[1] The initial aim of FOM was to increase awareness of human rights abuses in the Maldives as a means of building support for long-awaited reforms.
The initial focus was on working with NGOs (Amnesty International, Article 19, Reporters Without Borders), the United Nations, political bodies (EU and British parliaments, Foreign Affairs departments, Embassies in Colombo accredited to the Maldives).
[8] FOM were critical of the engagement of the international PR firm Hill and Knowlton by the dictatorship as a means to clean up its image while hindering real reform.
On 15 February 2007 FOM held a demonstration outside the offices of Hill and Knowlton in Soho Square, London, to protest about the ‘whitewashing’ of Gayoom's dictatorship.
[9] FOM argued that there had been few real democratic reforms since Hill and Knowlton began the contract with the Government of Maldives.
[10] The former regime also accused FOM of being a Christian missionary organisation with links to the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).