of the President of the Maldives focusing on social policy. Prior to this appointment she has worked in therapeutic and research roles in several countries with UNICEF and WHO. She holds a BA in Social Work and an MA in Child Welfare and became the first tertiary trained social worker in the Maldives. She gained her PhD in Human Rights in 2013, focusing on protecting the rights of victims of child sexual abuse under Shari’ah. She is an advocate for children’s rights under Islamic law.