"The fact that people, especially women, are still flogged in the Maldives is a serious blot on the country's otherwise increasingly positive and progressive image overseas," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said during a visit to the country.
The trip marks the first ever by the UN's top rights official to the Maldives, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean with a population of about 300,000.
"I discussed with the president (Mohamed Nasheed) and his ministers, as well as with the members of the judiciary I met during this visit, how to bring a halt to a practice that has long been recognized in international law as cruel and degrading treatment that often amounts to torture," Pillay told a press conference in Male.
"At the very least, pending more permanent changes in the law, it should be possible for the government and the judiciary to engineer a practical moratorium on flogging."
Pillay also called for equal opportunities for women and an end to the exploitation of migrant workers, particularly those from Bangladesh.