The First Minister has travelled to Copenhagen to cash in on the publicity try to help save the planet. At a fringe meeting, he promised his new buddy, Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed, that Scotland would help them by sharing technology and research. No money will allegedly change hands.

At no more than six feet above sea-level, the Maldives are famous for being under the threat of becoming completely submerged should rising sea levels become a reality, and so they are naturally keen for action (if they believe the hype that cutting CO2 emissions will save them).

Mr Salmond said,

“The Maldives face a very real threat from rising sea levels, and I share President Nasheed’s ambition to prevent the environmental disaster and human rights’ catastrophe that would befall the islands, should the world fail to tackle this problem.”

I am pleased that the First Minister has taken the vulnerable string of islands to his heart, but if he wants to talk about a “human rights’ catastrophe” it is happening there right now.

The Voice of the Martyrs reports that a new constitution was ratified in 2008 that was designed to bring key democratic reforms to the country, including a bill of rights. (My emphasis on what follows.)

However, the new constitution was based on the common Maldivian assumption that any citizen of the Maldives is automatically a Muslim, stating that “a non-Muslim may not become a citizen of the Maldives.” As a result, approximately 3,000 Maldivians (0.85 % of the population) were stripped of their citizenship and thus deprived of basic citizen rights, including freedom of speech. The constitution also stated that “no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted in the Maldives.” The measure led several human rights organizations to name Maldives as one of the world’s worst in regard to religious freedom.

It is estimated that Christians make up 0.1 percent of Maldives’ population. The government denies the existence of any religion other than Sunni Islam. In 1998, all known Christian foreigners were expelled from the country, and all known Maldivian Christians were arrested and released only after intense international pressure. Maldivians who become Christians abroad have been known to disappear when they return home, never to be heard from again.

On November 29, 2008, Maldives’ Ministry of Islamic Affairs announced that it would block access to a Dhivehi [the Islands' official language] and English language website upon claims that it promoted Christianity amongst Maldivians. Influential Islamic scholars claimed that the act of censorship was warranted due to the country’s status as a wholly Muslim society.

On October 7, 2009 Maldivian authorities deported a South African, Robert Willeman, who had been found with Dhivehi language Christian material: six video CDs, six books, 17 leaflets and one Bible. Despite democracy, Maldives is still not free.

If you’re going to save the world, make it one worth saving.