Maldives, Asia

The Republic of Maldives is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls stretching seven hundred km (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. The twenty-six atolls of Maldives encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, of which two hundred and fifty islands are inhabited. The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in terms of both population and area; it is the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world. It is also the country with the lowest highest point in the world. On 26 December 2004, the Maldives were devastated by a tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Fifty-seven islands faced serious damage. The tallest waves were reported 14 feet (4.3 m) high. The government is in serious negotiations to purchase land elsewhere for the Maldives people to relocate. Regarding homosexuality (sodomy), the British in 1860 put into force laws that punished "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" with up to life imprisonment. Today, international human rights standards have compelled former colonial powers to acknowledge that these laws are wrong. England and Wales decriminalized homosexual conduct in 1967. The laws nonetheless persist in many of Britain's old colonial possessions, including Maldives. Also, medical experts say sodomy laws add to the spread of HIV/AIDS by criminalizing outreach to affected groups.