National Center for Human Rights 5th Annual Report

State of Human Rights In

the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (2008)

1 January 2008

31 December 2008 Amman, April 2009

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National Center for Human Rights Board of Trustees

Adnan Badran, Chairman

Taher Hikmat

Ibrahim Izzidine

Muhammad Al-Squour

Rima Khalaf

Asma Khader

Adnan Al-Bakheet

Ahmad Tbeishat

Muhamad Ilwan

Waleed Abdul Hay

Kamel As-Sa eed

Amal Sabbagh

Taher Al-Adwan

Nuha Ma aytah

Assem Rabab ah

Nawal Fa ouri

Anas Al-Saket

Muhammad Al-Azzah

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Annual Report Committee

General Supervisor: Dr. Muhiddine Touq, Human Rights Commissioner General

Editorial Committee: Dr. Ali Al-Dabbas, Chairman Mr. Muhamad Ya coub, Managing Editor

Mr. Fayez Shakhatreh: Member

Preparation Team

Ahmad Abu Sweilem

Buthainah Freihat

Riyad Al-Subh

Fayez Shakhatreh

Samar Al-Tarawneh

Saddam Abu Azzam

Taha Al-Maghareez

Atef Al-Majali

Ali Al-Dabbas

Issa Marazeeq

Christine Faddoul

Lara Yaseen

Luay Muheidat

Muhammad Al-Helou

Muhammad Ya qoub

Muna Abu Sal

Nisreen Zureiqat

Nidal Maqableh

Nahlah Al-Momani

Haitham Al-Azra ee

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Table of Contents Subject Paragraphs Page

1. Introduction

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2. Civil and Political Rights

1 98 9

Right to Life and Physical Safety

1 10 11 Right Freedom and Personal Safety 11 18 18 Right to the Establishment of Justice 19 27 24 Juvenile Justice 28 36 28 Right to Hold Public Office 37 44 31 Right to a Nationality, Residence and Asylum 45 52 34 Right to Elect and Be Elected and the Legislative Performance of the HoD

53 59 39

Right to Freedom of Opinion, Expression, the Press and Information

60 80 43

Right to Establish and Join Associations and

Professional Unions

-89 51

Right to Establish Political Parties 90 94 56 Right to Establish Societies 95 98 59

3. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

99 187 63

Right to Work 99 116 65 Right to Education 117 134 73 Cultural Rights 135 139 84 Right to Health 140 152 87 Right to a Safe Environment 153 168 92 Right to a Decent Standard of Living 169 187 98

4. Rights of Vulnerable People

188 213 111 Women s Rights 188 195 113 Child Rights 196 201 117 Rights of Persons with Disabilities 202 208 121 Rights of the Elderly 209 213 124

5. Complaints and Petitions for Assistance Submitted to the Center

214 218 127

6. Annexes

131

A. National Legislative Enactments that Need Amendment

133 B. Jordan s Status on International Human Rights Agreements

134 C. ILO Agreements Ratified by Jordan

136 D. Index

137

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Acronyms

AG Attorney General ALD Administrative and Legal Disengagement from the West Bank CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of discrimination against Women

CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child CSB Civil Service Bureau FPD Family Protection Department FRC Family Reconciliation Committee GAM Greater Amman Municipality HCC High Criminal Court HCIC Higher Council for Interpreting the Constitution HCJ High Court of Justice HCPD Higher Council for Persons with Disability HoD House of Deputies HP House of Deputies HRC Human Rights Commission ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights JC Judicial Council MoC Ministry of Culture MoE Ministry of Education MoF Ministry of Finance MoH Ministry of Health MoHESR

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research MoI Ministry of the Interior MoIT Ministry of Industry and Trade MoJ Ministry of Justice MoL Ministry of Labor MoMA Ministry of Municipal Affairs MoSD Ministry of Social Development NAF National Aid Fund NCFA National Council for Family Affairs NCHR National Center for Human Rights OHRB Ombudsman and Human Rights Bureau PSD Public Security Directorate RRC Reform and Rehabilitation Center SSC State Security Court UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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Introduction

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the UDHR (UDHR) on December 10, 1948. Most of the UN member States at the time voted in favor of the new human rights document and December 10 has been celebrated as Human Rights Day ever since. Even though the Declaration is not binding to the signatories in the precise legal sense, its wide acceptance has inspired many of the subsequent international HR instruments and acted worldwide as the prime mover of an active dynamism pushing toward HR protection, enhancement and respect as an essential pre-requisite for the realization of human security and the achievement of sustainable development.

Publication of the present report, compiled by the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) on the HR situation in Jordan, coincides with international celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the International Declaration. It is comprehensive in that it addresses all the UDHR-inspired civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It depicts the NCHR mission to provide a precise description of the HR situation in Jordan, equally including successes and shortcomings. The report deals with each human right separately, cites the legal Jordanian framework therefor, and seeks to determine the extent to which it complies with international criteria, derived from international instruments, the majority of which has been ratified by Jordan. The report moves on to provide descriptions of the status quo vis-à-vis the positive and negative developments in each right. It lists human rights violations, monitored directly by the NCHR technical team, or indirectly through newspaper reports and published studies. It reviews complaints received by the Center about these rights and, finally, presents a set of recommendations, which the Center deems it necessary that they should be adopted in order to protect and enhance human rights in Jordan. The present report also includes a statistical analysis of the complaints and assistance requests, received by the Center during 2008 and classified in accordance with each of the human rights addressed herein.

The reader of the report this year will notice the beginnings of an attempt to develop the content in such a manner that harmonizes with similar international reports in terms of adopting a format of paragraphs, each addressing only one specific topic; tables and figures, when possible, and citing certain cases of success and failure in the way the Center handles complaints. The Center believes that this arrangement will make it easy for both specialized readers and researchers to find the object of

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their search effortlessly. Furthermore, the reader may notice some inconsistency in addressing the different rights, but this does not mean that the Center considers some rights to be more central than others.

I would like to seize the opportunity of this introduction to state that the National Center for Human Rights aims, in the final analysis, to achieve full compliance with international human rights criteria, as well as the human-rights related provisions of the Constitution and our genuine Arab-Islamic values. To achieve this goal, the Center will strive to create new mechanisms for building partnerships with governmental bodies, as well as civil and non-governmental organizations, with the view to examining human rights violations, accomplishing overall reform, and effecting the change required to advance human rights. Consequently, I wish to emphasize that the Center will continue its relentless efforts towards achieving its mission as stipulated in its Law. This report is but one of the many steps taken by the Center in this direction, but we also have to remember that protecting and advancing human rights is an ongoing act of development that is achievable through a clear vision, unyielding will, pooling the efforts of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the State, adapting legislative enactments to adopted and accepted criteria, restraining human rights violations, veritable accountability, and the advancement of the rule of law.

Finally, I would like to express sincere thanks and appreciation, in may own name and on behalf of my colleagues, members of the NCHR Board of Trustees, particularly the technical team that produced this report under the supervision of the Human Rights Commissioner General. I pray the Almighty God to grant us success in achieving our mission and advancing human rights in our beloved country.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Adnan Badran

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Civil And Political Rights

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Right to Life and Physical Safety

1. International conventions guarantee man s right to life, freedom and physical safety.(1) National laws have been keen on protecting this right.(2) Within this context, the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR), has observed that since 2008 no legislative amendment has been introduced to abrogate capital punishment.(3) The Center also emphasizes that the 2007 amendment of Article (208) of the Penal Code is still not sufficient to curb the exercise of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as it does not authorize the regular judiciary to investigate such types of crimes. Moreover, the amendment does not stipulate the right of torture victims to claim direct compensation from the State. The Center further records against the Government that it has not fully fulfilled its international commitments as per the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Anti-Torture Convention), as national legislative enactments seem to be incapable of guaranteeing that torturers are held responsible and that they do not escape punishment.(4) This requires a review of the mechanisms of filing complaint and investigation into torture cases to ensure that legal procedures will be effective in confronting and combating torture, particularly as international commitments go beyond combating torture, as and when it occurs, and protecting victims and witnesses, or even rehabilitating them (specialized centers for the rehabilitation of torture victims, or programs for protecting witnesses, do not exist in Jordan). Indeed, Jordan s international commitments require preventive measures that would prevent the recurrence of torture and secure the right to physical safety.

2. Even though the Executive Authority is keen to safeguard and generally protect the right to life, and despite commitment by the judiciary to implement the provisions of law and not tolerate

(1) See Article 3 of the UDHR, Article 6 of ICCPR, Article 2 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, Article 4 of the American Convention on Human Rights and Article 5 of the Arab Charter o0n Human Rights.

(2) Such as the Jordanian Penal Code and the Military Penal Code. (3) It is noteworthy that the MoJ in April 2009 unveiled an amended draft penal code. Major amendments in the draft

include substituting capital punishment with hard labor for life in regard to six types of crimes related to State security.

(4) Efforts of combating torture in Jordan are still humble and shy, as all national arrangements taken to guarantee the right to physical safety and impose a ban on torture are still inadequate because some national legislative enactments are incapable of prosecuting torturers. Indeed, these laws, in most cases, are responsible for allowing such escape from punishment. Examples of such laws include the Law on Preventing Crimes, which enables the Administrative Authority to apprehend people, denies them the right to contact their families or lawyers, and isolates them from judicial control. This also applies to the SSC, which gives investigation authorities the right to apprehend suspects for seven days before referring them to the relative judicial authority. The Adjective Procedural Law makes pre-trial detention the general rule and judges all detentions against a broad general criterion called Interest of the investigation. This law also accepts the defendant statements, made in the absence of the public prosecutor, as evidence for conviction if the Public Prosecution presents a evidence of the conditions under which the statements were made and of the claim that the accused made his statement voluntarily and at his own will.

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any criminal act leading to denial of the right to life and physical safety, there are still many factors which violate and impact physical safety and could lead to denial of the right to life, most importantly capital punishment, which is still included in penal legislative enactments, despite the contraction of legal provisions applying this penalty and confining it to crimes which are most critical and serious. During 2008, six death sentences were passed, five by the High Criminal Court (HCC) and one by the State Security Court (SSC), but none of these sentences has been executed as capital punishment has been frozen since June 2006. Among the positive developments during 2008 regarding this right was Jordan s vote to abstain from voting in favor of a recommendation by the UN Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary Committee) of the U.N General Assembly abrogating the death penalty throughout the world, refraining from executing any death sentence beyond the law, and postponing the capital punishment for the longest possible time to give the concerned parties the opportunity to reconcile and extinguish the personal right in cases of premeditated murder.

3. One of the most serious factors affecting the right to life and physical safety is exposure to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The year 2008 witnessed several actions, which could be classified as acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. During this period, NCHR received 41 complaints against various security departments and centers. The results of follow up of these complaints were as follows: Seven Complaints were stayed at the request of the plaintiffs, 13 were closed for lack of evidence and five were referred to the Police Court. Sixteen cases are still under consideration. The Ombudsman and Human Rights Bureau (OHRB) and the Legal Affairs Department at the PSD Directorate (PSD), have received 49 complaints, the results of which were as follows: 8 complaints were precluded from trial for lack of evidence against the defendant according to Article (130/a) of the Adjective Procedural Law; 12 minor complaints in which the defendants were brought to trial before the Commander of the Unit: 26 were stayed as the act did not constitute a crime; and 3 cases were referred to the Police Court, where the plaintiffs were found guilty and received the penalties prescribed by law, which varied between imprisonment and mulct. The Center also received nine complaints related to beating and torture at Reform and Rehabilitation Centers (RRCs). The results of following them up were as follows: one complaint was stayed at the request of the plaintiff, one was closed for lack of evidence, one was referred to the Police Court, four were brought to trial before the Unit Commander and two are still under consideration. The OHRB and the PSD Legal Affairs Department received 28 complaints related to beatings and tortures in RRCs results of which were as follows: 6 complaints were stayed at the request of the plaintiffs, 6 were referred to court before the Unit Commander as they were minor cases which do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Police Court and 16 were referred to the Police Court where the defendants were convicted and penalized according to law. It is noteworthy that no one was brought to trial in 2008 under amended Article (208) of the Penal Code.

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4. On the other hand, during several surprise visits, (5) in 2008, NCHR monitored some individual complaints by some prisoners and detainees, who claimed they had been beaten and subjected to continued maltreatment by prison staff.(6) The Center also monitored the escape of some torturers from punishment as the question of proving that some detainees had been subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is very difficult due to many reasons, most importantly: Prolongation of the detention period by administrative orders, disappearance of the marks caused by physical violence due to the elapse of time, difficulty of finding witnesses or producing forensic medical reports on the crime committed, and the difficulty which the victims confront in identifying the offenders. Those who exercise coercion do not write the defendant s statement, which is thus considered legally as conclusive evidence after hearing the person who wrote down the defendant s statements indicating that the defendant made such statements voluntarily and at his own free will. The absence of active judicial control over administrative detention centers further contributes, to a very far extent, to subjecting detainees to maltreatment and physical and psychological coercion, in addition to depriving the detainees of their right to submit their grievances to the competent authorities or complain during the preliminary investigation carried out by Police. The conditions are further aggravated by the confidentiality prevailing during the preliminary investigation, the detainees fear that police will waylay them later if they complain, and the conviction on the part of some detainees that such complaints would be useless because the security departments are themselves the parties involved in carrying out investigations and, consequently, their conviction that it is difficult for law officers to issue verdicts against their own colleagues.

5. Despite all this, NCHR would like to express its high appreciation of the Government s

adoption in 2008 of a set of measures to ensure banning of torture. The PSD Department (PSD) adopted several measures, including: a) Integrating the Anti-Torture Convention into basic and training curricula, as well as lectures and promotion tests for PSD personnel, particularly those working at RRCs, with the view to entrenching the convention s provisions and concepts in their thinking and practice; b) To carry out investigations regarding complaints of HR violations, which entail violating the Anti-Torture Convention, despite the fact that results of investigations in general are still meager.(7) c) To show some seriousness in dealing with complaints of beating and maltreatment and refer some of these complaints to the Police Court.

6. As for drugs, this is considered as one of the factors that undermine the right to life and physical safety. In 2008, the Government for the first time acknowledged the presence of indicators of dissemination and the aggravation of this problem within the society, where the Anti-Narcotics Department seized 2860 cases and dealt with 3500 edicts. Those cases included 532cases of trading, 2250 cases of possession, and 78 unidentified cases. Table (1) shows a

(5) With the exception of the period between mid -April and the outset of August 2008 when NCHR was barred from visiting prisons.

(6) The Center monitored during its visit to temporary detention centers and its meetings with detainees or their family members and through the complaints received during 2008, that there are transgressions committed by staff entrusted with implementing the law in some security departments and that various forms of torture were exercised against the detainees on part of these departments including insults, humiliation, and resorting to bastinados and body stretching racks to force them to confess.

(7) The OHRB, hosted by the PSD Directorate, has followed up complaints received through the complaints boxes at Reform and Rehabilitation Centers. A human rights office was also opened at Suwaqa Prison on 3rd February 2008 for receiving complaints and grievances.

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significant increase in the number of drug dealers and edicts in 2008 compared to previous years. The Anti Narcotics Department carried out positive steps to combat this scourge, including the implementation of various protection programs such as organizing 1050 awareness lectures in various schools and universities as well as 20 lectures for assistants of anti narcotics personnel, in which 600 youths took part each of whom will be entrusted with training ten youths with in order to achieve the idea of individual protection, realize horizontal culture for members of the Society within the area of combating narcotics , perform plays by the Anti Narcotics Department before school and university students and habilitate a group of journalists through a specialized course on combating narcotics. NCHR, however, feels that the efforts exerted by the Anti Narcotics Department alone fall short of confronting the narcotics problem, as national efforts must be exerted along side official endeavors to combat this scourge.

7. Traffic accidents constitute another factor affecting the right to life and physical safety, as it is still one of the most serious problems confronting the society and constitutes a continued hemorrhage of human life,(8) particularly among youth, because of the large number of traffic victims. This led to the promulgation of Traffic Law No. 49 (2008), with the aim of putting an end to this continuous hemorrhage.(9) NCHR feels that dealing with the problem of traffic accidents is not confined to the Traffic Law but is related to the entire legislative system as well as government institutions and citizens in their capacity as partners in increasing or decreasing this phenomenon. Table (2) shows the number of accidents, deaths and injuries inflicted in 2008 compared to previous years according to the PSD statistics. The Directorate has laid down several traffic, awareness and technical control procedures in cooperation with various official bodies to put an end to this phenomenon. These procedures include intensifying traffic control, increasing traffic awareness and education programs, and coordinating with all parties concerned with traffic safety. This led to a retreat in the number of accidents up to 3rd December 2008 by 30.2%. (10) Going back to the factors which result in traffic accidents, the following chart unveils the most important of these factors.

(8) In 2008, a bus accident led to the death of 21 people and the injury of 33 others on the Jarash-Irbid highway. (9) The House of Representatives rejected two traffic laws, namely: Provisional Law No. 47 (2001) and the provisional

law No. 53 (2002). (10) Traffic accidents claimed 569 lives in 2008, compared with 815 in 2007, i.e., a reduction of 246 deaths. The

number of injured declined by 25.6% (3,938 injuries), from 15,355 in 2007 to 11,417 in 2008.

Table 1: Some main narcotics-related indicators

No.

Year

Persons Involved Dealers Possession and Use

4,792 746 4,027

2006 3,158 581 2,577

2007 3,707 833 2,874

5,120 852 4,260

Table 2: Numbers of deaths and injuries resulting from traffic accidents

No.

Year

Accidents Deaths Injuries.

2007

15

60%

29%28%27%

17%12%11%

9%7%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Traffic ethics

Traffic jams &

architecture

Design of

architecture of streets

Non-commitment

of traffic laws

Non-application of

m laws on trespassers

Non-availability

of pedestrian lanes

General condition of

cars

Lenient tickets

Traffic laws

8. Suicide accidents offer another factor affecting the right to life and physical safety. The first half of 2008 witnessed a slight increase in suicide accidents and a remarkable increase in suicide attempts as 40 Jordanians committed suicide against 35 in 2007, according to the statistics released by the Jordanian National Center for Forensic Medicine. Statistics further showed that 400 cases of attempted suicide were registered during the first seven months in 2008, while the entire 2007 witnessed around 350 attempts. As for suicide cases at RRCs, NCHR monitored during 2008, 93 suicide attempts, 92 of which were aborted while one attempt succeeded at Ma an Prison. As for suicide cases at temporary detention centers, only one case was registered at the Custody Center of Irbid Police Directorate. NCHR feels that the increase in the percentage of suicide attempts should offer an impetus for the parties concerned to study the reasons behind this phenomenon and pay more attention to the psychological aspects of inmates through psychiatrists and through improving the quality of life of inmates through cultural, sports and other activities.

9. As regards crimes and other accidents affecting physical safety and leading to the deprivation of life, these witnessed a remarkable change during 2008. Table (3) lists the crimes committed in 2008 compared to 2007; the table shows an increase in the number of murders, and a drop in attempted murders and serious injuries according to PSD statistics for 2008. The number of accidents dealt with by Civil Defense Public Directorates in all parts of the Kingdom during 2008 reached around 131842 accidents causing 256929 casualties, including 2509 deaths. First Aid accidents reached 109036 while casualties reached 110223. The total number of deaths reached 2112. Life saving accidents reached 11684 resulting in 13968 casualties, including 362 deaths while fire accidents reached 11122 causing 896 injuries and 35 deaths. Overall deaths have thus reached 5018.

10. To protect the right to life and physical safety, NCHR feels that the following recommendations should be adopted:

Table 3: Statistics related to certain crimes

Murder Murder Attempts Serious Injury

2007

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As Regards the Death Penalty:

The NCHR is convinced that the death penalty is an exterminatory penalty and should not be resorted to except in most serious crimes. Thus, it recommends that all aspects of this issue should be studied thoroughly, in order to reach more just conclusions and introduce the necessary legislative amendments to allow appeals of death sentences, regardless of the type of tribunal that passes the verdict. At the same time, texts endorsing capital punishment in valid laws should be reduced as much as possible.

As Regards Combating Torture:

In the area of executive measures to combat torture, NCHR recommends the following:

a) Recognition by the Government of the mandate of the Anti-torture committee referred to in Articles (21) and (22) of the 1984 Anti-Torture Convention and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment entrusted with considering complaints and notifications by states and individuals.

b) Recognition by the Government of the jurisdiction of the Human Rights Commission to receive individual complaints related to these rights, which are included Article (41) of the International Covenant on Civil and Social Rights (ICCPR).

c) Laying down a national strategy to eliminate all forms of torture. d) Activate the full role of the Public Prosecution in protecting victims. e) Setting up specialized centers for rehabilitating torture victims and creating a national fund

for compensating them. f) Adopting and implementing training courses for persons entrusted with implementing law, making

people aware of their rights and the seriousness of torture as well as their role in combating it. g) Ensuring that persons accused of torture cases do not remain in their positions all through

the investigation period and until after a final verdict is issued in order not to enable them exercise any influence over the victims.

h) Commitment by administrative governors to the provisions of Article (4) of the Crime Prevention Law as regards the procedures that should be followed upon resorting to administrative custody, particularly the issuance of the arrest warrant, hearing persons statements and issuing administrative detention warrants.

In the area of legislative measures to combat torture, NCHR recommends the following:

a) To include the jurisdiction of holding perpetrators of torture crimes accountable within the jurisdictions of normal courts instead of special courts.

b) To mention openly in the Adjective Procedural Law the right of torture victims to receive direct compensations from the State.

c) To restrict the penalty of solitary confinement mentioned in Article (38) of the Reform and Rehabilitation Centers Law No. 9 (2004).

d) To abrogate the Crime Prevention Law. Until it is abrogated, NCHR stresses the need to respect and abide by court verdicts and final judgments of acquittal or non-responsibility, as well as applying the principle of matching detention proceedings with the seriousness or gravity of the offence when imposing house, and turn the authority of imposing house arrests to the judicial branch.

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In the area of precautionary measures to combat torture, NCHR recommends the following:

a) To introduce a system for regular medical check-ups for all those who are in custody. b) To maintain regular registers in custody centers(names, arrest warrants, visits and

transfers) c) To ensure that detainees are capable of contacting their families and lawyers.

In the area of traffic accidents, NCHR stresses the importance of taking measures that would curtail this phenomenon within the society, namely:

a) Carry out a comprehensive review of the national strategy of reducing traffic accidents in cooperation with the institutions concerned, defining their duties and laying down a time table for implementing the contents of this plan.

b) To be stricter in granting driving licenses of all categories based on clear criteria that define the efficiency and capability of the person involved to abide by the Traffic Law and deal with elements of the road.

c) To withdraw or suspend the driving licenses of persons who frequently commit serious violations and constitute a danger to traffic safety for periods that are commensurate with the seriousness and the volume of the violation committed, provided that they should be subjected to a rehabilitation program carried out by the Traffic Department for this purpose. This should however, be regulated by law while stressing that licenses should not be haphazardly withdrawn without specifying the reason for such action.

In the area of narcotics, NCHR recommends the following:

a) To aggravate punishment on those who exploit children and women in narcotics trade and use.

b) To receive training on how to deal with targeted categories, particularly the staff and service providers such as police, judges and court personnel.

c) To study the reasons behind the spread of narcotics and protect youth and workers from this scourge while chasing propagators, especially in schools and factories and places of youth gatherings.

d) To activate the role of school headmasters, teachers and psychological and religious guides in using guidance, protective and therapeutical methods while dealing with the problem of drugs, and include scientific materials on the harms of narcotics in school curricula.

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Right to Freedom and Personal Safety

11. International conventions have guaranteed the right of man to freedom and personal safety.(11)

The Constitution emphasized this right in its Article (8) (12) while the Adjective Procedural Law and its amendments No. 9 of (1961) further defined the cases in which judicial police may arrest the defendant and remand him in custody. (Crimes and in cases of being caught in the very act). It laid down a set of controls and formal restrictions that should be taken into consideration upon making the arrest. The year 2008 witnessed the administrative detention of 13181 persons, including 11870 citizens and 1313 of other nationalities. Administrative detentions during the first ten months of 2007, reached 12178, of which 10241 were Jordanians and 1964 were foreigners. The mean period of administrative detention varied from one week to four months. The main reason behind the continuation of administrative detention was the inability of the persons involved to offer the requested bail. As regards detainees of foreign nationalities, some of these have been in custody for more than three years due to their inability to pay bail or because of awaiting the completion of the arrangements of their deportation. or due to a delay in deciding the fate of the detainee. Add to this, the soaring number of detainees in 2008 where the number reached 26088 compared to 25243 in 2007. Among those detained this year were 3290 foreigners by order of courts and general prosecutors. The number of detainees by order of the SSC Prosecutor General reached 7676, including persons who have been detained for seven months without charge or without sending them to court or hearing their cases (SSC or HCC detainees).

12. In the area of deprivation of liberty, NCHR monitored the continuation of some contraventions committed by Judicial Police upon making arrests and remanding people into custody, which constitutes a violation of the Adjective Procedural Law as well as international standards of freedom and personal safety. These include the following major instances: a) Non-commitment to legal controls and restrictions related to the period of detention defined by Article (100) of the Adjective Procedural Law which stipulated that this period should not exceed 24 hours. This action sometimes exceeds several weeks based on the Crime Prevention Law No. 9 (1954). b) Resort by security apparatuses of detaining people after their release after recommending Administrative Governors to take administrative measures against them or transfer them elsewhere, in order to remand them into custody on charges related to another case by putting a note on the detainee s file by the security center which took him into custody indicating that he should be turned in again to the same center after his release if he was still detained or after his release if he was convicted. If referred to the Administrative Governor, he will asked to present an undertaking, enter into reconciliation or take a police measure against him (place him under enforced residence) all of which constitute flagrant violations in implementing the law. c) The practicing by security apparatuses of depositing cases of persons

(11) See Article (9) of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (12) The Article stipulated that No one may be detained or arrested except by the provisions of law

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with criminal precedents with courts consecutively, until after the execution of prison sentences in each case alone. d) The Crime Prevention Law No. 9 (1954) vested judicial authorities in administrative governors by virtue of their positions under which they can remand persons in custody and deprive them of their liberty which in turn constitutes a contravention of the right to freedom and personal safety, particularly after expansion by administrative governors of their authority of administrative detention without offering legal guarantees of necessity justification and preserving PSD and public order and without taking into consideration the international procedural laws and the violation of the Crime Prevention Law itself. e) The continued banishment by administrative governors of administratively detained persons to remote areas that are far from their homes despite the existence of prisons in most Governorates, thus inflicting extra material and moral expenses on their families, particularly when such families are not notified in advance of the abrupt transfer of the detainees from one prison to another or one detention center to another.

13. As for temporary PSD detention centers,(13) NCHR records with appreciation the PSD during 2008 to establish many security centers. Those centers include exemplary temporary detention centers in accordance with international and national standards designed for such premises, a variety of utilities, the allocation of special chambers for the detention of minors and women in addition to waiting rooms for visitors. Despite this, NCHR noticed the continuation of several passive practices that affect the rights of detainees and constitute a violation of national and international standards. This requires PSD action to protect the rights of persons detained in these locations. These comments had been repeated once and again in all reports issued over the past four years, but the parties concerned failed to take them into consideration, foremost of which were: A) Failure to follow any of the classification criteria guaranteed by national and international standards when detaining defendants or suspects as well as the failure to allocate spaces for prayers at security centers. B) The deterioration of environmental and health conditions as well as poor cleanliness, non-availability of drinking water and the failure to provide basic meals for the detainees with the exception of the lunch meal. C) The harsh and inhumane treatment experienced by some detainees at certain security centers, particularly those with precedents as well as others who placed under house arrest in addition to forcing some detainees to carry out cleaning duties at the security center. D) Over-crowdedness of some temporary detention centers most of the time, which leads to a considerable shortage in services extended to detainees such as meals, beds and bed-covers. E) The forfeiture by detainees of all forms of communication with the outside world(14)(family and friends)and depriving them of the right to consult a lawyer during the early stages of investigation while keeping him in an unhealthy solitary cell for long periods exceeding two weeks(15) which constitute a violation of the guarantees of a just trial. F) Continued extension of periods of legal detention fixed at 24 hours, where defendants are kept in custody for long periods exceeding one week based on the Crime Prevention Law and sometimes without referring to this Law at

(13) Those include lock-up houses and detention locations at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID, the Anti-Narcotics Department and the Family Protection Department.

(14) Detainees are mostly deprived of the opportunity to contact their families to inform them where they are. (15) Jordanian laws do not stipulate that the defendant has the right to consult a lawyer except during preliminary

investigation and trial.

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all. NCHR monitored the availability of arrest warrants, ready and signed in advance by Administrative Governors at centers and security departments to extend the detention of the person concerned week after week under the pretext of investigation. In many cases, the detainee is transferred to several security centers to evade the text related to the detention period of 24 hours. G) NCHR monitored five deaths at temporary detention centers during 2005 which was the same figure recorded in 2007. Among this year s deaths was one suicide, three normal deaths according to the coroners reports and one still under investigation.

14. As regards houses of temporary detention at the General Intelligence Department (GID), NCHR paid two visits to detention centers pertaining to the Department during 2008.(16) The Center noticed a discrepancy in detention periods, which varied from one week to one year according to the arrest warrants issued by the SSC Prosecutor General. Complaints by GID detainees can be summarized in isolating them inside solitary cells in detention centers, the long periods of detention and preventing detainees from meeting their visitors in private during these visits. Table (4) presents a summery of the complaints received in 2008 by NCHR against the GID, which reached 36 complaints compared to 31 in 2007. NCHR appraises GID s response to several observations and recommendations made to improve the conditions of detainees at detention centers through following up the psychological health of the detainees, providing them with daily newspapers, improving illumination inside detention centers and informing the detainee s family of the place of his detention.

Table 4: Complaints received by NCHR against the General Intelligence Department

Complaints according to results

No.

Reached satisfactory results

Complaints still being followed-up

Complaints beyond NCHR s mandate

Complains stayed due to no violation

Complaints with no satisfactory results

15. As for Reform and Rehabilitation Centers, NCHR carried out 32 visits during 2008 covering all the ten Jordanian prisons (17) in coordination and cooperation with the OHRB at PSD Headquarters. NCHR monitored the following contraventions and accidents which had a passive effect on the right to freedom and personal safety during 2008, most important of which were:

A) A higher frequency of rioting inside some prisons(18) which led to passive results including human casualties, namely the death by burning of three inmates at Al-Muwaqqar Prison,

(16) NCHR team took notice of the conditions of the detention centers and the legal conditions of the detainees who were met in private and who were given the chance to present their claims and complaints. The team also took notice of the prison environment, quality of food offered and the level of health care and psychological health services.

(17) The number of convicts at Reform and Rehabilitation Centers this year varied between 7000 and 7500 distributed among ten prisons.

(18) Injury of more than 25 inmates at Beirain Prison, death by burning of three inmates on 26th February 2008 and the injury of more than 93 inmates at Al-Muwaqqar Prison on 14th April 2008.

21

the injury of 160 other inmates in three prisons and the spread of riots to five more prisons. Material losses were estimated in Al-Muwaqqar Prison alone at 450-thousand Dinars. It is noteworthy that NCHR s team was barred from visiting prisons during the period between mid-April and the outset of August 2008 because of its report on the events.(19)

B) The increase in the number of hunger strikes inside prisons to 1112 strikes, mostly due to the deterioration of living conditions of inmates who were motivated to try to inform public opinion of their bad status or to protest against some unjust administrative resolutions or due to their and their families ordeal resulting from long periods of judicial and administrative detention.

C) Overcrowd ness of RRCs and the failure to approve a criterion for defining the absorption capacity that would take into consideration the total area of the center and the space allocated to the utilities and dormitories.

D) The emergence of a new phenomenon of selling the right of using equipment , selling services , bribery among inmates and the spread of narcotic pills and violence among inmates.

E) The lack and exhaustion of the infra structure in some prisons , the deterioration of precautionary, preventive and medical health care services, limited psychological and psychic guidance care and the shortage in social care services.(20)

F) The ineffective judicial control over prisons and the limited legal assistance services offered to inmates either because of their poverty or non-awareness of the importance of such services.(21)

G) The failure to deal with the issue of continuity of service by prison personnel and the failure to offer adequate material and moral incentives that encourage working in prisons.

H) The increase in the rate of the return to crime which reached 33 % for men and women and the non-availability of precise statistics showing the types of crime, the age category, the geographical area and the reasons behind repeated crimes.

I) Non-application of a system classifying prisons (dangerous, very dangerous) and inmates (level of criminal danger, personality and age) to ensure the realization of achieving the aim of reform and rehabilitation and to guarantee that inmates are enjoying their secured rights. The periods of detention for some of them varied between one week and three years depending on the judicial arrest warrants (SSC, HCC)

16. By contrast, several actions taken within the framework of developing prisons had been registered including the following:

(19) NCHR s report on its site concluded that the direct reason behind Al-Muwaqqar riots was the mal-treatment of the inmates by some of the prison personnel which coincided with the haphazard transfers of inmates to implement confinement.

(20) For more details, see the report on the conditions of Reform and Rehabilitation Centers, NCHR, published on 8th Feb. 2009 on website www.nchr.org.jo

(21) Such legal assistance is offered by the visiting NCHR team and MIZAN Group to inmates of Juwaideh Prison-women, but this does not fulfill the needs of inmates. It is hoped that civil society organizations and the Association of Lawyers would play a bigger role in this important scope.

22

A) The issuance of resolutions setting free administrative detainees, particularly after the events at Muwaqqar, Suwaqa and Qafqafa prisons (22) and the formation of a committee to study and classify cases of administrative detention.

B) Opening an NCHR office at Suwaqa RRC on 3rd Feb. 2008 with the aim of following up all applications and complaints related to inmates from the legal, health and social aspects in cooperation with the authorities concerned. This office was opened as the nucleus for similar offices to be opened in other centers.

C) Appointing four nurse maids to work at the equipped nursery of Juwaidah Prison./ Women where babies until the age of three are taken care of and thus permit the inmate to keep her baby at her side.

D) Creating a website for the RRC Department.(23)

E) he announcement by the Minister of Culture on the implementation of a variety of cultural programs for inmates, including theater and cinema shows and supplying the RRC Department with 120740 cultural books. The National Association for Inmates Care also offered 10-thousand books.

F) Appointing seven public prosecutors pertaining to the RRC Department in prisons to receive the complaints of inmates.

G) Implementing programs emphasizing religious and moral concepts with the aim of individual reform in cooperation with some preachers, spiritual guides, specialists and Shari ah professors at the University of Jordan.(24)

H) Preparing draft instructions of motivational treatment through offering incentives to inmates in accordance with Articles (34) and (35) of the Reform and Rehabilitation Centers Law No. 9 (2004), which permits the release of the inmate before the end of the period of his sentence and thus deduct 1/4th of the period of his imprisonment. The present system enables all inmates to make use of this as soon as they are jailed regardless of their behavior.(25)

(22) On 7th May 2008, the Governor of Amman released 98 administrative detainees while the Governor of Zerqa released 75. On the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, Lesser Bairam and Greater Bairam the Governor of Amman released a total of 132 detainees out of 250-300 administrative detainees, including 50 females in Amman governorate only. Also, police restrictions were lifted with regard to 615 persons after a special committee concluded a study on all resolutions to this effect as part of the principle of reform and rehabilitation.

(23) The web link is WWW.CRC.PSD.GOV.JO3 (24) These programs were started at Juwaideh Prison, particularly for 36 inmates of infidel thoughts who attended seven

sessions of a religious dialogue which began after Lesser Bairam and ended before Greater Bairam.. Two reports issued by Al-Rai newspaper on 25 Feb 2008 and 16 Dec 2008 those inmates as repent ants from extremist thoughts. Those inmates will be transferred later to other prisons to make them mingle with undangerous inmates while keeping them under intensive scrutiny to detect the change in their behavior and way of thinking as well as their way of dealing with other inmates as stated by the Director of the Department of Reform and Rehabilitation Centers.

(25) As part of the instructions related to the proposed motivational treatment, there will be differentiation between inmates of good conduct and trouble makers inside prison. This draft was met with criticism by NCHR with regard to the chairmanship of the Motivational Treatment Committee (Director of the Center) and the composition of committee members in addition to discrimination between inmates making use of the period reduced. NCHR hopes that these instructions will not be approved in their proposed form and that the required amendments will be introduced in order to preserve the right of the inmate stipulated by Article 34 of the Reform and Rehabilitation Centers Law No. 9 (2004).

23

I) Organizing two Cultural seasons for prisoners over a period of six months at all prisons, which include lectures enhancing awareness towards contagious diseases, AIDS, psychiatry and other diseases(26)in addition to presenting two theater performances in May and June.

J) Printing and distributing 6000 copies of the Guide to the Rights and Duties of Inmates at Reform and Rehabilitation Centers as part of the national legislative enactments in coordination with NCHR.

K) Holding a sports event over a period of five months and providing some prisons with sports equipment donated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

17. As for the excessive use of force as well as police raids and arrests, NCRH received 18 tips during 2008 about breaking into houses and of frightening residents and children in several areas within the Kingdom during raids and arrests of wanted persons involved in security and drug cases, thefts and major cases of embezzlement. Among these cases were events which took place when police arrested some suspects in the Zarqa, Amman and Irbid governorates. It has been noticed that there was an increase in the number of police raids carried out by the Anti-Narcotics and Criminal Investigation Departments during 2008.

18. In order to protect the right to freedom and personal safety, NCHR reiterates its call to the Government and the security departments concerned to adopt the Center s recommendations included in its reports on prisons and which were re-stressed in its last report of 2007, most important of which were the following:(27)

A. To abrogate the Crime Prevention Law. Until this Law is abrogated, NCHR stresses the necessity of respecting court decisions and final verdicts of innocence or non-liability and abide by them, implementing the principle of convenience of police procedures and the extent of criminal danger upon imposing house arrest and returning all authorities related to this issue to the judicial branch.

B. To remove the umbrella of the administrative governor away from investigation procedures carried out by police, in a manner that does not permit continued detention of people and interrogating them for long periods based on arrest warrants issued by administrative governors.

C. Commitment by security centers to turn defendants and suspects to the public prosecution within the period prescribed in the Adjective Procedural Law.

D. Commitment by administrative governors to the procedures that should be followed upon resorting to administrative detention under Article (4) of the Crime Prevention Law with regard to issuing an arrest warrant, hearing statements and issuing administrative detention warrants.

E. Commitment by judges and prosecutors not issue judicial detention warrants except after possession of preliminary evidence that makes such actions imperative.

F. To find a solution to the problem of crowdedness inside prisons, including the promulgation of special legislative enactments on non-detention measures and activating the legislative texts related to stay of execution.

(26) The two cultural seasons were executed with MoSD cooperation, the Department of the Chief Justice, MoH, NCHR and the Anti-Narcotics Department.

(27) For more details see the 6th Periodical Report on the conditions of Reform and Rehabilitation Centers in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for 2008 issued on 8th February 2009 and published at NCHR s web site www.nchr.org.jo

24

Right to the establishment of justice

19. There is no doubt that an active judicial system constitutes the corner stone for achieving the state s fundamental message of setting up justice among all individuals and laying down the values of honesty, equality and equal opportunities in addition to protecting the rights of citizens and expatriates as stipulated by the Constitution (28) and guaranteed by international conventions.(29)The Center appreciates the Government s continued support to the judicial branch at all levels to ensure the enjoyment of this right a matter which appeared prominent in the measures taken by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in cooperation with the Jordan s Judicial Council (JC), to implement the special JC communication strategy at its first stage (2006-2007) and its second stage (2007-2009) which offered a fundamental basis for boosting public awareness towards the performance of Jordan s judicial system.(30)NCHR feels that the promulgation of the amended Conciliation Courts Law No. 30 (2008) which went into effect on 1st November 2008 would reduce the pressure exerted on courts of appeal and courts of first instance. Under this Law, many cases of courts of first instance were transferred to conciliation courts and many others were similarly passed by courts of first instance to the jurisdiction of courts of appeal. NCHR believes that this amendment requires practical procedures for increasing the judicial cadre at conciliation courts and upgrades its legal competence in order to absorb the huge quantity of suits falling under their jurisdiction and ensure quality and speed in settling these cases. Despite all what had been said, NCHR monitored during 2008 hindrances that had a passive effect on the protection of the right to the establishment of justice. NCHR recorded some of these in its past reports as they have been present for years.

20. Among these impediments is that some legislative enactments are characterized by a generalization in their text and the imputation of many of the detailed procedures to instructions and decisions issued directly by the Ministers concerned as well as the speedy changes introduced to all laws. Facts derived from practice show that many Government institutions do not abide by the requirement of publishing resolutions and instructions in the Official Gazette thus weakening the citizen s capacity to penetrate into the legal system and have a problem in following up the resolutions and instructions issued. The publication of

(28) See Articles 6/1, 9 and 27 of the Constitution. (29) See Article 14/1 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (30) One of the most prominent results of this strategy was the appointment of court directors to relieve judges from the

pressure of administrative tasks, computerizing court work and attaching it to the internet in addition to activating the JC e-page to enable the public to obtain information easily, sending several judges on scholarships to learn English and French and train others on matters related to copyright, an MoJ media campaign aimed at orienting people on the judicial system (educating people), promoting a general concept on judicial reform, development and role in fostering the principle of the rule of law and minimizing the resort to courts through adopting alternative methods for settling conflicts. Several judges have been trained on mediation and programs have been started to make citizens and lawyers aware of alternative methods to settle conflicts.

25

legislative enactments is faced by the problem of confining publication in the Official Gazette to amended articles under the name of Amended Law No or Amended Regulations No This causes causing confusion in codifying legislative enactments due to their big number or identifying the applied or abrogated legislative enactments by courts, public institutions, lawyers and citizens. It is noteworthy that world experiences by various countries take into consideration upon amending their legislative enactments the publication of their full text thus enabling those concerned to refer to the latest amendment without need to search for all legislative enactments.

21. The Judiciary Independence Law (31) and its amendments included several articles which affect JC independence, most important of which is financial and administrative non-independence as the Council has no system defining its organization, way of managing it or defining the departments pertaining to it that enable it to carry out its duties. Moreover, the MoJ is the party responsible for drafting the Council s budget.

22. The Judicial Inspection System, although it appears from the first glimpse that it violates the principle of the separation of powers as stipulated in the Constitution, this system is still in practical need for enacting a special system that would avoid all that is considered an infringement on the jurisdictions of the judicial branch and at the same time ensures active, just and authoritative inspection measures capable of carrying out follow up tasks. The Judicial Inspection System further needs amendments that would secure higher standards of efficiency for carrying out the task of inspection, granting the Inspector guarantees that would enable him perform his tasks without impediments or subjective limitations and guarantee that the MoJ would not keep the secret files of judges at its disposal.

23. It has been noticed that some legislative enactments granted judicial powers to executive parties, which had been directly reflected on the work and independence of the Judicial System. Some laws grant directors of these apparatuses the authority to issue resolutions that had been historically and mentally attached to the jurisdictions of the judge and the Court. An example of this is the Customs Law No. 32 (1998)(32) which granted the Director General the authority to issue resolutions of garnishment and prevention to travel in accordance with Article (193) of the Law. NCHR documented several instances in which persons had been prevented from traveling abroad decades ago, despite the fact that their cases are still in court and despite the fact that the persons involved had expressed readiness to offer guaranty that would safeguard the right of the Treasury. Moreover, the Crime Prevention Law grants judicial authority to an executive apparatus, where facts show that administrative governors have expanded in resorting to administrative detentions based on security recommendations that may not be justified in many of the charges against individuals and before it has been proven that the defendant had committed the crime. This applies to persons placed under house arrest which is a violation of the principle stipulating that a person may not be punished for committing a

(31) Published in the Official Gazette, Issue No. 4480 of 18th March 2001 (32) Published in the Official Gazette, Issue No. 4305 dated 1st October 1998

26

crime more than once and is also an infringement of the right of man to movement. This calls on NCHR to demand the amendment of these legislative enactments and confine the authority of issuing such resolutions to the judiciary in its capacity as the original party authorized to take the decisions affecting the freedom of citizens.

24. As for the amended system of the Court Fees System No. 108 (2008), NCHR feels that it imposed high fees that put impediments before individuals attempting to collect their rights while being unable to pay such fees, particularly under the hard living conditions of which a large sector of individuals suffer at present. This contradicts with international standards on the establishment of justice (33) and makes it imperative to review the system and introduce to it amendments that would take the citizens living conditions into consideration as well as the established principle that one of the major duties of the State is to bring about justice and that the original principle is based on the doctrine that the state distributes justice free of charge. The Center also feels that the jurisdictions of presiding judges should be activated by accepting the interpretation that takes into consideration the rights of the litigant upon the implementation of provisions of the Fees System on the one hand and the use by presiding judges of their power to postpone the payment of such fees on the other. Imposing fees on penal appeals is also considered an impediment facing many in practicing the right to self defense before courts of different levels, since imposing fees on appeals would not be acceptable as they are directly connected with HR and freedoms.

25. As for Shari ah courts, in their capacity as part of the Personal Status courts, NCHR noticed the presence of some impediments hindering litigation before these courts most important of which are: high and numerous judicial fees such as lawsuit fees, execution fees, experts fees all of which pose an impediment before many who cannot afford them, particularly women whose rights are violated and are unable to resort to courts due to the high expenses involved. NCHR feels that the Shari ah Execution Law (34) No. 11 (2006) aims at simplifying procedures of Shari ah litigation after the Shari ah execution operation was entrusted to regular MoJ courts, but many of the lawsuits especially those related to alimony stop upon reaching the stage of execution making litigation before such courts a problem due to the difficulty in executing their verdicts. The National Committee for Women s Affairs has proposed a draft law on establishing an alimony fund at Shari ah courts, but this draft law is still under consideration despite the elapse of several years.

26. As regards ecclesiastical courts, (35) in their capacity as part of personal status courts, NCHR monitored several problems that hinder litigation before these courts most important of which are: A) Failure to publish in the official Gazette several personal status laws governing Christian sects. B) The failure of the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Court to convene since

(33) The Committee concerned with human rights said in its comment No. 32 on Article 14 of ICCPR that the State must give the opportunity to man in every possible way to reach to the judiciary which the first and last guard of the rights and freedoms of people and not placing impediments in their way.

(34) Published in the Official Gazette, Issue No. 4751 dated 16 March 2006 (35) Namely the Ecclesiastical Courts of the Roman Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Latin, Armenian and the Arab

Evangelical creeds.

27

2007 despite requests by several citizens and the refusal of court officials to receive any suit under the pretext that the Court is not convened. A Jordanian female citizen complained to NCHR which in turn spoke to the Prime Minister following which the Court started its jurisdictions and began receiving cases referred to it.

27. NCHR, while aiming at elevating the standard of the Judicial System and enabling it to perform its tasks, foremost of which is to protect the rights of citizens and expatriates and enable them to achieve justice and equity, recommends the following:

A. To take the necessary legislative steps to revise the Judicial System to enable it meet new and continually developing needs in a way that ensures its administrative and financial independence.

B. To work on establishing a constitutional court to maintain the constitutionality of laws, with all what is meant by introducing constitutional amendments and bringing about serious schemes to habilitate the judges of this court and provide them with knowledge and constitutional expertise through specific and applicable programs. Until such amendments are introduced, NCHR hopes that judges will exercise the judicial jurisdictions vested in them under the prevailing laws with regard to matters related to the constitutionality of laws.

C. To expand in implementing alternative methods for settling conflicts away from courts. D. To publish all articles of the amended law in full, whether those which had been amended or

the ones which remained as they are in the Official Gazette, so that one could revert to the latest amendment published without need to search for all articles of the legislative enactments under every amendment

E. To minimize authorizations of judicial jurisdictions to executive authorities in applied legislative enactments with the aim of fostering the work and independence of the Judicial Branch.

F. To review the Court Fees System No.108 (2008), lay down a new system while keeping in mind the old legal text, abrogating fees imposed on adjective appeals in all cases and adhere to former discretions of higher courts in this respect.

G. To publish all personal status laws covering Christian creeds in the Official Gazette to place them under State control and incorporate them in the Jordanian Legal System.

H. To expand training courses of judges, particularly those related to new issues, and encourage them through giving them the opportunity to complete their higher studies in outstanding law schools throughout the world.

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Juvenile justice

28. Despite the fact that the Juvenile Law No. 24 (1968) and its amendments included several positive aspects that provide securities for the right to a just trial for juveniles, foremost of which are: the reduction of the penalty ceiling against juveniles, prohibiting the application of the death penalty against them, and calling children violating law as delinquent juveniles (36)

NCHR however blames the Juvenile Law for the weakness of its provisions that do not suit modern trends aimed at improving criminal justice for juveniles in order to reduce the problem of their delinquency. The Center therefore urges the Government to expedite the promulgation of the new Juvenile Law, which has been deposited with the Legislative Interpretation Bureau since the end of 2007.

29. As regards implementation of guarantees for holding a just trial for juveniles, NCHR appreciates MoJ and JC intention to allocate special courts for juveniles in addition to increasing the number of Conciliation Courts(37) in response to NCHR s recommendation in its 4th Report on juveniles which urged the provision of a special judiciary tackling all stages of the trial. NCHR considers this inclination as a positive step in the area of implementing the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) with regard to respecting the privacy of the child and the complete secrecy of litigation procedures.

30. In 2008, the Center received more than 100 complaints directly from detained children on violations committed against them, compared to 87 complaints in 2007. Torture complaints constituted the lion s share , i.e. 37 complaints from children who were tortured by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel(38), 21 complaints related to the right to receive family care(39), 22 related to delay in litigation procedures, 11 to the right to education, 7 complaints related to the right to legal assistance, and 5 related to the right not to be subjected to inhumane treatment.(40) NCHR also monitored 71 instances of violations against children in

(36) UN principles for managing the affairs of juvenile judiciary approved by the UN General Assembly on 29th Nov. 1985 called them criminal children>

(37) The amendment of the Law on the Formation of Regular Courts No. 31 (2008) was passed by the House of Representatives . According to Article 4/B, specialized court rooms in Courts of First Instance may be allocated if sound judiciary work requires this.

(38) NCHR received a complaint from the father of two children who were tortured by Criminal Investigation Department personnel on the background of arson after being detained at Jerash Police Directorate on 12 September 2008, which constitutes another violation related to the separation of juveniles from adults as stipulated by international criteria and national legislative enactments.

(39) Many of the families of children intentionally refrain from establishing connections with their children due to circumstances and reasons related to family disruption, e.g. The father of a child held at a Child Care Center refused to see his son under the pretext that the child does not want to join vocational training which he chose for him, but facts showed that the child s parents were separated and that the father was afraid that the child will eventually return home.

(40) A member of the Judicial Police hit a girl who received a sentence to be transferred to a Protection and Care Institution in front of the Judge because she protested against the court decision.

29

dispute with law through the project of Building capacities of the civil society for issuing the parallel report and monitoring violations related to children . Violated rights as monitored are classified as shown in the following chart:

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Right to family care

Right to not being subjected to

torture

Right to rapid litigation

Right to learning

Right not to be subjected to

inhuman treatment

Right to legal assistance

31. It has been noticed that theft and injury crimes are among the most frequent crimes committed by children between 2001 and 2007. The highest of these all during 2008 were crimes related to narcotics which reached 90 during that year and which in 2007 did not exceed 8 only. This constitutes a huge increase in the number of these crimes as depicted in Table (5), which covers the years 2001 2008.

32. NCHR has noticed that some juvenile penitentiaries face problems relating to the location environment which hinder the implementation of habilitation programs for detained children. This prompted the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) to adopt a new policy for vocational rehabilitation based on providing a location environment ready to receive and shelter children, whether they are law violators or are in need for protection and care. Accordingly, the Children s Penitentiary (age category 7-12 years) was moved from Bayader Wadi Es-Seir area to Shafa Badran area and placed in a modern premise especially designed for this purpose. A center for beggars, embracing female beggars, was also opened in Madaba on 30th November 2008 where environmental conditions applied are approximate and similar to a family environment. Maintenance works were also carried out in most juvenile centers and penitentiaries.

33. NCHR also noticed that positive developments in Juvenile justice occurred during 2008. These included the signature of a joint memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Center and the Ministries of Social Development and Justice on 5th February 2008. This memorandum was aimed at coordinating joint efforts in the area of monitoring and documenting related to juvenile justice, as well as NCHR-MoSD cooperation in receiving complaints directly from detained children. The Center is now working on expanding cooperation with other official bodies(41)within the framework of the efforts exerted to develop the Juvenile Criminal Justice System and in conformity with international trends aimed at creating a third protocol to the CRC concerned with receiving complaints and statements directly from children. Other positive developments include NCHR-MoSD cooperation in opening two temporary detention centers

(41) Such as the PSD Directorate, represented by the Family Protection Department, JC, MoJ, MoE, and MoL, through a network concerned with elevating the ceiling of legal, social and institutional protection of children in any dispute with law.

Table 5: Drug offenses committed by children

Year

No.

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for children. The first was The Mafraq Male Security Center which was added to lock-up houses in Amman, Zarqa, Irbid and Aqaba. The second was Al-Hussein Security Center where the first lock-up house for girls was inaugurated in addition to special offices(42) entrusted with dealing with issues related to delinquent juveniles who commit misdemeanors and contraventions, within the framework of a joint MoSD-PSD working mechanism.(43)

34. NCHR hereby appreciates the response to its recommendation mentioned in its 2007 report on creating a lock house for girls who are in dispute with the law, to enable them avoid criminal contagion and support the theory of juvenile justice since the moment of their arrest, especially as the service offered to juveniles at this stage of litigation is characterized by legal and social nature and are supervised by trained and efficient PSD and MoSD personnel. NCHR further believes that offices entrusted with juvenile cases play a significant role in improving the conditions of children being detained prior to trial for two reasons: The First: is to settle the juvenile dispute away from court procedures, direct them towards social support based on mechanisms of reconciliation and compromise between conflicting parties and solve problems among children under certain conditions. The Second: is that this represents the nucleus of creating police personnel trained and specialized in dealing with children during the pre-trial stage, thus enabling children to avoid many of the violations resulting from coercion by judicial police to make them confess or subject them to torture and inhuman treatment.

35. As for disseminating awareness, specialized training and orientation guides were prepared for persons dealing with juveniles who are in dispute with the law with the support of international organizations such as UNICEF, the UN office on combating crime and narcotics and the International Organization for Criminal Reform with the aim of making maximum use of reliable and specialized references on dealing with children in conflict with the law according to international standards and national legislative enactments.

36. In the light of these comments and results, NCHR recommends in order to foster juvenile justice, that constitutional measures for the promulgation of the juvenile draft law be expedited and passed as soon as possible. It further recommends that rehabilitation and training of judicial police and judges on protecting the rights of the child should be given high priority together with encouraging civil society organizations to participate in improving and developing the juvenile criminal justice system through preventive and rehabilitation projects aimed at curtailing juvenile delinquency and activating the involvement of government institutions dealing with juveniles in shouldering responsibility in accordance with international standards of the rights of the child.

(42) In four security centers which are (Quwaismeh Security Center, Zahran Security Center, Tabarboor Security Center and Al-Hassan Security Center in Zerqa)

(43) The mechanism of these offices is carried out as follows: MoSD personnel attend investigation sessions with juvenile persons, register information related to the family of the child and inform them as soon as possible. A preliminary social study is also conducted together with a meeting held between affected parties in an attempt for reconciliation. PSD personnel pertaining to the Family Protection Department afterwards carry out the legal procedures implemented with regard to misdemeanors and contraventions vested in police by Law (Preliminary investigation) create a data base on crimes committed by children, define reasons behind them and search for appropriate social solutions.

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Right to hold public office

37. The right to hold public office is one of the fundamental political rights of citizens which had been guaranteed by the Constitution(44)and international HR standards.(45) This right is governed by the Civil Service Regulations No. 30 (2007)(46) in addition to special regulations organizing employment in independent public institutions. It is noteworthy that part of the appointments in independent public institutions under special regulations is made in coordination with the Civil Service Bureau (CSB). NCHR records the promulgation of the Ombudsman Bureau Law(47) of 2008, which is considered as an important step within the framework of controlling the performance of public institutions with regard to employment, promotions and the upgrading of officials as the Bureau was granted the authority to look into the complaints made against any resolutions, measures or practices or the act of refraining from carrying out decisions issued by the Public Administration or its officials as specified in Article (12). The Law hence gave the right to any person harmed by any of the decisions, procedures, and practices of refrain made by the Public Administration, to file complaints to the Bureau vis-à-vis the Public Administration. NCHR further appreciates the Government s response to its recommendation included in previous reports concerning the necessity to promulgate the anti-corruption commission draft law(48) which will facilitate the implementation of the Public Sector Reform Scheme as well as future policies and national projects. The Anti-corruption Commission received until the date of preparing this report, 53 complaints related to contraventions in appointments and transfers in ministries, municipalities, universities and independent institutions and commissions. Twenty of these complaints were stayed after the Commission had found out that they were false and that actions taken to the effect were legal and sound. Other complaints are still under investigation.

(44) Article 22 of the Constitution stipulates that i) every Jordanian shall be entitled to be appointed to public offices under such conditions as prescribed by law or regulations. ii) Appointment to any government office or any establishment attached to the Government, or to any municipal office, whether such appointment is permanent or temporary, shall be made on the basis of merit and qualifications.

(45) See Article 21 of the UDHR and Article 25 of ICCPR. (46) The CSB was established by Law No.11 (1955) in its capaci9ty as central department responsible for organizing

the affairs of civil servants in the State to ensure the elevation of their efficiency and improve their performance. The tasks of the Bureau were developed over years to include the following: -- Supervision over the implementation of the Civil Service System and laying down the principles of competitive tests. Selecting and appointing State officials in accordance with the approved bases and criteria. Patronizing the affairs of the public servant all through his career and developing his scientific and practical capabilities.

Presenting indicators on the policies of training and rehabilitation.

(47) Published in the Official Gazette 4900 dated 16 April 2008 (48) Jordan ratified the 2004 UN Convention on Anti-corruption and the Anti-Corruption Commission Law was

approved in 2006. Article 4 of this Law stipulates that among other targets of the Anti-corruption Commission are to expose the cores of corruption, investigate all aspects of corruption including financial and administrative corruption, combating nepotism and provide justice, equality and equal opportunities in distributing the gains of development.

32

38. Within the same context, NCHR hereby indicates that the CSB study on facts related to human resources and administrative organization within the civil service, has shown a discrepancy within the salary scale, i.e. between the salaries of the Public Sector and those of the Private sector. The study further indicated that such discrepancy was caused by basic salaries within the civil service system on which all financial rights of the employee are based. This discrepancy becomes conspicuously apparent upon comparing salaries in both Sectors. This also indicated that social and economic development, the accumulation of increases in ratios of economic development and the upsurge in the standard of living, its requirements and prices constituted as a whole, reasons that imposed the necessity to improve the conditions of civil servants and increase their salaries and allowances in order to enable them live a decent life, elevate the standard of their performance and deepen their institutional allegiance.

39. It is noteworthy that the Civil Servants Bureau receives citizens grievances and complaints concerning public offices which are filled through the Bureau. Most complaints and grievances are caused by the failure of complainants to acquaint themselves with basics, instructions and regulations.(49) Most of the complaints received by the CSB dealt with the competitive order of applicants, humanitarian cases, objections related to domicile of some applicants seeking employment, cases of refrain from attending competition tests or the acceptance of the public office and the annulment of the appointment request after the completion of the procedures prescribed by law. It is noteworthy that the CSB has recently established a special section entrusted with receiving such complaints.

40. The 2007 Audit Bureau report(50) cites contraventions of the right to hold public office, as certain categories are still being employed without any consideration of the educational qualifications required in the public servant. As for official universities, the report indicated that filling some of the vacancies there take place without advertisement and without applying the principle of comparison a matter which contradicts with the principles of competition and transparency. This also applies to municipalities where appointments take place without taking into consideration the sound objective principles or availability of vacancies as well as adequate money allocations a matter that lays a heavy financial burden on the shoulders of municipalities. Resolutions issued by the Personnel Committee at Greater Amman Municipality(51) show that some of these resolutions had authorized the payment of big amounts of remunerations to a group of administrators and officials, without heeding to instructions related to incentives and remunerations in conformity with the rules. It has also been noticed that raises granted to officials on contracts are given without adhering to the provisions of law or specifying the reasons which led to the grant of such raises.

(49) Such information was obtained during a meeting with the CSV Secretary General and several officials at the Bureau on 25/3/2009

(50) Information included was derived from the 2007Audit Bureau Report, as the 2008 report was not issued until the time of preparing this report.

(51) Greater Amman Municipality suffers from flaccidity and unjustified increase in the number of staff. It has been noticed in recent appointments a considerable increase in salaries.

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41. During 2008, NCHR received three complaints. The first was related to promotions in government departments, the second to unjustifiable transfers carried out for personal reasons and the third on dismissal from work without sound legal justifications. The Center is currently following up these complaints with the authorities concerned.

42. The NCHR monitored five decisions issued by the High Court of Justice (HCJ), some of which included the abrogation of some administrative resolutions, while others ratified the administrative resolutions issued by the authorities concerned.(52)

43. In the light of this general scene, NCHR recommends the necessity to follow-up the violations monitored by the Audit Bureau and included in its annual reports on the right to hold public office, in order to rectify such contraventions and hold those responsible accountable. The Center further hopes that the Anti Corruption Commission, the Audit Bureau and OHRB Bureau will implement special programs that would contribute to the reform of the Public Sector and activate the Anti-Corruption Convention ratified by Jordan regarding the development of the Public Administration and what is required from Public officials.

44. NCHR endorses the CSB recommendation on the necessity of restructuring salaries, wages and allowances in public service and in all Government departments in a way that takes into consideration the developments affecting the standard of living, the facts related to current overall salaries and the progression of categories and grades of public servants.

(52) HCJ decisions abrogating administrative resolutions violating law (Decision No. 120/2008 dated 2/6/2008, Decision No. 86/2008 dated 21/4/2008); HCJ decisions ratifying the authenticity of administrative resolutions (Decision No. 123/2008 dated 7/7/2008, Decision No. 98/2008 dated 9/6/2008, Decision No.82/2008 dated 13/5/2008)

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Right to a Nationality, Residence and Asylum

45. Nationality is one of the most important elements of a person before law which should be enjoyed by every human being. Article (6) of UDHR stipulates that Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before law. Accordingly, nationality is considered as one of the most important rights of man, as the right of man before law and his rights and duties towards his country and society, are defined through this right, which also confers on him his State s diplomatic Protection and defines his competence and personal status abroad. To assert this particular significance of nationality, Article (15) of the same Declaration stipulated that Everyone has the right to a nationality and that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his

nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. The international legislator did not confine himself to what was stipulated in the UDHR, but dealt with this right in more than one of the international conventions , some of which were ratified by Jordan(53) while others were not(54) Despite the fact that international conventions stipulated this right, it however left its regulation to the constitution and laws of States Parties, provided that they should take into consideration the international standards mentioned therein due to the fact that it constitutes the fundamental main stay of an individual s life from the legal, political and local aspects, and in implementation of Article (5) of the Constitution and Article (33) of the Civil Law both of which stipulated that nationality is defined by law. The Nationality Law No 6 (1954), which laid down the conditions of acquiring the original, constituent or subordinate nationality or naturalization as well as other matters related to nationality. It however still require amendments(55) to cover the aspects imposed by the development of the society, particularly after Jordan published several international conventions in the official Gazette on 15/6/2006 making their provisions became part of the National Legal System.

(53) Jordan published the following international conventions in the Official Gazette: ICCPR, which stipulates this right in Article (16); the 1969 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which demands that all member states should eliminate all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against foreigners seeking asylum or nationality; the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, in which Article 2 stipulates that: 1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child s or his or her parent s or legal guardian s race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status. 2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child s parents, legal guardians or family members and whose Article 7 reads as follows: 1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents. 2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this area, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.

(54) Other instruments include: Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, Convention on Reducing Statelessness, and Convention on the Nationality of Married Women.

(55) The Nationality Law was amended more than once last of which was in 1987. See these amendments on the following web site: www.lob.gov.jo./ui/laws/search_no.jsp?=6&year=1954

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46. In Reality, NCHR feels that no change or progress had occurred with regard to the right to nationality during 2008. The Center received during 2008 several complaints on the right to nationality and the right to obtain identification documents totaling 30 in all, compared to 64 complaints in 2007.Among the most important complaints received were complaints on the withdrawal of official documents (Passports, Civil Status Identity Cards, and the withdrawal of National Numbers) based on the 1988 Administrative and Legal Disengagement (ALD) from the West Bank resolution and providing complainants with temporary passports. NCHR believes that the withdrawal of official documents, other than being a flagrant constitutional violation and contravention of international standards, causes several passive effects including the invalidation of an important human right of several persons despite their close and serious link with the State, restriction of the right to movement of persons whose identification documents had been withdrawn, deprivation of regular work and the right to live in addition to the continued sufferings experienced by those persons upon the renewal of their identification documents over short periods, especially as some of them are married to Jordanian women and have children, as well as the difficulties faced by the children of those persons with regard to the right to education and the right to health which the Government is supposed to provide in accordance CRC provisions, already ratified by Jordan.

47. This right is still confronting many impediments that violate its provisions, notably that the prevalent interpretation is that the 1954 Nationality Law discriminate between Jordanian men and women in their capability to grant their nationality to their children. as per Article (313) of the Law. A thorough reading of Article (9) of the same Law, however, stresses that sons of a Jordanian are Jordanians wherever born. Interpretation of this text according to accepted interpretations indicate that sons of a Jordanian mother shall enjoy holding the Jordanian nationality. However, the text sons of a Jordanian in the masculine gender applies to males and females where it is specified as being general and absolute. This interpretation has emphasized the provisions of Article (2) of the same Law which stipulates that the word Jordanian shall mean every person who obtained the Jordanian nationality in accordance with the provisions of this Law using the word person which applies to both males and females. Had this text meant males rather than females, no Jordanian female would have enjoyed holding the Jordanian nationality. On the other hand, and while the Constitution stipulates that the Jordanian nationality shall be defined by Law, the nationality and identification documents

are being withdrawn on the basis of instructions related to the 1988 ALD resolution, in contravention of the Constitutional text on the one hand(56)and the International Bill of Human Rights as well as other international conventions ratified by Jordan on the other, as States Parties shall according to the text, refrain from taking any action leading to the deprivation of any person of his nationality and that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality according to Article (15) of the UDHR.

(56) The ALD resolution stipulates that every person living in the West Bank before 31/7/1988 shall be considered a Palestinian citizen and not a Jordanian. Article (3) stipulates that people of the occupied West Bank shall be granted temporary passport valid for two years, while Article (6) stipulates that passports issued prior to 31/7/1988 shall remain valid until expiry and their validity shall be amended to become two years upon reference by holder to the Passport Department for any transaction whatsoever related to the passport.

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48. As for the right to residence and freedom of movement, Jordan ratified the 2006 ICCPR, under which official authorities have become committed not to expel an alien lawfully in the territory of a State Party except where compelling reasons of national security otherwise require as stipulated in Article (13) of this Covenant.(57) During 2008, NCHR received 89 complaints related to the right to residence and freedom of movement, compared with 166 complaints in 2007. These included the refusal by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to grant wives of Jordanians the annual residence permit in addition to the expulsion by security apparatuses of aliens married to Jordanian women in cases where a court verdict had been issued against any of them regardless of the charge. NCHR addressed the Ministry of the Interior on repeated expulsions, but the Ministry refused to heed under the pretext that such a decision falls under acts of sovereignty.

49. As for the residence and affairs of aliens, organized by the Residence and Foreigners Affairs Law and its amendments No. 24 (1973), NCHR did not register any change in addressing the conditions of persons residing in Jordan, despite the fact that the Center had earlier registered some comments on this Law most important of which are: A) Law, in Articles (19) and (37) granted the Ministry of the Interior absolute authority to accept or reject a foreigner s residence application, or to cancel a residence permit granted to him and order him to leave the Kingdom without giving any explanation for such an action. B) Detention by PSD personnel of aliens to be expelled until they are exempted or pay the fines imposed on them a matter which takes quite a long time probably months and constitute a contravention of their right to personal freedom. C) The issuance by administrative governors of expulsion orders against foreigners without giving them a chance to defend themselves or even settle their financial and social affairs which also constitutes a violation of the right to a just trial.

50. As for asylum conditions, and despite the fact that the Constitution had stipulated in its Article (21) (i) that refugees should not be expelled(58) Jordan did not join the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee, but instead signed a memorandum and letter of understanding with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1997 1998 to regulate the mechanisms of transactions between both sides.(59) This refugee status remained unchanged until 2008. International legal organizations and research bodies continued to believe that the main reason behind the harsh conditions faced by refugees resulted from the failure to join the said Convention.(60) In 2008, complaints by refugees continued to converge on NCHR on the

(57) This Article stipulates that an alien lawfully in the territory of a State Party to the present Covenant may be expelled there from only in pursuance of a decision reached in accordance with law and shall, where compelling reasons of national security otherwise require, be allowed to submit the reasons against the expulsion and to have his case reviewed by, and be represented for the purpose before, the competent authority or a person or persons especially designated by the competent authority.

(58) Article (21-i ) of the Constitution stipulated that political refugees shall not be extradited on account of their political beliefs or for their defense of liberty

(59) UNHCR work in Jordan is based on that Memorandum as Article (5) thereof stipulates that asylum should be humanitarian and peaceful and therefore the two parties have agreed that asylum seekers and refugees should receive a treatment as per the international accepted standards. A refugee should receive legal status and UNHCR would endeavor to find recognized refugees a durable solution be it voluntary repatriation to the country of origin or resettlement in a third country. The sojourn of recognized refugees should not exceed six months.

(60) For more details see the Migration Policies Institute in Washington, the International Humanitarian News Network (IRIN) pertaining to the UN Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) and the Australian AUSTCARE Organization.

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most important problems they face. During the year, the Center received 7 complaints related to the problem of residence, its legality, the forfeiture of the validity of personal identification documents, the failure by UNHCR office to take action on asylum applications submitted to it during the period agreed upon with the Jordanian Government and the failure to inform UNHCR of the arrest of any of the persons who were granted asylum or applied for asylum.

51. It is noteworthy that the MoI had earlier rejected a proposal by UNHCR Office to follow the mass acceptance system for Iraqi refugees and instead insisted on UNHCR s commitment to implement the MoU signed in 1998 which stipulates that asylum applications should be considered case by case.(61)NCHR hereby records the futility of the solutions suggested to the problem of Iraqi refugees, This was exhibited in the limited number of voluntary return of refugees to Iraq on the one hand or naturalization in a third country on the other. This also asserts the fact that the international community is not shouldering its legal and humanitarian responsibilities of finding alternative solutions for refugees which in turn requires that pressure should be exerted on this community to find an appropriate solution that preserves the rights of refugees and those of host countries as well.

52. To protect the rights of the individual to a nationality, residence and asylum, NCHR stresses the necessity to adopt several recommendations including the following:

In the area of the right to Nationality: the Center reasserts recommendations included in previous reports most important of which are:

A. Activating Article (5) of the Constitution under which nationality cannot be granted or deprived from any person except according to law and that nationality and other identification documents may not be withdrawn except by a final judicial order.

B. Canceling Jordan s reservation against Article (9) of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)(62)

C. Setting up a committee comprising competent government agencies to study urgent humanitarian cases related to the withdrawal of documents from citizens and the results thereof and to work towards bringing about just solutions for those citizens.

Concerning the right to residence, NCHR reiterates the necessity to implement its previous recommendations on the following:

A. Amending Article (37) of the Residence and Foreigners Affairs Law, which grants administrative governors and other executives the authority to issue an expulsion order, so that such order will not be issued unless it includes the reasons behind expulsion and grant the person involved a grace period before expulsion to enable him defend himself before judicial authorities, in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution which stipulates

(61) The number of Iraqi refugees in Jordan is estimated at 400 thousand while the number of Iraqi asylum applicants is estimated at 52 thousand, of which 7650 were granted asylum

(62) Article (9) stipulates that 1) States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality. They shall ensure in particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife, render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of the husband. (2) States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children.

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that courts are open before all and to give the person a specific period to settle his financial and social matters upon the issuance of an expulsion order.

B. To refrain from expelling a husband of a Jordanian woman and a wife of a Jordanian man under administrative orders, in order to secure the stability and living conditions of the family through introducing an explicit provision on the right of a foreigner married to a Jordanian and her non-Jordanian residing children to residence and grant them residence permits within specific conditions and controls.

As regards the right to asylum, NCHR reiterates its recommendations included in its four previous reports to this effect, most import of which is to avoid the legislative shortcomings related to the legal status, rights and obligations of refugees according to international criteria and hereby recommends the following:

A. Laying down and approving a conspicuous national mechanism for addressing refugee issues. B. Informing UNHCR through official authorities and as soon as possible if an asylum seeker

had been detained as stipulated in Article (2) of the MoU concluded between the Government and UNHCR.(63)

C. Issuing instructions to security apparatuses on the necessity to inform UNHCR in case of the detention of persons entering Jordan illegally with the aim of seeking asylum as stipulated in Article (3) of the same Memorandum, before deciding on his banishment or expulsion.

(63) The Article stipulates, that the principle of non-refoulment should be respected that no refugee seeking asylum in Jordan will be returned to a country where life of freedom could be threatened because of the reasons mentioned in the 1951 agreement.

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Right To Elect and Be Elected and the Legislative

Performance of the House of Deputies (HoD)

53. Elections are viewed as being the fundamental democratic tool for exercising the right to administer public affairs as confirmed by the Constitution.(64) and international conventions.(65) Several electoral laws were promulgated to regulate this right last of which was the Provisional Election Law for the House of Deputies No.34 (2001), which included several provisions that enhanced the practice of the right to vote most important of which were: Reducing the age of the elector from 19 to 18 years thus enabling every citizen who had completed 18 solar years of age on the first day of elections to participate in voting and sorting out results at voting centers. As for the developments witnessed by this right during 2008, NCHR has noticed that no initiative was made neither by the Legislative Branch or the Executive Branch to discuss and amend the Provisional Election Law of the House of Deputies No 34 (2001), despite the fact that civil society institutions and political activists offered many ideas on the proposed texts of the Election Law. This right therefore remained without positive change despite the fact that the Government had committed itself in its policy statement upon which it won HoD confidence to act on amending and promulgating the necessary legislative enactments that personify public participation, magnify democratic culture and promote the feeling of citizenship. It listed the Parties and Election Laws as part of the positive and responsible dialogue to this effect.

54. On the other hand, this Law includes several provisions, which are not in congruence with the principles of free and fair elections as organized by international principles of the right to elect. These include:(66) A) The Failure to realize the principle of representation and equality among all citizens with regard to

the absence of justice and equality in dividing constituencies, the presumptuousness of the Executive Branch in this respect,(67)the failure to implement in full the principle of public election and nomination in addition to the failure to implement the principle of equality among nominees due to inequality in the weight of their electoral vote as well

(64) As stipulated by Article (67) of the Constitution which read as follows The House of Deputies shall consist of members elected by secret ballot in a general direct election and in accordance with the provisions of an Electoral Law which shall ensure the following: (i) The integrity of the election. (ii) The right of candidates to supervise the process of election (iii) The punishment of any person who may adversely influence the will of voters.

(65) See Article 21 of the UDHR and Article 25 of ICCPR. (66) Election Laws are still provisional and do not embrace all necessary international criteria for free and fair elections

that govern the election process of consecutive chambers of deputies since the resumption of democratic life in 1989. This also applies to the elections of the 15th House of Deputies which came under heavy criticism when they took place in 2007.

(67) The present Election Law entrusted under Article 52 the Executive Branch with the task of dividing constituencies and defining seats in each constituency as this Article specified that division shall take place in accordance with regulations to be issued to this effect. The Division of Constituencies System No. 42 (2001), published in the Official Gazette on 23/7/2001 was issued dividing the Kingdom into 13 electoral areas which include 45 constituencies.

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as the difference in the number of seats allocated for each constituency together with granting each voter one vote. (B) The failure to implement the principle of transparency and neutrality of the authority running the election process. This appears in the failure of the Election Law to regulate the process of preparing the election sheets in a way that ensures their precision and the neutrality of the authority supervising the election process as result of granting the Executive Branch the authority to supervise the election process fully, beginning from the preparation of the election sheets and ending with announcing the results of the election process, add to this the absence of neutrality of the authority entrusted with determining the validity of the election of the deputies, namely the HoD.

55. In 2008, the Parliament held three sessions.(69) In this regard, NCHR records that the first ordinary session was held immediately after the conclusion of elections for the 15th House of Deputies, as the Royal Decree summoning the National Assembly to convene was issued on 2/12/2007. This constitutes a sound application of the provisions of Article (73/1) of the Constitution.(70) Moreover, the second ordinary session was convened on 5/10/2008, in conformity with the provisions of Article (78) of the Constitution.(71) In activation of the provisions of Article (112) of the Constitution, the National Assembly approved the State s general budget for 2009 in December 2008, after the Government submitted the draft Budget Law at an early date.(72) As for the legislative role exercised by the National Assembly, Table (6) shows the number of draft and provisional laws passed by the 15th National Assembly during its 2008 parliamentary sessions which totaled 87 laws. It is noteworthy that the HoD has turned down all petitions by citizens and candidates on the validity of its members during its

(68) It is noteworthy that the House of Deputies passed in its first session four laws which were placed on the agenda of the 14th House of Deputies.

(69) The first was the ordinary session of the 15 House of Deputies held between 2/12/2007 and 30/3/2008. The second was the extraordinary session held between 1/6/2008 and 12/7/2008. The third was the second ordinary session held between 5/10/2008 and 4/2/2009

(70) Article (73/i ) of the Constitution stipulates that if the House of Deputies is dissolved, a general election shall be held and the new Chamber shall convene in an extraordinary session not later than four months from the date of dissolution. Such session shall be deemed to be an ordinary session in accordance with the provisions of Article (78) of the present Constitution and shall be subject to the conditions prescribed therein in respect of prolongation or adjournment.

(71) Article (78) of the Constitution stipulates that The King shall summon the National Assembly to an ordinary session on the 1st day of October of each year or , if that day is an official holiday, on the first day following the official holiday, provided that the King may, by Royal Decree published in the Official Gazette, postpone for a period not exceeding two months the meeting of the Assembly to a date to be fixed by the Royal Decree

(72) Article (112/i) of the Constitution stipulates that the draft law covering the General Budget shall be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution at least one month before the beginning of the financial year.

Table 6: Laws passed by the HoD in 2008

Laws passed by the Upper

House.

Laws passed by the HoD.

Laws received by

the HoD from Govt.

No

Session

40 40(68) 36 1st ordinary session

24 24 28 1st extraordinary session 23 23 26 2nd

ordinary session

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first ordinary session(73) either totally or in form or substance based on decisions taken to the effect by the committees concerned.

56. The Center took notice of some indicators on the legislative performance of the National Assembly including (A) The Upper House returned to the Lower House ten draft laws. This was construed by some members of the National Assembly itself as a clue of the existence of a legislative problem.(74)(B) The slow down by committees in performing draft laws referred to them during the first legislative session(75) The press tackled HoD performance with much detail and made several comments on some aspects of this performance.

57. Dealing with another aspect, NCHR monitored the promulgation by the National Assembly during 2008 of a set of laws directly connected with HR including(76) an amended law to the Public Meetings Law. Despite the fact that civil society organizations asked the HoD to reject the draft law or introduce substantial amendments to it, particularly the text which defines a meeting and that requesting prior permission from the Administrative Governor before making any move to hold such meeting, this Law still contains provisions that constitute a violation of international conventions ratified by Jordan, as this Law restricts this right which is connected to practicing other political rights such as the right to political participation and the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

58. Among the most important laws approved by the National Assembly is the Ombudsman Bureau Law(77) under which the OHRB was created. This Bureau which has a judicial personality and enjoys financial and administrative independence, looks into complaints of individuals against resolutions, procedures, practices or the refrain from carrying out any of them by the Public Administration or any of its staff, provided that the scope of judicial or administrative objection is not valid or under consideration before a judicial party or had been decided on by a judicial verdict. NCHR has several comments on this Law most important of which are: (A) The weak authority and powers vested in the OHRB President with regard to any of the complaints

(73) Article (71) of the Constitution granted the House of Deputies the right to determine the validity of the election of its members by stipulating that the House of Deputies shall have the right to determine the validity of the election of its members. Any voter shall have the right to present a petition to the Secretariat of the Chamber within fifteen days of the announcement of the results of the election in his constituency setting out the legal grounds for invalidating the election of any deputy. No election may be considered invalid unless it has been declared as such by a majority of two-thirds of the members of the Chamber.

(74) See statements by MP Mohammed Abu Hudaib in Al-Dostour Newspaper on 2/4/2008. (75) Performance of Parliamentary Committees varied. The Financial and Economic Committees performed 23 laws

and reports, followed by the Legal Committee which performed 11 laws and motions, followed by the Educational and Cultural Committee -5 laws- while the Administrative and Energy Committees were equal in performing 4 by each. On the other hand, official Parliamentary documents showed that by the end of the first ordinary sessions Parliamentary Committees had draft and provisional laws as follows: The Legal Committee 15, the Financial and Economic Committee 24, the Administrative Committee 10, the Energy Committee 2, the Public Services, Tourism and Archeology Committee 1, the Agricultural and Water Committee 2 and the Labor Committee 1 law.

(76) It must be noted that NCHR monitored in addition to the Public Meetings Law and the Ombudsman Bureau Law a set of laws related to human rights such as the Societies Law and the Domestic Violence Law which were presented in this report.

(77) Law No. 11 (2008), published in the Official Gazette, issue 4900 dated 16/4/2008.

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submitted to him, as he has no authority to carry out actual investigation in any of the claims made against the Public Administration , but has the right to ask for providing him with authenticated copies of the documents, papers, statements or information related to the complaints made in accordance with Article (15-c) of the Law but shall have no right to ask for the original copies of the documents or request any of the persons involved in the complaint to appear before him for questioning or presenting whatever documents or vouchers he possessed. (B) Article (15-d) deprived the President of the Bureau of taking any action against the party involved if this party failed to reply to the complaints of the plaintiff or refrain from providing him with the required documents or information. It confined his right to merely ask the Prime Minister to take necessary action, thus raising a big question mark regarding his impartiality and independence from the Executive Branch. (C) The stipulation by Article (16-b) of the elapse of one year after the occurrence of the event mentioned in the complaint for referring the issue to the OHRB, constitutes a violation of the simplest general principles related to prescription and hearing the case as the prescription period for submitting a complaint to the OHRB should be connected to the date the plaintiff becomes aware of the event involved and not the date the event occurred as it is expected that a time lapse should exist between the issuance of the resolution by the Public Administration and the date of the plaintiff s complaint or his awareness of the event.

59. To protect the right to elect and be elected and the legislative performance of the National Assembly, NCHR reiterates its recommendation included in its previous reports concerning the necessity to (A) Expedite the promulgation of a permanent election law in conformity with established principles within democratic systems and expedite as well the implementation of the recommendations related to the Election Law which were included in the National Agenda as well as the NCHR report on supervising Parliamentary elections in 2007.(78) (B)To work on bringing about a new mechanism for considering and deciding on the validity of the election of Members of Parliament (MPs) through the amendment of Article (71) of the Constitution and entrusting a judicial body with determining the validity of the election of MPs.

(78) See NCHR s report on the 2007 parliamentary elections, posted on the Center s website www.nchr.org.jo

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Right to Freedom of Opinion, Expression,

the Press and Information

60. Article (19) of the ICCPR stipulates that Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds. Article (15) of the Jordanian Constitution also stipulates that the State shall guarantee freedom of opinion. Every Jordanian shall be free to express his opinion by speech, in writing or by means of photographic representation and other forms of expression, provided that such does not violate the law. The same Article also stipulates that freedom of the press and publications shall be insured within the limits of law. Hence comes the significance of the binding opportunity of the freedom of opinion and expression within the community as it represents a guaranteed right as per the Constitution and international conventions, in addition to the fact that it also represents the main and best method for communication and interaction among the specters of the entire society on the one hand and between these specters alone or together and State apparatuses and institutions on the other. Freedom of opinion and expression offers an opportunity to every citizen to take a look at the world through an open and legitimate window which will make him acquire more knowledge and interact with new ideas and news.

61. Several ebbs and tides took place during 2008 in the area of freedom of expression and opinion. As for the journalist and information framework within the Kingdom, the following indicators show the most significant contraventions committed against the freedom of the press and the media. Table (7) shows a comparison between several contraventions in the areas of freedom of opinion and expression and the freedom of the media during 2008 compared to 2007. Most significant of these violations was the physical harm inflicted when

(79) Instances in the Table are based on what had been published in daily and weekly newspapers as well as websites monitored during 2008 which do not necessarily represent all violations which might have been committed and could not be monitored by NCHR

Table 7: Number of violations(79)

of freedom of opinion, expression, the press, and information.

No of cases for 2007

No. of cases for

Type

Body harm

Material harm

Detention

Security convocation

Threat

Prevention from practicing profession

Difficulty in obtaining information

Trial

Self censorship

Intervention in the press work

Financial and Administrative Impediments

Advance censorship

Prevention from attending public activities.

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a writer in Al-Ghad newspaper came on 26/12008 under an assault by a person holding a sharp object (scalpel) by which slashed part of the writer s face while he was at home after publishing certain press materials. An editor of the Ammoun electronic web site also came under attack on 29/3/2008 by security forces that pushed him and beat him so as to prevent him from covering the elections of the Contractors Association. As for material harm, Table (7) included two instances which took place in 2008 compared to none in 2007. The first took place when a car owned by a journalist in Al-Rai newspaper was subjected to shattering by unknown persons at Zay area on 26/1/2008. The car of another journalist working with Al-Dustour newspaper was burnt while being parked in the courtyard of his house on 27/4/2008.

62. As for detention, 2008 witnessed three such instances compared to 10 similar instances in 2007. These included the detention of a photographer of Al-Ghad newspaper at Al-Ashrafiyyeh Police Station for two hours while he was on an official mission photographing a site where an exchange of fire took place in Al-Nadi Street at Al-Wihdat Refugee Camp. Police escorted him to the Police Station under the pretext that he failed to obtain an official permission to photograph the site. Amman s Public Prosecutor detained on 20/10/2008 a journalist of Al-Arab Al-Youm newspaper for 14 days for interrogation related to a suit raised by the Press and Publications Department after publishing a poetry anthology titled Bi-Rashakat Dhill which was considered as a contravention of the Press and Publications

Law. The Chief editor of Al-Ikhbariyyeh weekly was detained on 28/102008 for 15 days for SSC interrogation under Article (150) of the Penal Code on the background of criticizing an official at the Ministry of the Interior.

63. As regards summoning by security apparatuses, the Chairman and Chief Editor of Al-Bayda a weekly was summoned on 24/12/2008 after his newspaper published a news matter related to the Medical City. As for the threats indicator, NCHR monitored one such case in 2008 compared to three cases in 2007. The Editor of Al-Sawsana weekly revealed on 16/9/2008 that he had received murder threats by unidentified persons after publishing news about consecutive events witnessed by companies dealing in shares within the world stock market. He filed a complaint with the security authorities concerned which started investigations to identify the persons involved.

64. As for preventing people from practicing their professions, essays by a writer in Al-Arab Al-Youm were stopped on 6/9/2008 after increased pressure on him and his newspaper s management to dissuade him from writing and expressing his opinion as well as the opinion of the Socialist Left in Jordan on several internal issues. His daily column was suspended and he later lost his job on the background of the views and stands expressed by him within the context of an argument between political powers on several domestic issues.

65. As for the difficulty in obtaining information and the measures taken to restrict them, NCHR monitored five cases in 2008 compared to four in 2007, where the Prime Minister issued a circular preventing officials working in Ministries and government departments from leaking out to the media any information or answering any queries related to any of the

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issues pertaining to their departments or otherwise become liable under the provisions of law. The Center believes that this circular obstructs the supervisory role of the media in unveiling any administrative or financial violation or corruption and contradicts with domestic laws and international conventions ratified by Jordan.. It also feels that this circular obstructs the freedom of the press media and its right to have access to information to enlighten public opinion and hinders the right of the public to have access to knowledge. Within this context, NCHR would like to point out that most information spokesmen in Ministries and official departments are still skeptic in providing the press with information. The Ministry of the Interior also issued instructions on 12/3/2008 Organizing the Work of Internet Cafes and obligating owners of these cafes to install control cameras and register details on users such as their names, phone numbers, time of use and the sites they review on the internet, which all constitute a violation of the right to circulate information and the right to privacy of internet users. NCHR calls on the Government to review these instructions which could expedite listing Jordan as a country antagonist to the freedom of using the internet. On 23/6/2008, the Minister of Water refrained from providing journalists with information on the Ministry s future programs and projects, particularly Al-Disi Water Flow Project during the Water Resources Management Conference. Meanwhile, The Journalists Association received on 25/6/2008 a complaint from the Director of the Office of Al-Jazeera Space Channel in Amman concerning the prevention of the office s photographers and correspondents from entering SSC premises about a year ago, while other journalists were prevented from entering some ministries and public institutions. This shows that the press is still suffering in its endeavors to have access to information as well as its endeavors to obtain news from their main sources, despite the compulsory nature of legal texts which make access to information a right in the Press and Publications Law and enable journalists to obtain such information through the use of the Right to Obtain Information Law. On the other hand, the Information Board launched a national information awareness campaign heralding the beginning of the implementation of the Law on Guarantee of Access to Information(80), which will bring about an inciting environment for the investigative press which will instigate a perseverant and deep search for facts, add to this the orientation campaigns, workshops and training courses launched by the National Library Department to remind citizens of their rights prescribed by law and the mechanism of the procedures approved by the Information Council to this effect. The Center however records that the impediments faced by journalists in having access to information are the most common despite the promulgation of the Law on Guarantee of Access to Information and what the Press and Publication Law provides with regard to giving access to information within certain time limits. This necessitates the activation of implementing the said laws by the official and domestic authorities.

(80) The Information Council completed the preparation of forms for requesting information within a specific time limit and in a way that would enable the person requesting information to file a suit against whoever refuses to answer such a request for information. The Council of Ministers also approved the charges that the Department should receive in return for photo copying the requested information. It also decided to exempt the persons requesting information from all charges if the number of sheets requested were less than ten against nominal amounts for preparing lengthy data that require research in depth.

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66. As for the prevention from attending public activities, and the difficulties faced by journalists in their attempts to have access to information, the Journalists Association received a complaint from the Director of Al-Jazeera Space Channel Office in Amman on the prevention of its photographers and correspondents from obtaining official permission to photograph some border archeological sites in line with applied rules, contrary to the approvals granted to other channels operating in Jordan. Journalists were also prevented from covering the sessions of the Upper House, with the exception of the Jordanian News Agency (Petra) correspondents. Some of these instances had been referred to within the context of the indicator exhibiting to the difficulties faced in obtaining information, as preventing the journalist from being present at the site of any event hinders his capability to have access to information.

67. In the area of bringing journalists to trial, NCHR recorded several instances which included the following:

A) On 18/3/2008, Amman Court of First Instance sentenced the Chief Editor of Al-Dustour Newspaper and the Chief Editor of Al-Arab Al-Youm newspaper in addition to two other journalists to three months imprisonment on charges of slander after publishing an article in November 2007 describing a judicial verdict as unjust. The Higher Judicial Council accused the journalists of impairing the judiciary. In a similar case, the same Court sentenced on 13/3/2008 a journalist in Al-Rai newspaper to three months imprisonment for publishing an article in December 2007 on the website : www.runonline.net

saying that the expenses of the official in charge of the Jordanian Information Center were exaggerated.

B) Ain Al-Basha Reconciliation Court on 17/8/2008 acquitted a journalist of Al-Rai newspaper after charging him with contempt of an official (a policeman), resisting officials and inflicting harm on others.

C) The Chief Editor of Al-Ikhbariyyah weekly appeared before the Amman Public Prosecutor, in August 2008, after being sued by the HoD on charges of slandering the reverence of the Chamber after publishing an article in the newspaper in 2006 criticizing the HoD Speaker.

D) On 24/9/2008, Amman Public Prosecutor referred the Chief Editor of Al-Ikhbariyyah weekly to the Anti-Corruption Commission and the SSC for criticizing the Governor of the Capital. He was charged with: character assassination and instigating religious and sectarian conflicts.

E) On 24/9/2008, Amman Public Prosecutor embarked on investigations related to a suit by the Minister of Water and Irrigation and the Secretary General of the Jordan Valley Authority in their personal capacity against a weekly newspaper after publishing material undermining their reputation. The Public Prosecutor accused the plaintiffs of imbalance and lack of subjectivity in presenting the journalistic material, non-respect of the private life of others, practicing the journalist profession by non-professionals and defamation and slander in contravention of the provisions of the Press and Publications Law and the Penal Code.

F) On 14/10/2008, the Amman Public Prosecutor began investigations with a Publishing and Distribution House at the request of the Director of the Press and Publications Department

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who accused the Publisher of violating the Press and Publications Law by publishing a book containing clauses offending the Islamic religion and the divinity.

68. As for self-censorship, four columnists in Al-Arab Al-Youm newspaper refrained for different periods from writing articles as result of a political and information controversy which took place between writers and journalists on the permitted space of the freedom of opinion in the Kingdom. NCHR believes that self-censorship imposed by the journalist on himself constitutes a restriction on the freedom of the press and prevents the journalist from expressing his opinion due to his fear from bad consequences that would eventually result with lowering the margin of the freedom ceiling below that guaranteed by law.

69. Concerning interference in journalism, the publisher of Al-Arab Al-Youm newspaper hinted in an article published on 25/6/2008 that his newspaper is coming under pressure to change its editorial policy and the tendency of its writers under the pretext that the paper has become a newspaper opposing everything. He also mentioned pieces of advice he received from official, varying from selling the newspaper or the suspension of one or more of its editors in addition to altering the method of dealing with news items due to the positions adopted by some of its editors towards public issues.

70. As for administrative and financial impediments, Al-Luweibdeh magazine interrupted publication on 3/8/2008 following a request by the Press and Publications Department to rectify its legal status and register the Magazine at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce as a company, not an individual institution. The Magazine had earlier applied for a license prior to its publication, and was published one month later as failure to reply on behalf of the authorities concerned, is considered as legal approval. After a while, the Magazine was taken by surprise when it was requested to re-register the institution publishing it in its capacity as a company rather than an individual institution. It is noteworthy that the Legislative Interpretation Bureau approved the licensing of the Magazine following its interruption for four consecutive issues. NCHR records that a 5 % fee has been imposed on the returns of advertisements in the press, radio and television institutions under the Culture Care Law, in addition to a 2% of the licensing fees of radio and space stations or the renewal of the licenses of operating stations. This raised a controversy within media circles which expressed wonder over the imposition of new fees on the media sector instead of exempting it on equal footing with other industries. The Center believes that imposing fees in this manner contradicts with international standards as such fees lay down impediments before the media industry and prevent citizens from having access to various information media.

71. Beside the negative indicators mentioned with regard to the freedom of the press during 2008, here are positive indicators witnessed in the area of journalism during the past year, most important of which are: (A) No newspaper had been closed neither permanently or temporarily. (B) No foreign journalist had been prevented from entering the country or had been expelled out of the Kingdom (C) The Journalists Association had not received any complaint from journalists on being exposed to pressure to unveil the sources of their

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information. (D) The Journalists Association had not received any complaint on the seizure of any tools or documents.

72. As regards legislative enactments, NCHR s report on the HR situation last year listed the most important legislative enactments issued during the said year including the amendments introduced to the 2007 Press and Publications Law. Upon reviewing freedom of the press indicators during 2008, NCHR feels that it is imperative to indicate that despite the fact that the Law imposed on all official bodies and public institutions to guarantee the right of journalists to the facilitation of their tasks and offer them the opportunity to become acquainted with their programs, plans and projects, answer their queries and provide them with information or news promptly according to the nature of the news item or the information required if it is of an urgent nature, and within a period not exceeding two weeks if it is not urgent. Despite this, difficulty in obtaining information remains prevalent as Government departments and institutions still refrain from providing journalists with the required information except in meager quantity although the law stipulates the imposition of a fine on any person violating any of the provisions not covered in the text. The Law regulated the right of the journalist within the framework of performing his work to attend official and public domestic meetings unless these meetings were held behind closed doors under the laws or regulations which still prevent attendance by journalists of open meetings a matter which requires follow-up by the government body responsible for facilitating journalist affairs as well as the Journalists Association in order to overcome this matter.

73. The Law also stipulated the prohibition of interference in any work carried out by the journalist within the framework of his profession, forcing him to divulge the sources of his information, and depriving him from performing his work, or from writing or publishing any material without a legal or justified reason without prejudice to the accepted power of the Chief Editor to authorize publication.. It appears upon reviewing the indicators monitored by NCHR on the freedom of the press that while the Center did not register any violations of coercing journalists to unveil the sources of their information, it however recorded cases where journalists were hindered from carrying out their profession and duties a matter which requires urgent follow-up to halt such practices.

74. The Law further stipulates the prohibition of detention as result of expressing opinion by speech, in writing and other means of expression. It further stresses the mandate of the Court of First Instance to look into crimes committed through publications and to refrain from abrogating the license of printed matters except through the judiciary and within clear and transparent conditions related to licensing requirements. NCHR monitored the continuation of detentions of some journalists despite the clarity of the Article prohibiting such measure. The Center also monitored the appearance of the Chief Editor of a weekly newspaper before the SSC despite the fact that publication cases are normally confined to courts of first instance. The case was dismissed by the SSC for lack of jurisdiction and was referred to a civil court. It is noteworthy that an amended draft law of the State security law is under consideration at the Legislative Interpretation Bureau that would reinstate some of

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the articles of the Penal Code concerning crimes committed in publications and confine them to civil courts. NCHR hopes that these amendments will soon be passed. The Center on the other hand did not meanwhile register the cancellation of the license of any newspaper.

75. The law further stipulated the lifting of advance censorship in accordance with Article (15) of the Constitution, which does not permit censorship in normal situations. Anyone writing a book in Jordan has become capable of printing it directly without the need to subject it to any sort of censorship. These measures are now on their way to implementation. This applies to publications arriving from abroad which are not subjected to censorship also. It must however be noted that publications issued internally and externally are subjected to the provisions of law. The Director General of the Press and Publications Department may refer any internal publication to court in cases where he deems that it violated the law. He can also under the provisions of law prohibit the entry to the Country or distribution of a publication issued abroad and refer it urgently to Court if he found that it contained any material violating law. The Director General of Press and Publications stated that during 2008, his Department referred three books on religious affairs printed in Jordan to the court which has so far ruled that the author of one of these books was not liable. He also stated that his Department also referred during 2008 two other books issued abroad to Court. One of the two books dealt with religious affairs while the other dealt with political issues.

76. However, it must be noted that despite the existence of some positive aspects in the Press and Publications Law, there are still some issues which should grasp attention and should be addressed as soon as possible to complete the circle of granting the journalist, the publisher and all those working in the journalist profession or the elements supporting them the opportunity to obtain the best legislative standard regulating their work including the following: (A) The reconsideration of advance licensing of issuing newspapers through sufficing themselves with notifying the agency stipulated by law thus enabling the newspaper to be published within a time limit if it meets the legal status and is registered as a company at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) . (B) The necessity to stress separation between ownership and management of newspapers, including the review of ownership of newspaper shares by government institutions. (C) Reconsider the huge fines imposed on some violations of the Press and Publications Law and make such fines commensurate with the fines imposed with regard to violations prescribed in many other laws. This also applies to the amendment of the Penal Code so as to abrogate all freedom depriving articles (Imprisonment) related to the Press and Publications Law and confine the penalty to compensation.

77. In 2007, the Law on Guarantee of Access to Information was promulgated giving citizens for the first time in the Kingdom s history, the right to ask for information, obtain them by law and resort to Court if such a request was turned down. A specific mechanism for submitting applications and having access to information within a specific time limit, unless such information was classified exists. Putting this Law into effect took some time for preparation and implementation in order to enable Government departments and institutions

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to complete indexing, regulating and classifying information and documents available in a way that facilitates dealing with the prerequisites of the Law. The ratio of official departments and institutions which performed this task reached 75 % of total institutions in the State as mentioned by the Information Commissioner. This offers a better opportunity to meet requests for information submitted by citizens.

78. While it is impossible to fix precisely the number of applications submitted to have access to information or the percentage of meeting such requests, it could be established that matters are progressing gradually and that this issue requires coordination and cooperation among all parties of the Access to Information equation. Several workshops have been organized recently to explain to the citizen s right to have access to information and the method of exercising this right. An information campaign was also launched for orientation, clarification and enhancement. The Information Commissioner received two complaints only from persons who did not have access to information which shows that this right is being used on a very narrow scale. There are some observations related to the Law which had been discussed extensively, including the following: (A) the non-independence of the Information Council as most of its members are Government officials. (B) The absence of a conspicuous mechanism for the classification of Government documents that could be excluded from disclosure.

79. This leads us to concentrate on the necessity to expedite the amendment of the State Secrets and Documents Law in order to lay down clear and transparent criteria for the classification of the documents and thus facilitate the access to information. It is worth mentioning that there is currently a draft law on amending this Law at Legislative Interpretation Bureau.

80. It is evident from all what had been mentioned that Laws regulating the press and enabling people to have access to information have formed an obligatory legal framework for dealing with this significant sector of the society openly and transparently, where hindering the work of a journalist, interfering in his affairs or concealing information from him shall become a violation of the law. This is an important matter that should be considered and taken care of

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Right to Establish and Join Associations and

Trade Unions

81. International legislative enactments guaranteed this right in Article (23) of the UDHR, and in Articles (21) and (22) of the ICCPR.81 The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) supported this international trend in many of its provisions(82) As for Jordanian legislative enactments most supreme of which is the Constitution, Article (16/2) and Article (23) granted Jordanians this right(83) In implementation of item (f) of Paragraph (ii) of Article (23) of the Constitution, several labor laws were promulgated last of which was the Labor Law No. 8 (1996) and its amendments.

82. Jordan ratified several Arab and international conventions governing the freedom and work of trade unions.(84) Reviewing these agreements, NCHR has recorded several comments regarding the freedom to form trade unions regulated by Labor Law No. 8 (1996), including the following: a) Article (3) excludes from applying the provisions of this law civil servants and municipality staff and prohibits the establishing trade unions for these categories. It also excludes household and agricultural workers from such application. The amendment of the

(81) Article (23) stipulated that 1- Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment , to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment 4- Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. Article (21) of ICCPR stipulates that the right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. Article (22) of the Covenant stipulates 1- Everyone shall have the right to freedom of Association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests. 2- No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those which are prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of rights and freedoms of others

(82) See Articles (4), (5) and (6) of ICESCR. (83) Article (16/2) stipulates that Jordanians are entitled to establish societies and political Parties provided that the

objects of such societies and parties are lawful, their methods peaceful and their by-laws not contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. Article 23 stipulates that i- Work is the right of every citizen and the State shall provide opportunities for work to all citizens by directing the national economy and raising its standard. Ii- The State shall protect labor and enact legislation therefore based on the following principles: a) Every worker shall receive wages commensurate with the quantity and quality of his work. b) The number of hours of work per week shall be defined. Workers shall be given weekly and annual days of paid rest. C) Special compensation shall be given to workers supporting families and on dismissal, illness, old age and emergencies arising out of the nature of work. d) Special conditions shall be made for the employment of women and juveniles e) Factories and workshops shall be subject to health safeguards. F) Free trade unions may be formed within the limits of law.

(84) Most important of which are: ILO Convention C98 concerning the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, 1949; C151 Labor Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978; C141 Rural Workers' Organizations Convention, 1975; and C111 Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958. The Jordanian Government has not ratified C87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948. Conventions signed within the framework of the Arab Labor Organization include Convention No. 8 (1977) on the freedoms and rights of professional associations and trade unions.

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Law passed by the National Assembly in its extraordinary session in June 2008, came to maintain the exclusion of civil servants and municipality staff from the provisions and substituted the exclusion of household and agricultural workers by subjecting them to the provisions of law, but through a special ordinance to be enacted to this effect, provided the ordinance regulates this category s employment contracts, working hours, rest hours, inspection and all other matters related to their work. The NCHR observes, however, that this text fails to address their right to form a trade union to defend their rights. b) Even though Article (97) of the law recognizes the workers right in any vocation to establish their own trade union, subsequent articles lay down several impediments and restrictions in the way of exercising this right, contrary to international criteria. These obstacles include: the stipulation in Article (98/a) restricting the number of founders of a trade union to a minimum of 50 persons; the stipulation in Article (98/b) giving the Minister authority to pass a resolution classifying vocations and industries whose workers may form their own trade union, in contravention of international conventions preventing management from interfering in the affairs of trade unions. Moreover, Article (100) stipulates that the General Federation of Trade Unions lays down its own Rules of Procedure, as well as those of its unions, only after consultation with the Ministry. This stresses that the Administration interferes in laying down the Rules of Procedure and deprives the unions from exercising their freedom in this respect. In addition, Article (102) hangs the establishment of trade unions on the approval of the Trade Unions Registrar. This contravenes with the principle of establishing trade unions, which stipulates that the founders deposit the establishment documents with the relevant administrative authority. Another impediment is Article (116), which grants the Minister the right to file a suit at the Court of First Instance asking for the dissolution of any trade union if it violates any of the provisions of law and fails to eliminate the contravention during a period of time specified by the minister. This article should have, rather, identified the violations, which may prompt the Minister to file a suit against the union, as well as a reasonable period of time for eliminating the violation. NCHR also notes that the Government is still exercising control over the Federation, as evidenced by the fact that most unions do not hold elections to choose their administrative bodies, which in most cases are elected unopposed.

83. As for trade unions, NCHR records that two broad segments of professionals do not enjoy the right to form unions. The first is that of teachers who have not so far been permitted to set up their union based on the interpretation of the Higher Council for Interpreting the Constitution (HCIC) in 1994 despite the fact those teachers in all democratic states have unions that defend their rights. The second segment is that of the Shari ah lawyers. NCHR also noticed that the Veterinarians Union Law No. 28 (2008) was opposed by the Union s General Assembly as Article (49) stipulated that the union s assets and accounts shall be placed under the control of the Audit Bureau. This objection was supported by other unions whose laws stipulate that their accounts should be audited by an auditor certified by each union in addition to the fact that their administrative bodies are subject to the control of the General Assembly of each union, where the Administrative body submits each year an administrative and fiscal report that must be ratified by the general assembly of each union. Accordingly, it may be said that practicing the right of establishing trade unions and joining them did not witness any positive progress.

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84. During 2008, several developments emerged in the area of promoting the right to establish and join professional associations and trade unions, most importantly electing several administrative boards of these gatherings by secret ballot, under the supervision of their general assemblies and the participation of representatives of the sectors concerned in the Government. Those developments included the following: A) Elections of the Contractors Union which took place on 29/3/2008 B) Elections of the Union of Owners of Offices of Recruiting Household Workers held in March 2008. C) Elections of the Journalists Union on 25/4/2008. D) Elections of the Union of Jordanian Writers and Authors which took place at the outset of April 2008. E) Elections of the Pharmacists Union on 10/5/2008. F) Elections of the Union of Certified Auditors held on 16/12/2008. NCHR expresses regret at the eruption of quarrels and arguments among candidates at some of these elections such as those which took place at the Contractors and Journalists Unions. As for the Journalists Union, NCHR records the withdrawal of one of the main candidates for the post of President during the second stage in protest against what he called the intervention of some official media staff and the pressures exerted on the General Assembly to elect a certain candidate to the post of President

85. Several unions continued to press for their syndicate demands during 2008, such as the demand of five unions(85)to raise the technical allowance of their members in the public sector from 120% to 150 %., the demand by the Barristers Union to reconsider the Law of Public Gatherings, the demand for the promulgation of a new law that copes with the provisions of the Constitution and the political and democratic development in the Kingdom and the demand by unions to amend the Social Security Law in view of the damage inflicted on members and their families. NCHR believes that the Law included some positive aspects that were included in the Social Security draft law but records some comments on the damages inflicted on members of the Social Security System and their families. (86)

(85) These are the Agronomists Union, the Pharmacists Union, the Geologists Union, the Veterinarians Union and the Journalists Union.

(86) NCHR s report on the conditions of human rights in 2007 referred to several comments on this law namely: First: Despite the fact that the draft law regulated in Chapter five the provisions of maternity security and security against unemployment in Chapter Six, Article 3 however stipulated the implementation of security against work injuries and old age , disability and death, but left to the Cabinet the implementation of the rest of the securities such as the maternity security, security against unemployment and health security on stages. This means that the draft law was actually void of an expansion in the social security umbrella. Second: The draft law expanded the categories included in the Social Security Law and laid down a new definition for the insured who thus became the natural person on whom the provisions of the Law are applied whether male or female. The draft law added that the provision of the law shall be implemented on businessmen, workers at their establishments and those working for themselves in accordance with the instructions to be issued by the Board of Directors of the Social Security Corporation. Third: Despite the fact that the reasons for amending the Social Security Law indicated that these amendments are commensurate with governmental tendencies to peg wages and pension salaries to inflation ratios, the draft law stipulated that pension salaries should be pegged to inflation or the annual growth ration of wages whichever is less and the maximum raise 20 dinars which makes any talk about pegging pension salaries to inflation of no avail. Fourth: The draft law included provisions on lowering the salary subject to deductions for pension purposes to 5000 dinars which is commendable as it is aimed at preserving the funds of the Corporation and prevent attrition resulting from paying extremely high pension salaries. The draft law however was strict in granting pension salaries as those were reduced drastically thus depriving this law from being an intrinsic tool for social security. While the current law permits granting an old age pension to anyone who completed 60 years of age and remitted 180 installments of which 60 are actual, the draft law stipulated the remittance of 180 subscriptions on the job, or 216 subscriptions of which 120 are actual. This means that the draft law has doubled the subscription period by 100 %.

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86. NCHR records that the Central Council of Workers held a meeting on 2/8/2008 during which it was decided to summon the General Congress to meet in order to amend the Union s rules and present the amended Labor Law on the second ordinary HoD session by the end of 2008. The extraordinary General Congress was actually held on 23/8/2008 where most of those attending approved the proposed amendments to the Rules of Procedures of the Federation and the Consolidated System of the trade unions as they came in the two copies presented to the Congress. The most important of these amendments were the abrogation of the union branches elected in districts as well as the production locations and substitute them with appointed unionist committees and ask these branches to inform the mother union of their funds and accounts and place them under its disposal. This led to the objection by representatives of five unions against the legality of holding the congress, the verification of the identity of union representatives participating in the Congress and the method of vote counting of those who voted in favor of the amendment etc When the objection appeared to be of no avail, 17 of the unions representatives filed a suit at Amman Court of First Instance on 16/102008 asking for canceling the resolutions of the Congress. This case is still under consideration before the Court, but this step led to a big rift within the Jordanian Labor Movement. Those who opposed the resolutions of the Congress stress that if the judiciary failed to bring them justice, they will form another trade union parallel to the present union. NCHR believes that this crisis reflects the weakness and dependence of the labor movement in managing its affairs as result of administrative interventions.

87. NCHR received on 2/12/2008 complaints from the Secretary General of the Electricity Workers Union in which he referred to a letter by the Minister of Labor dated 30/10/2008 addressed to the President of the General Federation of Labor Unions, in which he criticized statements by the Secretary General of the Electricity Workers Union that the proposed amendments to the Labor Law are different from what had been agreed upon between representatives of the Ministry and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Workers Federation. The Minister, however, considered these statements as untrue and that they cause work confusions, asking him to refrain from making such statements. The Center believes that this act is in violation of the provisions of Article (15) of the Constitution which stipulates that the State shall guarantee freedom of opinion and that every Jordanian shall be free to express his opinion by speech, in writing or by other means of expression. It also contradicts with all of the afore-mentioned international standards related to the freedom of trade unions in managing their own affairs, their independence from the Administration and non-interference of the Government administration in their affairs.

88. Trade unions continued to carry out several activities during 2008, to improve the conditions of workers and meet their demands. Accordingly, the President of the General Federation of Labor Unions submitted a memorandum to the Minister of Labor during 2008 demanding the increase of minimum wages from 110 diners to 200 dinars a month. Accordingly, the Council of Ministers agreed to increase minimum wages to 150 dinars as from 1/1/2009. Workers at Al-Safi Salt Unit pertaining to the Arab Potash Company staged a sit-in which continued for several days. This resulted in signing an agreement between the Company s administration and the President of the General Federation of Workers at the Arab Potash

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Company under which the Company became committed to absorb 60 of the Unit workers within the Company cadre and to pay a sum of 3-million dollars to the 140 workers who will be dismissed. This amount will be distributed as per the years of service and salary of each worker provided that the remuneration should have a minimum limit. The workers refused to accept the agreement which they described as unfair, saying that they will resume their sit- in as well as their hunger strike. The President of the Workers Federation called for rejecting the amended Labor Law passed by Parliament in its extraordinary session during Summer of 2008 and criticized the Parliament s cancellation of the article permitting expatriate and foreign workers to join the unions, stressing that Jordan has large numbers of workers abroad and that canceling this article would adversely affect them if the principle of reciprocity is to be applied.

89. To protect the right to establish and join associations and professional unions, NCHR believes that the following recommendations should be applied:

A) Amending the Labor Law so as to make the establishment of associations and unions become effective through depositing identification documents with an independent body for registration purposes. If the Administration felt that this constituted a violation, it may object to it through the court concerned. The amendment may also include granting agricultural workers the right to form a union.

B) Guaranteeing the right of associations and unions to lay down their statutes and rules of procedures without interference by the Government administration.

C) Guaranteeing the right of associations and unions in choosing their representatives by free and honest elections without any interference on the part of the Government and to include a provision stipulating non-interference in the election of members and presidents of the leaderships of these associations and unions.

D) Permitting the establishment of a Teachers Association and an association for Shari ah barristers.

E) Permitting the establishment of associations for workers in major companies and corporations, particularly those owned by foreigners so as to enable those workers to defend their rights and develop their professions.

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Right to Establish Political Parties

90. The Constitution(87)and international conventions(88) guaranteed the right to establish and join political parties due to their significant role in enriching the democratic process based on the principles of pluralism and political participation and in a way that would enable them to carry out their programs through peaceful means. The Political Parties Law (89) No. 19 (2009) came to regulate this right as it included several positive aspects aimed at promoting the right to establish parties foremost of which are: Allocating financial resources in the General Budget to support political parties, the prospects of the parties use of the official media for explaining their doctrines and programs and refraining from harassment, interrogations or undermining the constitutional rights of any citizen because of his party allegiance.

91. On the other hand, NCHR recorded several restrictions imposed by the new Political Parties Law on party life, (90) referred to by NCHR in its previous reports and which were proven by the actual implementation of the provisions of this law most important of which are:

A) The law stipulated that registration should take place at the MoI, which in fact constitutes a major intervention by the Government in the process of establishing political parties. The law was supposed to become sufficed with depositing the registration documents with an independent body characterized by neutrality and honesty. The Administration may, in case it has any objections, file a law suit to decide on the issue.

B) Article (5) of the Law stipulated that the number of founders of a political party should not be less than 500 persons and that their residence should be distributed among at least five governorates with a minimum ratio of 10 per cent of each governorate. This practically means that: approximately 80 % of the population living in the biggest four governorates may not establish political parties while not more than 20 % of the population living in the smallest five governorates establish any number of parties they wish.

C) The Law included a discriminatory provision in Article (5-2-A) which stipulated that anyone wishing to join a political party should be Jordanian since ten years. This constitutes a flagrant violation of the provisions of Article (6) of the Constitution which stipulates that Jordanians shall be equal before the law.

(87) Article (16) stipulated that ii- Jordanians are entitled to establish societies and political parties provided that the objects of such societies and parties are lawful, their methods peaceful and their by-laws not contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. iii- The establishment of societies and political parties and the control of their resources shall be regulated by law.

(88) See Article (20) of the UDHR and Article (22) of ICCPR and Article (8) of ICESCR. (89) Article 1 stipulates that this law shall be called the Political Parties Law for the Year 2007 and shall go into effect

as of the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. It was published in the Official Gazette on 16/4/2007 (90) Fore more details see the papers of the Seminar held by NCHR on 18/6/2008 entitled Freedom to establish

political parties in the Light of International Standards and the new Political Parties Law in which representatives of all the parties spectrum participated in addition to researchers and activists from civil society organizations. To review working papers submitted at the Seminar, you may visit NCHR Library.

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D) Article (25) included penalties that restrict freedom (imprisonment). E) Article (22) restricts the right of political parties to express their opinion, doctrines and

political attitudes towards domestic and external public issues.(91)

92. NCHR stresses that the continued presence of these restrictions would lead to continued instability and retreat characterizing partisan life. NCHR believes that partisan activity did not reach the required standard politically, economically and socially despite the fact that the Law has gone into effect. This, however, requires a change in prevalent concepts about partisan activity within the society, as public opinion studies on democracy in Jordan in 2008 showed that one-fourth of participants said that they did not notice any improvement in the performance of political parties and that they are not concerned about whether those parties succeeded or not in practicing political work. This conspicuously unveils the volume of the crisis experienced by political parties in reaching public opinion and representing their aspirations(92) This is asserted by the parties busy involvement in rectifying their legal status in a way that copes with the requirements prescribed by law which fixed 16/4/2008 as the deadline for such rectification.(93) This was associated with the emergence of the phenomenon of political funds for rectifying conditions through purchasing certificates of good conduct and buying membership for persons who have nothing to do with partisan work in order to complete the required number. The reduction in the number of political parties this year was not associated with indicators on the improvement of the role of parties in enhancing democratic life.(94) NCHR received two complaints in 2008 from the Jordanian Al-Wahda Al-Sha abiyyah Democratic Party. The first complaint dealt with the summoning by security apparatuses of one of its members while the other was related to the failure to grant one of its members a certificate of good conduct for purposes related to a vacancy. The Center also noted that despite the fact that the Law included a provision which makes it imperative to extend financial support to political parties in accordance with special

(91) Article (21) of the Political Parties Law stipulates that the Party shall be committed to the following principles and rules in pursuing its affairs, and shall set out clearly in its Memorandum of Association: (A) Adherence to the provisions of the Constitution and respect for the supremacy of the Law. (B) Adherence to the principle of political pluralism in thought, opinion and organization. (C) Adherence to the preservation of the independence and security of the Homeland, protection of national unity, renunciation of all forms of violence and non-discrimination among citizens.(D) Adherence to the achievement of equal opportunities for all citizens to assume responsibility and participation therein. (E) Adherence to avoiding any organizational or financial ties with any non-Jordanian body, as well as directing partisan activity upon the orders or directives of any foreign country or body. (F) Abstention from partisan organization and advocacy among the ranks of the Armed Forces, Security instrumentalities and Civil Defense and the Judiciary, or from establishing military and Para-military organizations whatsoever. (G) Avoiding the utilization of the state s institutions, public organizations and all educational institutions for partisan organization, and striving to preserve the neutrality of these institutions towards everyone in performing their duties.

(92) To have a more detailed look on the results of this survey see the surveys of the Strategic Studies Center at the University of Jordan.

(93) Article 27 of the Political Parties Law stated that every party must rectify his conditions as specified by the provisions of law during a period not exceeding one year as of the date of going into effect of this Law. If rectifications does not take place during this period, the party will be considered virtually dissolved

(94) The rectification process of political parties resulted in the following party map: 11 parties rectified their status, 17 parties did not rectify their status, 4 parties dissolved themselves and two parties were merged into one while two new political parties were licensed.

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regulations to be issued to this effect, the delay in issuing such regulations(95) and the decision to pay the subsidy by the Minister of Interior made the Parties forfeit the opportunity of making use of the first installment of this subsidy.(96)

93. As for the regulations of contributing to the financing of political parties, it has been discovered that these regulations included restrictions that weaken partisan work most important of which are: A) The regulations violated Article (16) of the Constitution which referred the method of forming and joining political parties to a law to be promulgated for this purpose. This means that supporting parties and fixing the amount of such support should not be left to regulations that would be laid down by the Government, but by a law to be promulgated by the Legislative Branch. B) The Regulations did not include any objective basis for fixing the amount of financial support to parties. NCHR feels that it is necessary to start a dialogue with the parties and those concerned to define these bases and that the amount to be included in the regulations should represent the minimum amount for supporting any party, making the amounts to be allocated for the support of political parties directed towards parties in which women and youth win and in the light of the standards to be agreed upon and to be included in the Political Parties Law defining other support aspects, especially as an amount of 5-million dinars has already been allocated in the budget for this purpose. (C) The regulations granted vast authorities to the Minister of the Interior who has the authority to halt payment of the financial contribution in case of a violation of the Law or the regulations had been committed.

94. To protect the right to establish political parties, and develop as well as activate political life on democratic bases, NCHR feels it necessary to adopt the following recommendations:

A) Develop the legal environment in a way that copes with international standards with regard to the right to establish and join political parties and grant them more guarantees to disseminate their doctrines.

B) Fix objective bases for extending financial support to political parties and remain committed to them, particularly in enhancing the role of women and youth.

C) Entrust an independent and neutral body with registering political parties. D) Develop scholastic and academic curricula in the area of political and civil education and

enlighten the public in general in order to change the stereotype impression of partisan work

(95) Regulations for contributing to the financing of political parties No.89 (2008) was published in the Official Gazette on 29/9/2008. It fixed government subsidy at 50-thousand dinars to be paid in two equal installments every year, the first during June and the second during December. See the Official Gazette dated 29/9/2008, issue No. 4932, page 4580.

(96) Therefore, political parties of all tendencies agreed among themselves and sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister complaining against the meager amount approved by the Ministry of the Interior which they considered insufficient for covering the operational expenses of the Party.

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Right to Establish Societies

95. International HR conventions guaranteed the right to gathering and establishing societies for all citizens.(97) They emphasized that restrictions may not be imposed on that right except those which represent necessary measures within a democratic society.(98) No state or group may also carry out any activity or action that could lead to the forfeiture of this right. The provisions of the Constitution also guaranteed the right of Jordanians to gather and establish societies and confined the role of the laws to regulating the method of establishing societies and exercising control over their resources only.(99)

96. One of the most important events in 2008 was the promulgation of the Societies Law No. 51, which voids the right to establish societies of its core and hinders the object of recognizing it. It further contradicts with the overall political address, which made civil society organizations one of the main stays of democratic action in Jordan and urged that they should take part in the development process in various scopes. NCHR has many comments on this Law(100)most important of which are:

A) The Law granted the registration procedure a founding effect. Exercising this right of establishing societies has therefore become dependent on the Registration Control Department and the Minister. Enjoying the legal personality of a Society has therefore become confined to approval and registration. This procedure constitutes a violation of the provisions of the Constitution and international HR conventions and therefore it would become more viable to confine ourselves to presenting a notification to the Register Supervisor. If the Supervisor finds that its methods were not sound and their object6ives illegal, he will then notify the Society to rectify its status within 30 days, or otherwise become registered in conformity with regulations so as to ensure the flow of exercising this

(97) See Article 20/1 of the UDHR and Article 22/1of ICCPR. (98) See Articles (21, 22/2) of ICCPR. (99) As stipulated in Articles 16/2&3 of the Constitution. (100) On 30/6/2007, NCHR organized a seminar to study the draft law of Societies presented by the Government to the

National Assembly at that time and study the extent of its conformity with international standards. Participants came out with the conclusion that the Law of Societies should include several the following principles: First: To stress on the necessity to direct the provisions related to Government control in the Societies Law on organization and establishment of societies not on the activities and programs implemented. Second: To emphasize the significance of making the following the spring-boards of leashing the law: respecting the sovereignty of law and the will of the society in all cases and not as a political starting point Third: That the Societies Law should include provisions that make the Societies Law the reference always instead of the Minister of Social Development or any other Minister. Fourth: That the Societies Law should include provisions that make notification the basis of the announcement of establishing them, not the approval of the administrative body. Fifth: To emphasize that the dissolution of societies must be through the judiciary only or the General Assembly but with a big majority approval of its members without any interference on the part of the Government.

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right. The basic HR principle is non-interference unless an extraordinary reason justifying this arises within a democratic society crops up.

B) The law did not guarantee the necessary independence for the Societies Register. The Register Supervisor is appointed by a resolution issued by the Prime Minister. It would be more viable if the Register was managed by an independent commission comprising official representatives and others from civil society organizations and headed by someone independent and honest.

C) The Law has excessively referred substantial matters related to the establishment of societies, to executive bodies. These should have originally been precisely and conspicuously defined within the Law itself in conformity with the requirements of Article (16) of the Constitution.

D) The Law included tough restrictions on the freedom of the Society in managing its own affairs including the stipulation by law to obtain the Minister s approval on many matters relating to the management of the Society. This includes what came in Articles (14) and (17) consecutively, which is a pre-condition implying an apparent restriction of the freedom of societies to manage and run their own affairs to enable them realize their objectives fully. Article (8-a) of the Law authorized the Council of Ministers, at the recommendation of the minister concerned, to approve the membership of a judicial personality as one of the constituent members of the Society from outside the Societies themselves. The Article did not specify the nature of this personality whether public or private in addition that the appointment of such a personality would place the Society under his management, inclinations and interests. Article (17-e) of the Law included a provision that attracts attention and is not in conformity with stable legal principles. It would be unacceptable or illogical to unleash the Law from the assumption of banking non-secrecy which is an assumption that undermines the stability of the legal positions of societies and their right to privacy which had been guaranteed both by the Constitution and at the international level.

E) Article (20-b) of the Law authorizes the Minister to dissolve the Society by a justified decision under specific circumstances a provision, which gives a free hand to the Executive Branch to decide on the existence and fate of the Society. It would, however, be better if the project abides by international legal standards and comparison, which make any solution subject to the following methods, namely agreement among members or the issue of a judicial verdict to this effect.

F) The Law includes incriminating provisions and penalties that could be described as severe. G) The Law stipulated that foreign societies and institutions wishing to open branches for

them in Jordan, should be licensed at their headquarters, that their objectives be developmental, that the Society finance its schemes in Jordan with an amount not less than 250-thousand dinars and that all of its staff should be Jordanians with the exception of some of the positions which require high or technical qualifications not available among Jordanians and just for a limited period of time. NCHR demands the Government to expedite the amendment of the Societies Law in order to meet the written comments presented by NCHR during the meeting held between the chairman of the Board of Trustees and the General Commissioner for Human Rights and His Excellency the Prime Minister on 8/10/2008, in a way that realizes the demands of civil society organizations

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which the Government promised to take into consideration during the meeting between the Prime Minister and representatives of these institutions on 8/9/2008.

97. During 2008, MoSD notified 10 societies that they had been dissolved due either to their poor performance as stipulated by law or a decision adopted by their general assemblies to this effect.(101) Five societies were also dissolved because of their violations of the Statutes of the Societies and Social Bodies Law No. 33 (1966), their failure to achieve their general targets, non-rectification of their status, failure to implement the objectives specified in their statutes or because of halting its activities for a period of six months or due to their failure to carry out such activities. NCHR commends MoSD efforts to lay down objective criteria for societies to obtain government subsidies.(102) Accordingly, 43 societies specialized in providing care to disabled persons received support alongside other societies which received subsidies of 500-thousand dinars each.

98. To protect the right to establish societies, NCHR wishes to re-assert its recommendations included in its 2007 annual report. It further recommends that the Government and the National Assembly should make the new Societies Law based on the principles guaranteed by the provisions of law and the principles of international HR legitimacy and in conformity with HR standards in order to contribute to the promotion of the role of participation by civil society organizations in development under full freedom.(103)

(101) NCHR points out that statistics of the societies registered in the Kingdom explain the following: The number of MoSD-registered societies during 2008 reached 1150 society. The number of volunteers in these Societies reached 100-thousand. && Societies were registered this year including 42 multi-purpose societies and 27 specialized societies. The number of foreign societies was 49. The number of societies registered at the MoI during 2008 reached 21 while the number of societies which were denied registration was 6 due to the incompetence of the Ministry in this respect. No society was denied registration because of the lack of a security approval on establishment. The number of societies which offer social or humanitarian services of public benefit and which are registered with the MoIT Companies Controller as non-profit organizations or organizations not seeking material profit or personal benefits reached 35 societies in 2008 including 32 operating in the Capital Amman, one in Aqaba Governorate, one in Al-Balqa Governorate and one in Maadaba Governorate. The number of multi-purpose companied registered at the MoIT reached 15, including 14 companies in Amman and one in Mafraq. The MoIT has issued regulations for non-profit companies.

(102) The Society prepares the project and presents it to the Ministry where it is evaluated by the parties concerned before deciding on the amount accordingly.

(103) It must be noted that NCHR included these principles in its 2007 Annual Report.

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63

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

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Right to Work

99. The constitution guaranteed in articles (6-2) and (23) the right to work for all citizens. Jordan also ratified 24 international agreements that focused especially on this right, especially the basic conventions issued by the ILO.(104) Labor Law No. 8 of 1996 stipulates regulating the contractual relationship between the workers and employees, which lead the employees enjoying rights, privileges and legal measures guaranteed in this law, namely: employees enjoying legal protection through inspection procedures and penalties and citations when violating public safety conditions in the work environment. However, the Center noted many obstacles that negatively affect the labor force enjoyment of this right.

100. As for the status of the work force, estimates indicate that in 2008 it reached 105 million workers, male and female. The rate of unemployment was estimated at 12%, while the emigrant work force was estimated at between 400 and 500 thousand, of whom 310,516 obtained work permits as of 25/11/2008. The Egyptian work force constitutes 70% of the total emigrant work force. The majority of the emigrant workforce was focused in the following sectors: services (26%), industry (25%), agriculture (23%), and construction (15.3%). The following chart shows the distribution of the emigrant work force with work permits according to the state, in the period 1/1 to 31/12/2008:

020000400006000080000

100000120000140000160000180000200000

Egypt

Syria Other Arab

States

Iraq Pakistan

India Philippines

Sri Lanka Indonesia

O ther Asian States European

States

USA African States

O ther Foreign States

M ale

Fem ale

(104) See Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights, which stipulates the right of individuals to enjoy satisfactory work conditions that guarantee providing equal job opportunities for all workers, fair and equitable wages for all without discrimination, a decent life, safer and health working conditions and reasonable determination of paid hours, including breaks and free time. Jordan also ratified the basic conventions issued by the ILO, except for Convention 87 on freedom of organization. These conventions are: ILO Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organization and Group Negotiation, ILO Convention No. 29 on Forced Labor, ILO Convention No. 105 on elminating forced labor, ILO Convention No. 138 on minimum age, ILP Convention No. 182 on worse forms of child labor, ILP Convention No. 100 on equality in wages and ILP Convention No. 11 on discrimination in employment and profession.

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101. In the area of worker vocational health and safety, the Center appreciates the fact the Inspection, Occupational Health and Safety Directorate at the Ministry of Labor (MoL) 2008 68,899 inspection visits to various establishments, leading to 1,091 notices to companies and 4,679 citations to companies and stores.(105) The Center reaffirms that the status of professional health and safety still requires more organization. Although the Labor Law stipulated professional health and safety consistent with international criteria, the Center noted that some professional health and safety legislative enactments is inconsistent with the explanation of the technical details, which makes their implementation subject to the interpretation of the professional health and safety inspector, especially in the construction sector, in addition to not including the agricultural sector. The distribution of the monitoring duties among several bodies also hindered the development of the performance level of these bodies and led to work duality. The Center also noted weak deterring measures to abide by the requirements and criteria of professional health and safety by employers and workers, which made the implementation of these instructions not sufficiently binding, and caused an increase in the number of work injures.

102. In the agricultural sector, the Center values the government s response to its recommendation on the need to amend the Labor Law to include in its provisions the workers in the agricultural sector. It did note however that as of the date of this report the special instructions regulating the rights of this group were not issued pursuant to Article (3-c) this law.(106) The Center s survey of the status of this group and the problems they faced in 2008 found that: (a) they are not included in health insurance and social security. (b) some are subject to verbal abuse, physical harm and insulting treatment. (c) the emigrant worker passports are retained and they are forced to sign financial papers for fear of running away from their sponsors. (d) long working hours that may exceed 16 hours a day, without a weekly day of rest, in addition to the irregular work of this sector due to the nature of agriculture and its seasons. (e) There is no statistical survey on the number of workers in the agricultural areas, especially with the movement of this force from agriculture to other professional work to attain better working conditions.

103. In the area of workers in health service companies, the Center received one complaint from the Health Services Syndicate which manages the administration and offers services to ministry of health projects, including hospitals, comprehensive health centers, health directorates and districts in the governorates. This complaint indicated there are violations suffered by the workers in this sector: (a) Not all the companies commit to paying wages to the workers at the end of every month, and this sometimes exceeds the period allowed by the labor law (b) haphazard and unjustified deductions from the salaries of most workers every month (c) these companies do not recognize sick leaves and they duration of the leave

(105) The Inspection, Professional Health and Safety Directorate received in 2008 2,609 complaints from workers. It also received 514 complaints through the hotlines, and deposited 39 group agreements benefitting 71,179 workers.

(106) On 17/8/2008, the Amended Law of the Labor Law No. 8 of 1996 was amended, which stipulated in article 3 that the agricultural sector workers are subjected to the provisions of the labor law pursuant to special regulations issued for this purpose, however, no such regulations were issued as of the date of the report.

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is deducted from salaries in a double format, (d) they deduct the amount of 10 JD from any worker who is absent from work regardless of the reason (e) many workers are forced to work 16 hours a day, especially in the second and third shifts, or what is known as the A+B shift for a salary ranging from 180

200 only. (f) Workers not registered in social security although they companies deduct a percentage from the worker (g) some project managers charge financial amounts from those seeking work, especially immigrants (h) some employees in the project management harass the female workers.

104. In the area of home workers, and although Article (3-c) of the labor law was amended on 17/8/2008 to include in its provisions home workers, the special regulations regulating the rights of this group have not been issued as of the date of this report, which the Center helped draft. The Center believes that the home workers not enjoying any legal protection violates the provision of Article (6-2) of the constitution and the international labor agreements ratified. MoL figures indicate their number reached 48 thousand workers with work permits and residencies, but the figures of the Non-Jordanian Work Force Employment Union indicate that there are over 75 thousand workers in homes.(107) The Center also found over 140 complains related to the use of workers, and the Center also found cases of using workers by the officers to the extent of what is known as human trafficking. It also found the phenomena of violating contracts signed between the workers and the owners of these offices in terms of wages and nature of work agreed upon before their travel and departure from their countries companied with the work conditions and nature of work upon their arrival to Jordan. The Center points out that the MoL shut down and suspended over five offices, as a result of committing several violations. One was referred to the judiciary.

105. The Center noticed in 2008 a host of problems faced by this group of workers, namely: (a) lack of health insurance for the home workers, as well as their non-inclusion in social security(108). (b) Lack of a mechanism that guarantees these workers are paid the wages agreed upon in the contract, which leads to some running from the homes of their sponsors, or the sponsors sending away the workers without paying them, due to the lack of an official body supervising the worker s receipt of their rights before they leave the country. (c) Some sponsors ensure the travel of their worker by expelling them, through complaining of theft after the end of the work contract. (d) some workers are subject to verbal abuse and physical harm (various forms of harsh, degrading and inhumane treatment), and sometimes sexual assault. The PSD s Family Protection Department (FPD), in its capacity as the competent body to investigate such cases before referral to the relevant court, received many cases of sexual assault. (e) The sponsors violate the work contract, which leads to the workers running from the homes of their sponsors, the non-payment of wages or the payment of wages less than those agreed upon in the contract. (f) Long working hours that exceed 18

(107) The number of workers who entered Jordan in 2008 was 24,218, distributed as follows: 4,807 Sri Lankans, 13,560 Indonesians and 4,851 Philippinos, in spite of the official decision by the competent authorities banning the use of Philippino workers at home in Jordan since early 2008.

(108) See Article (6) of Social Security Law, which made implementation of the securities included in the Law dependent on a decision issued by the Council of Ministers.

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hours daily, without granting them one day of rest a week, and forcing them to work in more than one home in many cases. (g) restricting the freedom of these workers and restricting their movement, by keeping in the homes of their sponsors or retaining their passports, on the pretext of fear from running away or violating residency terms. (h) Forging paperwork documents by some recruitment offices abroad (age for example), many of the workers were expelled outside the Kingdom in cooperation with various bodies to eliminate this phenomenon, but there are still many underage workers who are recruited to work in homes. (i) some workers are used by the embassies of their countries, especially as some of these embassies keep them for long periods of time without attempting to offer solutions to their problems, in addition to some of these embassies bringing them work for some owners of restaurants and hotels. (j) home workers are made to work in various work sectors and professions. The Center found many of the workers working in the markets, various marketing centers (malls), schools, day care centers, beauty salons, hotels, restaurants, and others, thus violating the valid laws regulations. (109)

106. In the area of clothing industry and textiles sector, especially in the qualified economic zones, the Center studied the environmental working conditions surrounding these workers(110), and noted an clear improvement in the general conditions in the qualified economic zones compared with previous years, especially after the MoL established inspection offices in them. This led to a marked decrease in worker complaints in this sector in terms of working hours, wages and overtime. They reached 5 complaints in 2008 compared with 20 complaints in 2007. In spite of the marked improvement in this sector, the Center recorded some violations of worker rights, namely: (a) lack of clear mechanism to recruit workers, which led to local mediators and foreigners providing the workers for the plants in return for financial amounts (b) several companies did not abide by the working hours (c) the status of several foreign workers was not corrected in terms of work permits (d) some workers incited others from their countries to stage sit ins and strikes for purposes of obtaining the largest amount of privileges, and in spite of violating the contracts that were signed with them, and this incitement was behind many of the strikes in those plants (e) some foreign workers claimed they were beaten and insulted, especially by the supervisors

(109) It is worth noting that the MoL agreed in 2009 to establish the National Recruitment Company in partnership with the General Union of Labor Syndicates, the Association of Emigrant Working Women and the Jordanian Women s Association in order to implement the international criteria in recruiting these workers in the homes and overcome the problems that this sector suffers from. However, the Center expresses reservation on establishing this company because its profit goal contradicts the announced goal of the Company in defending the rights of these workers.

(110) The number of Jordanian workers in qualified economic zones was found to be decreased, in addition to the small number of qualified workers in the clothing and textiles sector compared with the numbers of emigrant workers. These numbers are decreasing every year.

Table 8: Number of complaints received by the Center from domestic workers

Type of Complaint Number of Cases

The Right to Retain ID Papers 50 complaints and requests for assistance

The Freedom to Move and Place of Residence

60 complaints and requests for assistance

Various types of harsh, degrading and inhumane treatment

30 complaints and requests for assistance

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of the plants, when demanding their rights, or protesting working conditions or staging strikes and refusing to work (f) lack of health insurance for the workers, and some plant owners did not abide by providing general health and safety conditions, especially in places of residence and feeding.

107. In the area of child labor, and in spite of the government s ratification of many international agreements related to child labor(111), the Center noted a spread and escalation in the phenomenon of child labor, for reasons of family dysfunction or economic reasons(112). It reiterates that the government s efforts of drafting and executing the national strategy to combat child labor and the national agenda, and allocating over 250 thousand dinars of the budget for child labor, it is still falling short of eliminating the escalation of this phenomenon. The MoL played no part in 2008 to combat it, and it did not respond to the Center s recommendations in its earlier reports regarding establishing a specialized unit and appointing work inspectors to eliminate child labor.

108. The Center conducted field visits for some child labor sites in several areas, and noted that the ages of the child range from 5 to 17, working in car mechanic and service workshops, trades, construction, blacksmith and paint workshops, and garbage collection, all of which constitute work that is dangerous for children and falls under the worst forms of child labor classification according to international conventions. The Center noted several violations, namely: lack of social security for working children, long working hours, no payment of minimum wage, no calculation of over time, and all the work is dangerous, tiring, and harmful to child health. The labor inspectors do not conduct visits to child labor sites and cite the employers who hire them. The phenomenon of beggary among children is growing, which is the worst form as beggary in most cases is for others, in addition to being compulsory work in some cases and nearer to being an organized trade.

(111) Jordan ratified the International Child Rights Convention and the ILO Convention 138 of 1973 on the minimum age for hire, and the labor law was in harmony with this convention as article 73 stipulates taking into consideration the provisions on vocational training, no juvenile may be hired in any circumstance if he did not complete 16 years of age in any form . The ILO Convention No. 82 of 1999 on the worst forms of child labor, its goal is to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, classified as follows: All forms of slavery and slavery like practices and their trafficking, slavery for debt, coerced or forced work, including forced or coerced drafting for use in armed conflicts Using children or presenting them to practice illegitimate activities, especially the production of drugs. Works that lead in their nature or due to the circumstances they are practiced in to harming the health of children or their safetym or their moral behavior.

(112) The Department of Statistics report on child labor for 2008 indicated the following results: The number of working children totaled 32,676 children working in the age group 5 to 17 The capital governorate had 32.4% of the working children. The average working hours for children totaled 42 hours a week. The main reason for work (38%) of children is to achieve extra income for the family The average monthly income for working children did not exceed 81 dinars a month. Those working for wages totaled 66% Those working in car repair constituted 27%.

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109. On human trafficking, international HR conventions prohibited slavery, forced labor, and stressed the guarantee of equal and consistent rights for all people without discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, language, religion or social origin. Forced labor contradicts with the principles based on the principles of freedom and equality as they appear in the convention No. 122 of 1964 on worker policies, ratified by the government on 10/3/1966. As the government ratified the protocol on fighting human trafficking, especially women and children, on 14/3/2006, the Center participated with other official bodies in 2008 to create a draft law for protecting victims of human trafficking(113). The Center following during 2008 10 complaints that fall within the area of human trafficking with the competent authorities, related to the status of emigrant workers.

110. To protect the right of Jordanians and residents to work, the Center offers several recommendations. In the area of professional health and safety, the Center recommends the following measures:

A) Establish a specialized directorate, financially and administrative independent under MoL supervision, in which all official bodies are represented (health, environment, civil defense, municipalities, PSD) to supervise the professional health and safety in all establishments.

B) Reinstate awareness, training and education programs in the area of professional health and safety to educate the workers in the establishments on the importance of professional health and safety.

111. In the area of agricultural sector workers, the Center recommends protecting them through several measures, including:

A) Including workers in the agricultural sector in health insurance and social security. B) Activating the role of inspectors in supervising and monitoring the living conditions and

providing them with the necessary capacities to monitor farm owners to verify the emigrant workers were recruited to work in their farms.

C) Include those workers in the minimum wage and ensure there is no discrimination between them and the remaining work sectors.

112. In the area of workers in the service companies and home workers, the Center recommends protecting them through the following measures:

A) The various bodies, especially the ministries of health and labor, and the hospital administrations, should supervise fully the service companies and their administration, to verify their compliance with the law and their application of the legal work environment.

B) Include home workers in health insurance and social security. C) Grant illegal migrant workers a grace period to correct their status, while exempting

them from the fines accumulated by the MoI.

(113) In march of 2009 a law was passed prohibiting human trafficking, No. 9 of 2009.

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D) Create an MoL-PSD (Residence and Borders Department) coordination mechanism to take into consideration the renewal of residencies for these workers and determine the numbers of violators.

E) Create a resolution mechanism for disputes resulting from work contracts by forming a committing whose decisions are binding for all stakeholders. The committee should include as members representatives from: MoL, MoI, FPD, the Recruitment Offices Union (employers), the competent embassy and HR organizations.

F) Coordinate with the embassies of the relevant countries to adopt a unified work contract recognized by the MoL, and coordinate with the countries exporting labor with conventions and protocols for purposes of regulating the recruitment and use of emigrant workers in the Kingdom, and ensure some employees of these embassies do not take advantage of the home workers.

G) Create a mechanism that guarantees the delivery of wages for these workers (such as transferring all wages to the bank account of the worker).

H) Include all these workers in the minimum wage and eliminate the discrimination between them and the workers in all other areas.

I) Activate the role of inspectors (granted the authorities of judicial police) to supervise and monitor the living conditions of home workers, through: expanding the authorities of the labor inspectors and providing them with the necessary capacities to monitor recruitment offices to eliminate violations and ensure these workers are not in danger of prostitution or human trafficking. Activate the valid legal provisions in Jordan, on the prohibition of withholding passports, pursuant to article (18) of the Temporary Passports Law and its amendments No. 5 of 2003.

113. In the area of workers in the clothing industry and textiles sector and the qualified industrial zones, the Center recommends the protection of workers in this sector through the following measures:

A) Increase the volume of Jordanian workers, and train them in this sector, by organizing a national media campaign aimed at encouraging the unemployed to joint the workforce.

B) Amend the definition of wages and define working hours, as well as define overtime working hours who should not be left without a ceiling.

C) Amend Article (11) of the Labor law to restrict the entry of emigrant workers to recruitment offices registered at the MoL only.

114. On child labor, the Center recommends protecting working children through the following measures:

A) Activate the MoSD role in implementing law provisions with a view to returning working children to schools, and activate Article (389) of the Penal Code on beggary crimes.

B) Activate Article (74) of the Labor Law on prohibiting the employment of juveniles in dangerous and health damaging work.

C) Create special labor inspectors for children in all labor directorates in the Kingdom to monitor, inspect and punish employers, to eliminate, if partially, this phenomenon.

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115. In the area of human trafficking, the Center recommends enhancing the anti-trafficking efforts through establishing a shelter for purposes of protecting victims of human trafficking, and establishing protection programs for physical, psychological and social recovery.

116. In light of the Center s role in enhancing and protecting Jordanian and foreign labor rights pursuant to the criteria in the Jordanian constitution and the international conventions, it recommends

in general

amending the Labor Law, namely:

A) Amend Article (12) pursuant to international criteria by removing the forms of discrimination between foreign and Arab workers.

B) Amend Article (35) by explicitly stipulating that the probation period is restricted to contracts of an unspecified period.

C) Amend Article (46-a) by explicitly stipulating that the wages are paid in the work place. D) Amend Article (52-h) by linking the minimum wage with actual cost of living, and that

the minimum wage is reviewed annually. E) Amend Articles (98) and (100) on establishing labor unions, union freedoms and

protecting the right to union association, as they violate Articles (20) and (23) of the UDHR, as well as violating Convention 87 of 1948 on union freedoms and protecting union work, and Convention 98 of 1949 on the right to union organization and group negotiation. These conventions granted workers and employers the right to establish labor organizations, creating their bylaws and articles of association, and their own rules to elect representatives, organize their administration and activities, and drafting their programs, without the intervention of the public authorities.

F) Amend Article (166) that grants the MoL the right to dissolve a union should it violate the provisions of the Labor Law and all other legislative enactments, so that the provision becomes specific on the cases of union dissolution, and so that the provision of Article (116) complies with the provisions of Convention 87 of 1948 or leaving the authority and the extent of the violation s gravity to the discretion of the court (the judiciary).

G) Amend Article (87) by stipulating explicitly the duties of the employer towards the employee who suffers a work injury.

H) Amend Article (137) on resolving labor conflicts, by reducing the duration of labor trials through: I) Amending Article (4), Paragraph 3, of the Civil Procedural Law No. 16 of 2006, which

stipulates that the sessions delays in cases marked as urgent should not exceed seventy two hours. The Court of Cassation decision no 1494/2005 dated 19/2/2006, supports this.

J) Reaffirm that the individual authorized to issue rulings at the Wages Authority Court should be a judge and not a legal MoL employee.

K) State explicitly the alternative dispute resolution methods for individual labor cases (arbitration and mediation)

L) The need for actual implementation of the content of the basic conventions in the Declaration of the Basic Principles and Rights in Labor, ratified by all member countries in the ILO. All countries committed to complying with the eight basic Conventions. Ratify Convention No. 87 on the freedom of organization and study the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Emigrant Workers and their Family Members of 1990 for ratification purposes.

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Right to Education

117. The right to education is among the most important ICESCR rights(114), which humans must enjoy to enjoy their other rights. Without education, people cannot know their rights or defend them from violations. The right to education appeared in many international conventions ratified by Jordan, and the constitution guaranteed the right to education in Jordan(115), within the capacities of the state. It also included the right to establishing private schools and mandatory education in Articles (6-2) and (19)(116). It also balanced between the state s duty in the area of education and the freedom of education for groups, and specified two criteria for education: the state s capacities and abiding by the laws, and government monitoring of the general provisions of the group schools. However, it did not specify the level of these duties with regard to university education. With regard to school education, the education process is regulated by a series of legislative enactments and regulations, namely the Education Code No. 3 of 1994 and its amendments, where the chapter on education philosophy and goals in the law listed provisions related to the right to education and its goals(117); the Adult Education and Illiteracy Regulations No. 81 of 2005;

(114) This right was stipluated in articles 13 and 14 of this Convenant, and pursuant to them, the right to education is considered guaranteed for every individual. It must be directed to the complete development of the human character and strengthening respect for human rights. This necessitates making primary education mandatory, free and available for all, and generalizing and allowing opportunitie for secundary education of various types, and allowing the opportunity of higher education on an equal footing based on qualifications, and the gradual application of free secondary and higher education. This also necessiates encouraging basic education and intensifying it for individuals who did not complete their primate education, and respecting the freedom of education by respecting the freedom of parents in choosing children for this schools from non-public schools on condition the minimum criteria for education adopted by the state are complied with.

(115) Jordan ratitied on 6/4/1976 the Convention on Non Discrimination in Education, and on 18/12/1995 ratified the protocol of establishing a good will committee responsible for settling conflicts that may arise among the signatories of the Non Discrimination in Education Convention, and on 3/9/1992 ratified the Technical and Vocational Training Convention.

(116) Article 6/2 stressed that the state will guarantee work and education within its capacities asnd will guarantee reassuarnce and equal opportunity for all Jordanians. Groups have the right to establish their schools and manage them to educate their members, provided the general provisions stipulated in the law are complied with and the government monitors their programs and directions. Article 20 stipulated Elemntary education is mandatory for Jordanians and is free of change in public schools . However, the Center indicates that the Education Law did not include specific mechanisms that guanatee the commitment of parents to their application, which leads to many children not attending school or not entering it in the first place, out of a desire to help the familiy in providing a living.

(117) Article 3 C: 1. Jordanians are equal in basic, social and economic rights and duties, and are divided according to their giving to their community and their loyalty to it. 2. Respecting the freedom of the individual and his dignity. 5. Education is a social necessity and education is everyone s right according to their capacities and personal capabilities. The general goals in Article 4 stipulate: n. Insisting on citizenship rights and assuming the ensuing responsibilities. o. appreciate the humanity of people and form positive values and attitudes towards the self and others, work and social advancement, which represent the pricniples of democracy in individual and group behavior.

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Instructions for Night Academic Study Centers in Government Educational Institutions No. 6 of 2006; Instructions No. 4 of 2006 on Exams for Programs of Non-Organized Students (home study); and Instructions No. 7 of 2003 on Pioneer Centers for Excelling Students.

118. School education in Jordan saw a group of positive developments in 2008, namely: increase in the number of schools with an increase in the number of students; the number of students in the Kingdom s schools for the school year 2007/2008 is estimated at approximately 1,598,211 students, an annual increase of 1.7% from last year, while the number of students totaled 5690 schools, an increase of 132 schools from last year, or 2.3%(118). As for kindergartens, they increased in 2008 from last year with 130 public and 46 private ones, with 2027 kindergartens in the Kingdom, including 1,327 public and 700 private. The Ministry of Education (MoE) budget for this year increased, totaling 460,088600 dinars, which constitutes 8.8% of the state budget. In spite of the decrease in percentage compared with last year, its value increased by 12 million from last year in light of the increase in the value of the state budget. The Center considers these figures and percentage constitute positive indications on the availability and scope of the right of education, and reaffirms its growth compared with the natural annual increase of the population, but it notes that the increase in 2008 in the number of students in private schools is not in harmony with the increase in public schools, while the number of private schools is growing in percentages larger than the growth of public schools(119). The figures of Table 9 indicate there is a need to intensify efforts to build new schools, by the government and UNRWA, to reduce the number of students in each class to develop the quality of education, especially in UNRWA schools. In spite of the increase in the number of school buildings, the Center noted the limited infrastructure of the buildings, especially in terms of playgrounds, theaters, and others, as seen in Table 10.

(118) According to MoE statistics, Minsitry of Education and other public schools constitute approxmately 58.4%, a decrease of 0.2% from last year, with 1,126,844 students, an increase of 12,300 students, or 1.1% of the students in public schools, while private sector schools constitute 38% with 345,823 students, an increase of students of 4.6% from last year. The percentage of UNRWA schools constitutes 3.1% with 125,544 students.

(119) The Center indicates that the increase in the number of private schools carries in its folds the state s withdrawal from the mission of free education stipulated in article 20 of the constitution.

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119. The MoE grants handicapped children special care; physically challenged children are integrated into ordinary classrooms while providing the necessary facilities for them in the schools with physically challenged students, and there are 10 schools for the deaf with approximately 800 students, and two schools for the blind with approximately 215 students with transportation provided for them. Handicapped children are exempt from school donations. As for students with learning disabilities, 580 special rooms were provided benefiting approximately 12,500 students, and a special curriculum is provided for them from the first to the fourth grades. However, the Center noted that some of these rooms lack the equipment and tools that help education and those that are available require constant maintenance.

120. The MoE also grants excelling students special attention. There are 3 students for them, the King Abdullah Excellence Schools in Irbid, Salt and Zarqa, in addition to the Jubilee School established to focus on the talented at the Kingdom s level in advanced education programs for the last four years. The excelling students are chosen from the sixth grades for the King Abdullah Excellence Schools, and they are provided with additional curricula, in addition to the official curricula. There are also pioneer center programs totaling 19, teaching approximately 2000 students in the evening period provided with enriching educational materials. There are also educational resource rooms for talented students which strengthen the student s skills with enriching educational materials, totaling 21 rooms in the Kingdom s schools. There are also academic acceleration programs for excelling students, which accelerate students twice during school years, i.e. moving them to advanced grades where students skip two grades, 60 to 80 students are accelerated annually, and the Center reaffirms the importance of these programs and calls for enhancing the services offered to benefit the largest group possible,

121. Private schools teach the Ministry s curriculum in addition to other curricula approved by the Education Council in harmony with the freedom of education. However, the Center identified many complaints in the media on the high fees in most private schools in the first half of 2008, which constitutes a burden on parents, and a large number of them is unable to

Table 9: Distribution of students in the school system, by supervising body

Supervising Body

Percentage of Students

Rate of Students

Total

Male

Female

Each Class

Each Teacher

Grand Total

100%

50.5%

49.5%

MoE

69.4%

33.3%

36.1%

Other governmental

1.1%

0.9%

0.2%

UNRWA

7.9%

4%

3.9%

Private Education

21.6%

12.3%

9.3%

Table 10: Number of playgrounds and halls in schools

Type MoE Private Education

UNRWA Other Schools Total

Gyms

Internal playgrounds

Football playgrounds

Areas

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pay the expensive fees(120). The Center also indicates that the Ministry does not obligate private schools to appoint education counselors, in addition to the low salaries of some teachers in some private education schools, which are lower than minimum wage. The Center stresses the need for the Ministry to expedite the drafting and adoption of regulations that classify private schools.

122. As for illiteracy rates, it decreased from earlier years to reach 7.9% this year, which is the lowest percentage in the history of Jordan. Females constitute 11.6% while males constitute 4.3%. The number of adult education and literacy centers for the school year 2008/2009 reached 511 centers with 6,217 students, with 29 centers for males with 472 students and 482 centers for women with 5,745 students(121). The Center values the efforts exerted to reduce illiteracy rates, however, it affirms the need for establishing measures that constitute greater incentives, such as: the distribution of some in-kind assistance to the students, as most of them are of limited income and enhancing the joining of male students. The Center recognizes the special MoE effort in eliminating illiteracy, as Jordan has become according to UNESCO statistics among the advanced Arab countries in this area.

123. Among the pioneer education programs is the RRS Inmates Peer Education Program. However, the Center indicates that the reward granted to teaching inmates is very little, which influences the motivation of the teacher(122), in addition to the lack of incentives for the learners, the limited number of beneficiaries from the learning programs and the restriction of their existence to some centers and not others in 2008/2009.

124. As for healthcare and school nutrition, the school food program was expanded and the scope of students benefiting from this program increased to approximately 157,000 students compared with 300,000 students in 2007. The total number reached 457,000 from the first to the sixth grades, distributed among 2470 schools, in addition to kindergartens in poverty pockets. Approximately 42,000 students benefit from the total number of UNRWA school students(123). The health follow-up of students in schools increased, with the MoE providing

(120) The Center noticed that the majority of priavte schools increased the rates of student transport with the rise in oil prices in the first half of 2008 but refused to reconsider these fees with the decrease in oil prices in the followng months, when they decreased by over 50%.

(121) There is the evening program in which irregular students are taught from grades seven to twelve, which allows students to cotinue their studies for those who finished the literay stage. However, the Center noted the extreme decline in the numbers of students in recent years. There is also another program within the irregular education team, which is the program of educating drop-outs, with a total number of 2,859 students, 2278 male and 581 female, including Jordanians and other nationalities. There is a weak demand for this program, clearly, which necessitates a host of more effective measures to guanatee the joining of students who have dropped out, in addition to expanding it to include non-Jordanian students, especially since there are large number of drop out students among Iraqi children.

(122) Teachers receive limited financial rewards. Teachers in adult education and literacy programs receive 1.6 JD per teaching hour, with an average rate of 3 hours a daily, maximum.

(123) The problem of the bad milk distributed to students as part of the school food program from time to time has stopped, as high protein cookies are provided, 50 grams, and one fruit, is offered.

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preventive vaccines to 229,924 students(124). There is also in every school a teacher responsible for the follow-up of school health services in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. However, the Center indicates that the majority of schools do not have medical examination rooms, and the teachers responsible for school health require education and capacity building.

125. The areas of vocational training have been expanded to include health, tourism, hospitality, agriculture, industry and information technology. A vocational training course is taught in basic education stages. The Center indicates that the policy of gender integration in vocation training has been implemented, where industrial education is no longer restricted to males and home economic education is not longer restricted to females. The Ministry also convened training courses and issued training guides based on the capacities of its workers(125). Much effort was exerted and many projects implemented to improve the living conditions of the teachers(126).

126. In enhancing HR concepts in school curricula, specifically children s and women s rights, all basic classes and in more than one subject included direct HR classes, or they were in the form of activities by the students, in addition to enhancing the concepts of gender and the roles of women and men in school curricula. Students now participate in the assessment of curricula and books, and a student message email was published so that can students can express their opinions.

127. The Center values the positive efforts of the Ministry in guaranteeing the right to education, especially providing education for repeated immigration waves within a limited budget, and stresses the need to continue and develop. It also noted the continued negative attributes of the education sector in 2008: a) the circumstances of some schools, especially in the poor areas in Zarqa and the Valley inappropriate for education in terms of equipment and facilities, they lack playgrounds and halls for the various activities, in addition to the reliance on some rented buildings which do not provide the necessary education facilities, b)

(124) The number of students who have been checked for general health totaled 366,523, while the number of students checked for dental health totaled 276,630.

(125)125 Electronic training programs were organized, like ICDL, benefitting 95% of the Minsitry s employees, totalling approximately 95 thousand, as well as rporagsm of eplying qualified individuals within school rooms INTEl, with 7 school curriclua computerized. There is a computer for every student, which necessitates an increase in the number of computers. A guide for the first three grades was also issued and all teachers were trained on it, while the national criteria for teacher vocational development were issued. Moreover, 800 teachers are sent to public universities to obtain diplomas and MA degrees in education in various specilaizations, at the Ministry s expense.

(126) Like the Housing Fund and the Education Security Fund through offering loans. Special reference is made to improving the salaries of teachers through granting bonuses for teachers this year. Teachers are granted 50 JD for teaching in a school in a district other than the one he resides in, 100 JD for teaching in another governorate, and 150 JD in another region, in addition to a marked increase in the basic salary, as well as implementing the new bonus system as follwos: 10% for teachers with ICDL and the grae of teacher, 25% for students with over 60 training hours on condition of holding a diploma, and 50% for teachers with 160 training hours in addition to an MA as a minimum, and 200 points for publishing an individual research paper in an arbitrated magazine or receiving the Queen Rania Special Teacher Award, according to which he receives the rank of expert.

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Christian religion is not taught to Christian students as is the case for Islamic religion in the schools, because the Christian churches cannot agree on a unified curriculum on one hand and the Ministry s inability to address the technical and administrative problems related to the teaching of the Christian religion on the other127. C) The phenomenon of school violence continues, with the cases of violence among students themselves on one hand and between students and teachers on the other increasing, in spite of the hotline at the Ministry to receive complaints of cases of violence against students. The hotline received 33 complaints from September to November 2008, 24 of which were by the teacher or principle. The Center believes that the cases of abuse exceed this number because of the low awareness of students and parents on the hotline in addition to resolving many cases of abuse through amicable means. The Center points that the Ministry implemented a series of procedures to limit the abuse of students, including: underlining the instructions for teachers and principals, establishing a protection from abuse department at the public education and student affairs administration to provide protection to children from abuse, issuing the preventive guide to protect students from violence and abuse which targets counselors and teachers, and the educational counselors guide in Jordanian schools on protecting children from abuse (8-12)128. The Center reiterates the importance of the counselor s role in limiting school violence and guiding students, and refers specially to the fact that appointing counselors in private education is not mandatory, which necessitates procedures that commit them to do so. C) Lack of a teacher s union although the education profession is a profession and mission just like medicine, engineering and law, and others, which hinders the development of the education profession and the departure of teachers to work in other professions as long as teachers continue to be denied their right to organization as is the case in most countries of the world. D) Modest annual increases and bonuses for teachers. E) Lack of training programs and outside scholarships conducted by the Ministry, with the number of scholarships abroad offered in 2008 totaling 65, and the number of those sent to courses abroad (15). The Center believes this number is low compared with the number of teachers at the Ministry, totaling 89,512. F) Some schools appear to be low in teachers of natural science subjects at the beginning of the school year.

128. The number of complaints received by the Center on the right to school education totaled 8 compared with 12 in 2007, on difficulties in accessing the school due to the distance and its danger, not allowing elementary education, denial of public education because of foreign nationality, the lack of education because the father is not mandated to do so, the withholding of educational documents and the lack of appropriate teaching for handicapped children.

129. The higher education sector is regulated by the Higher Education and Scientific Research Law No. 4 of 2005 and its amendments, according to which the goals of higher education

(127) The most prominent problem facing the Ministry in teaching Christian religion is the lack of large numbers of Christian students, which led to combining students from several grades in one, the conflict in school classes, and the avialability of teachers, which was not always easy.

(128) The number of councelors totals 1,675 in public schools and 170 in private schools, a total of 1,845. This figure constitutes a third of the Kingdom s schools, which indicates the low number of councelors.

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are set as sponsoring the democratic path and enhancing it to guarantee the freedom of academic work, the right to expression, respecting the opinions of others, working as a team, assuming responsibility, using critical academic thinking, providing the academic, social and psychological environment supportive of creativity, excellence, innovation and honing talents, and encouraging scientific research, supporting it, and elevating it, especially applied scientific research directed at serving and developing the community. The Center noted a host of comments on this right in 2008, namely: a) the criteria for admissions remain a challenge to equal opportunities in higher education, where there are many exceptions(129). Approximately 50% of applicants are admitted on exceptional conditions. In spite of the fact that the majority of admissions in these exceptional cases are on a competitive basis, the discrimination comes from obtaining a university seat with an average that is less that than in the case of competing with the rest of the students. Table (11) highlights these exceptions. If the percentage of students accepted to the parallel program are added(130), in which students are accepted with lower grades than the criteria for admissions in return for higher fees, the percentage of exceptions exceeds (60%). The number of students admitted to the parallel program, which are studying for the school year 2007/2008 is 22,912 students, i.e. approximately 5000 students are admitted annually, which constitutes over 10% of those admitted annually on the admissions basis, totaling 49,701 students. The universities have resorted to this measure to increase their budgets that suffer a great deficit, while the government should have supported them. The Center calls for taking into consideration the special circumstances of some groups in society, but believed that addressing this issue requires reconsidering the educational policies of those groups and socially enabling them to ensure equality, qualifications and justice in education b) The Center noted an increase in complaints on the conditions for accrediting higher education inside and outside Jordan, where several higher education specializations have not been created in Jordanian universities in the last two years by the Higher Education Council although there are many who want to enroll in these specializations. The Center also considers that the condition of residency by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MoHESR) for a school year for the accreditation of MA and PhD degrees in foreign universities which do not require the attendance of courses constitutes an obstacle to many enrolling in them. The Ministry justified this by its desire to guarantee the quality of education, while the Center believes it is necessary for the MoHESR to balance the conditions for quality with refraining from exaggerating accreditation procedures.

(129) Admission of students is governed by Principles of Admission of Students to Official Universities for the Academic Year 2008/2009, issued by virtue of Article 6-D of Higher Education and Scientific Research No. 4 (2005 and its amendments, as well as Higher Education Council Resolution No. 207, issued on 5/7/2008.

(130) These admission principles and the Parallel Program violate the pricniple of equality and competence stipulated in article 13-2-c of the Convention, which stipulates that, Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education .

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Table 11: Categories and percentages of exceptional admissions at Jordanian universities Category enjoying exceptions

Percentage

Percentage of the accepted for groups of

Children of staff in the Armed Forces, PSD, GID, Civil Defense and the retirees among them

20%

Children of MoE staff and retirees among them

5%

Children of staff in the universities who are not among the teaching faculty, and the children of staff who spent at least 10 years in service

2%

Students from public schools with special circumstances (previously known as vulnerable)

10%

Expatriate Jordanians

5%

Those with high school diplomas or their equivalent from earlier years

5%

Total

47%

Categories with numbers of seats

Children of martyrs from the Armed Forces, PSD, GID and Civil Defense 15 seats in every university (total 375)

A child of the members of the working or former Higher Education Council and one grandchild of the first degree

A child of the members of the working or former Board of Trustees and one grandchild of the first degree

Children of faculty members working in them and children of former faculty members who spent at least 10 years in the service of the University

Students excelling in sports, arts and music

Seats at the Hijjawi Technology College for Ayman Hijjawi

Children of the camps

Specified number for handicapped and blind students

Children of Jordanian diplomats working in Jordanian embassies abroad

130. As for university fees, the Center considers them high compared with the level of income for a large section of society. They also vary from one university to the next in the same specialization on one hand and the specializations themselves on the other. The fees for one credit hour vary from 16 JDs to 150JDs. The public university budgets indicate that the students assume the largest percentage of their budget input through university fees, as they constitute for example in Jordan University 70.75% of the budget of 2008, pursuant to MoHESR statistics. The Center found the statements by public officials calling for universities bearing personal responsibility for providing their own budgets through their revenues, which means the university fees may be increased for the students, and this entails

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limiting the chances of education unless they are accompanied by activating the Student Support Fund in every university, so that the university supports it from the annual grants to assist students partially or completely in paying for tuition pursuant to specific criteria.

131. The phenomenon of violence remains practiced in Jordanian universities in spite of their decrease this year. The Center stresses the importance of addressing this phenomenon by enhancing the HR education and promoting the culture of democracy, tolerance, dispute resolution through peaceful means, and volunteer work. It stresses the need for teaching these concepts and principles in the form of a university course or by integrating them within specialization courses in every college or specialization, in addition to enhancing extracurricular activities that enhance these values, such as student camps, competitions and volunteer work. The Center believes one of the main reasons for this phenomenon is the weak youth programs and investment of youth energy, the lack of HR clubs in most universities and limited student councils and not enabling them from play their role, prevents students from expressing themselves, defending their rights and learning about their duties, especially in the cases where students are subjected to disciplinary committees. Where the principles of a fair trial are sometimes not applied as stipulated in disciplinary regulations, in addition to the intervention in the decisions of investigation committees, which weakens deterring students from violence acts. The MoHESR is currently working on drafting new disciplinary instructions for university students. The Center also notes the lack of a general union for students in the Kingdom and the lack of university teacher and staff associations.

132. The Center recorded a host of positive developments in this sector during 2008, namely: a) higher education statistics are a positive indicator on the availability of higher education, as several universities are available to absorb the increase in student numbers, with different specializations(131). B) The MoHESR continued to execute the National Strategy for Higher Education and Scientific Research 2007

2012 (132). C) Suspended appointment in student councils in most universities, except for Zarqa Private University, after the full and direct elections at Jordan University to ensure student representation and participation in decision making. D) Applied several measures to support scientific research, namely amending the Public Jordanian Universities Law No. 42 of 2001, by allocated 3% of the annual university budgets for purposes of scientific research, publication, training and conferences, and 2% of their budgets for PhD scholarships, as well as forming a national team to create a comprehensive strategy for the Scientific Research Support Fund for 2009

2012. The Center proposes in this regard unifying these two percentages by adding them to make one percentage, as the emerging university needs scholarships because they do not have a sufficient number of researchers in the emerging university, while the university established

(131) The Kingdom has 25 universities in various parts of the kingdom, 10 public universities and 15 private ones, teaching a total of 253,137 students in various academic degrees and from various nationalities, including 122,495 female students, or 48.4%.

(132) With seven themes: good governance and university administration, admissions, accreditation and quality control, scientific research, development and higher education, technical and technological education, university funding and university environment.

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for long needs to support scientific research instead of scholarships to maintain their accommodation energy in terms of faculty. This distribution will be left to the discretion of the university boards of trustees, to support university independence.

133. The Center appreciates MoE efforts in the area of the right to education; to support the progress achieved in more than one area, it recommends for more progress the following:

A) Start phase two of the Project Economic Reform for Knowledge Economy (ERFKE 2) B) Increase MoE budget so that it can expand and develop the infrastructure, specifically to

put an end to two shift schools and rented schools, and provide sufficient facilities for individuals with special needs, theaters, laboratories, playgrounds, music instruments, vocational training and computers.

C) Expand the scope of kindergarten beneficiaries. D) Expand non-regular education programs for drop outs and literary through enhancing

bonuses to teachers and students, and give special care to the education of RRC inmates. E) Enhance school nutrition programs and expand the scope of its beneficiaries, in addition

to enhancing school health services, including medical examination rooms and teacher training.

F) Continue to teach HR with the need to focus on training teachers and writers of curricula and school books on HR.

G) Increase the Ministry s efforts in addressing the phenomenon of school violence, activate the procedures followed, monitor, guide and enhance the HR, peace and conflict resolution culture.

H) Establish a union for teachers to contribute to developing the education profession and enhance the physical and moral rights of teachers.

I) Classify private schools with emphases on commitment to the criteria of private education with regard to appointing social counselors and respecting minimum wage.

J) Create curricula for teaching Christian religion in public schools to Christian students.

134. With regard to the higher education sector, the Center reaffirms its recommendations in the previous four reports, and stresses the need to work seriously on them and adopt them as soon as possible, as follows:

A) Reconsider admissions criteria for universities pursuant to the international HR criteria to ensure the availability of education to all on the basis of qualifications and equality, and eliminating exceptions.

B) Apply public and private accreditation criteria on public universities similar to their application for private universities to increase education quality, as the Accreditation Council Law is binding for all.

C) Reaffirm the independence of universities by reinstating all authorities of their boards of trustees, limited by the Higher Education Council, so that the work of the Higher Education Council

after reforming it to represent the public and private sectors and the civil society benefiting from outcomes of higher education

is restricted to drafting the guiding policies for higher education, drafting the higher education and scientific

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research strategy, and conducting comparative studies with higher education and scientific research in the world in order to elevate the level of higher education and scientific research in Jordan.

D) Teach HR, democracy and tolerance through creating a curriculum for university students or integrating them into the various specializations, and enhance all forms of extra-curricular activities in this area.

E) Apply the discipline and punishment system pursuant to international HR criteria, with a focus on the need for disciplinary punishments to fit the student violations, provided the application of these student punishments do not prevent students from expressing their opinions and activities in an environment of freedom.

F) Establish associations for teachers and staff in universities, and establish a general union for students in Jordan on the basis on independence and full and direct election, to guarantee equality among students and enhance democracy and participation.

G) Expedite the drafting of a comprehensive strategy for the Scientific Research Support Fund for 2009

2012 to support the priorities of scientific research, especially in the areas of water, energy, and food security, and execute the national strategy for higher education and scientific research (2007

2012).

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Cultural Rights

135. International criteria include provisions on cultural rights(133), namely: the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, ICESCR(134). The Jordanian constitution does not have an explicit provision on cultural rights, however, it is implied in Article (15), Paragraph 1, in the reference to freedom of cultural expression(135)

. The National Charter, in Chapter Six, also stressed cultural rights clearly and separately(136)

. The Culture Sponsorship Law No. 36 of 2006 guaranteed all cultural rights. Article (4) set out the cultural duties undertaken by the Ministry of Culture (MoC), namely: setting general policies for cultural work, developing cultural work by supporting cultural associations and institutions, providing appropriate circumstances to launch creative and artistic energy, sponsor, highlight and publish intellectual, cultural and artistic creativity, establish cultural, artistic and popular centers and museums, establish theater and popular troupes to serve the cultural and artistic movement, honor writers and artists and encourage talent and entrench the concept of democracy with all its commitment to HR, freedom of expression and freedom of

(133) The cultural right can be defined as the right of every individual to participate in cultural life, enjoy the benefits of scientific advancement and its application, benefit from the protection of moral and financial interests resulting from any scientific, artistic or literary work of his creation. It requires the state to guarantee the full practice of this right to preserve, develop and promote science and culture, respect the freedom that is indispensible in scientific research and creative activitiy, and recognize the benefits of encouraging and developing international communication and cooperation in the areas of science and culture.

(134) See article 27 of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and Article 15 of ICESCR. (135) Article 15 paragraph 1 of the Constitution stipulates The State shall guarantee freedom of opinion. Every

Jordanian shall be free to express his opinion by speech, in writing, or by means of photographic representation and other forms of expression, provided that such does not violate the law

(136) Article 4 of the National Charter stipulates Attention must be paid to enhancing the cultural attainments of Jordanian citizens in all regions of the Kingdom through promoting and developing national culture by all available means, enabling meaningful participation in the process of comprehensive cultural growth . Article 6 also recognized on cultural diversity Care must be extended to all forms of Jordanian folklore, as they constitute a creative and enriching part of national culture. They must be brought abreast of the modern age in a manner that would serve to integrate the nation s cultural fabric .

Table 12: Number of works catalogued at the National Library, 2006 2008

Year Resources

Books Periodicals Cassettes Video Computer Pictures Total

Total

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opinion. As for the Protection of the Writer s Right Law No. 22 of 1992 and its amendments, it guaranteed the right to protecting moral and physical interests resulting from any scientific, artistic or literary effect. Article (3) stipulated legal protection for resources created in literature, arts and sciences, regardless of their type, importance, or purpose of production(137). The National Library Regulations No. 5 of 1994 and their amendments help in ensuring protection for the writer, as it guarantees the process of deposit and monitoring.

136. However, the Center found a host of practices and shortcomings that do not allow the full enjoyment of the cultural rights of individuals in 2008, namely:

A) Although the press and publications law prohibited censorship of publications before printing, which positively contributes to expanding the intellectual and cultural freedom area, the writer, publisher and printer may be prosecuted in case of violating the provisions of Article (38) of this law138. The Center also notes that this article creates restrictions and gives a wife and conflicting explanation based on the differences in jurisprudence, and may constitute a justification for restricting the freedom of expression for the writer in an unjustified manner. Five cases were referred in 2008 by the Publications and Press Department to the judiciary on the basis of their violation of the Press and Publications Law, and they are still pending, in addition to several cases that may be filed by individuals based on laws other than the Press and Publications Law.

B) The Press and Publications Law still grants the Director of the Publications and Press Department the right to suspend the admission of resources created abroad, banning their distribution and restricting the number of copies temporarily allowed for distribution,

(137) Article (3) stipulates: B. The resources created in literature, arts and sciences, regardless of their type, importance or purpose of production, shall enjoy protection pursuant to this law. C. This protection includes the resources that are expressed in writing, sound, drawing, photography, or movement, specifically: Books, brochures and other written materials Oral resources, such as lectures, speeches and sermons. Theater, musical theater, musical and mime resources. Musical resources whether they are digitized or note, or accompanied by words or not Cinematic and radio resources, visual or sound Works of drawing, photography, sclupture, engraving, architecture and applied and decorative arts. Explanatory pictures, maps, designs, plans and models related to geogrphy and surface maps of the earth Computer programs, in their source language or the machine language D. The protection includes the title of the resources, unless the title is a common term to indicate the topic of the resource. E. Also enjoying protetcion are groups of literary or artistics resources such as encyclopedias, selections, and data collected, whether in the digitally read format or in any other format, and which constitute in terms of the selection or arrangement of their contents intellectual and innovative acts, in addition to protection for groups that include selections of poetry, prose, music or others, provided those collections list the source of the selections and their writers without undermining the rights of the writers with regard to every classification that constitutes a part of these collections .

(138) This article prohibited the publication of any of the following: a. What entails defamation, insult or abuse to a religion whose freedom is guaranteed in the constitution. b. What entails undermining or offending prophets in writing, drawing, image, code or any other means. c. What entails an insult to religious feelings or beliefs, or causes religious or racist incites. d. What offends the dignity of indevidiauls and their personal freedoms, or what includes untruthful

information or rumors about them.

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provided that the Director submits to the court, summarily, a request to issue a summary decision banning their entry, distribution or restriction of the number of copies distributed until a final decision is handed down in this regard139.

C) The Press and Publications Law granted the Director of the Publications and Press Department the authority of prior approval of publications imported by governmental institutions, universities, and scientific research centers, as no publications may enter these institutions without the prior approval of the Director. They must also be placed in special locations for use in scientific research, which constitutes a restriction of the freedom of scientific research and denies scientific institutions the right to resort to the judiciary.

137. The year 2008 saw a host of developments related to citizen enjoyment of their cultural rights, namely the Writer Right Protection Office referring 1800 cases of law violation to the courts between 2001 and 2008, and issuing regulations on Full Time Jordanian Cultural Creativity No. 22 of 2007. The MoC executed the project of cultural cities, and the city of Salt was the cultural city for 2008. Several seminars, lectures, festivals and exhibitions were organized, a film was produced, in addition to other activities. However, the Center notes the lack of a law to preserve national documents, which leads to the destruction of many without depositing them at the National Library.

138. The number of books deposited at the Publications and Press Department rose to a total of 849 publications in 2008, while in 2007 they were approximately 350, which contributes to the process of protection. The MoC also publishes creative and intellectual production of Jordanian writers through various means, including full publication of books at the Ministry s expense, where 130 books were published, printed and distributed in 2008, while giving writers financial rewards and several copies for the book140. Support for publishing books was also provided to cover the full budget of printing in return for the Ministry obtaining 200 copies, and the number of supported books for this year totaled 170 books. The Ministry also implemented the Family Library Project, and this year 60 titles were sold at a rate of 5000 copies per book, at nominal prices. The Ministry also allows creative individuals opportunities to write in the three literary magazines published by it: Afkar Magazine, the monthly children s magazine Wisam and the quarterly magazine Funoun .

139. In this context, and to protect the cultural rights, the Center offers several recommendations to develop the individual s enjoyment of cultural rights:

A) Issue a law to maintain national documents in order to protect them from destruction. B) Support cultural bodies financially and technically, especially those in the governorates,

and support the cultural festivals, especially in the governorates. C) Cancel taxes on income from the book industry.

(139) The Publications and Press Department allows the entry of foreign books into the Kingdom in general. In the period 1999 to 2008, approximately 8000 books entered the Kingdom. However, a limited number of them were banned entry on the basis of the abnned items in the Jordanian laws, usually for political, religious, or public morality reasons.

(140) The reward for creative writers is JD 750, in addition to 100 copies, while the study reward is 1000 JD in addition to 100 copies, and the children s book reward is JD 500 with 100 copies.

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Right to Health

140. The constitution did not include a reference to the right to health directly, although international conventions focused especially on this right due to its importance to the life of people. However, the amended Public Health Law No. 47 of 2008 contained provisions that reaffirm the responsibility of the state in offering healthcare in its various forms, including: offering medical and treatment services, combating contagious diseases, increasing awareness, and protecting motherhood and childhood. The Center indicates that the national legislative enactments did not stipulate the state s responsibility in providing objective conditions for the practice of this right, and the law also fall short because it focuses on physical health and the treatment of diseases, and does not give the same importance to psychological health.

141. The Center noted in 2008 that some hospitals and health centers suffer from a host of problems that hinder the achievement of their goals(141). The Center expresses concern due to the lack of quality control in hospital services, although many obtained a degree from ISO or similar systems. These degrees and certificates related to the structure and management of hospitals and have nothing to do with quality control for the care offered by the doctor in examination, diagnosis or treatment. The Center followed in 2008 the Ministry of Health s draft law on medical responsibility. The Center expressed several comments, namely listing the issue of medical responsibility within the Physician s Association Law and not drafting an independent law for it, in harmony with the valid legislative enactments like the French Law. The Physician s Association is considered the body for regulating the affairs of the profession and its staff, to protect the rights of the health profession practitioners and the rights of patients. The year 2008 saw the Ministry s expansion and modernization of 13 hospitals in various regions of the Kingdom(142), the establishment of two comprehensive health clinics in Jarash and Rusaifah, the establishment of 14 primary health clinics, and the establishment of two branch health clinics in Karak and Ajloun(143).

142. The Center notes some shortcomings in the Public Health Law, as it did not give sufficient importance to psychological health like the other diseases, but it commends the formation of a national committee on 17/12/2008 chaired by the Secretary General of the Ministry of

(141) Namely: Lack of medical and nursing staff, shortage of some necessary drugs, shortage in the number of dentistry chairs.

(142) Represented by establishing departments for children and new borns, operations and intensive care, out patient buildings and the modernization of maternity and obstetrics departments.

(143) The Ministry of Health offers two forms of healthcare: primary, offered by health centers, and secondary and third offered by hospitals. The health clinics are also divided into three type sof health centers according to the importance and quality of care provided, comprehensive, primary and branch centers, in addition to motherhood and childhood centers and dental centers.

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Health, including representatives of health service providers in the public and private sectors and the Ministry of Higher Education, to create national policies and strategies aimed at integrating psychological health services within the primary health care services(144). The Center hopes this strategy will take into consideration the high cost of psychological medical services and the importance of their provision, according to the general living conditions.

143. The year 2008 saw a marked increase in the rates of non-contagious diseases, especially health disease, cancer and diabetes. Heart disease is the main cause of death in the Kingdom with 38% of total deaths. Cancer comes in second with 14%, while accidents constitutes 11% of deaths(145). Based on the study conducted by the Ministry of Health(146) in 2007, it was found that the youth afflicted with these diseases is high. Table 14 shows the percentages of the population with non-contagious diseases(147). The high percentages of diabetes, hypertension, fat, weight gain and obesity, are high if compared with the population, which entails a high cost of treatment for these diseases on society. This requires a national strategy for prevention and treatment alike.

144. The year 2008 saw the problem of people with thalassemia, totaling 1,425. The Center wrote to the Ministry of Health on the complaints it received from the patients, and has still not received an answer as of the date of the report. The complaints included demands for oral treatment EXJADE instead of Desferal. which is currently taken by shots in the stomach of the patient for ten hours, and providing a specialized medical team to offer medical services to patients of thalassemia. The medical services currently offered to them are by a pediatrician.

145. The Center also noted the government passed a decision to limit the treatment of cancer patients with exemptions from the Patient Affairs Unit at the Royal Court and all children at the Hussein Cancer Center in April 2008, and the referral of the other cancer patient with health insurance to the other hospitals according to their health insurance. The Ministry of Health justified the governmental decision to reduce the financial burdens in the budget, which prompted these patients and popular bodies to stage sit ins and demonstrations, as the decisions exempts the government from providing the minimum level of medical care for citizens and leaves them prone to the privatization of the medical sector and its health services(148).

(144) Primary Health Care Directoarte. (145) National Health Strategy for 2008

2011. (146) These studies are conducted every 3 to 5 years approximately, and their results were published in 2008. (147) Based on the information presented by the Ministry of Health / Directorate of Monitoring Non-Contageous

Diseases. (148) Al Ghad Newspaper, 11 May 2008.

Table 14: Prevalence of contagious diseases, %

Disease

%

Hypertension

High overall cholesterol

Diabetes

Dormant diabetes

Weight gain

Obesity

89

146. As for contagious diseases, the Center believes most contagious diseases have been controlled well and effectively, and that the diseases that can be prevented by vaccination saw a significant decrease, as no new cases of diphtheria and polio were recorded in 2008 due to the high rates of vaccination coverage. However, it noted that diarrhea, respiratory system diseases and hepatitis are still major disease reported by the health centers periodically, in addition to recording limited cases of whooping cough and tetanus(149). Table (15) shows the number of patients with contagious diseases as of October 2008, compared with 2007(150).

147. The Center notes a host of effort exerted by the Ministry of Health in 2008 to combat the spread of contagious and non-contagious diseases, namely:

A) Train health and medical staff on detecting contagious diseases and providing them periodically to the Directorate of Monitoring Contagious Diseases.

B) The Ministry of Health implemented two free vaccination campaigns in April and November for individuals living in remote locations and individuals moving in and out of various areas within the Kingdom, like moving Bedouins.

C) Issued awareness and educational brochures on contagious diseases to medical staff and the public, these included: brochures on contagious diseases and how to deal with them, vaccination guide, and guide on the side effects of vaccines.

D) Created fixed national programs to combat contagious diseases like the National Breast Cancer Program.

E) Established a national register of hereditary diseases and birth defects, in order to highlight the volume of hereditary diseases and birth defects in the Kingdom and dealing with them early. It is noteworthy that the Center cooperated with the Ministry of Health (National Program for Combating AIDS) with the support of the International Fund for Combating AIDS, by convening three training courses in 2008 that included representatives of government bodies and CSOs on introducing and reviewing national legislature on individuals with HIV (AIDS).

(149) National Health strategy for 2008

2012. (150) Based on the information of the Ministry of Health / Directorate of Monitoring Contageous Diseases.

Table 15: Number of cases of contagious diseases as of the end of November 2008, compared with 2007

Disease Number of

Cases in 2008

Number of Cases

in 2007

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis B

Food poisoning

Malta fever

Malaria

Bilharzia

Skin Leishmaniasis

Sterility

Chicken pox

Epidemic meningitis

Non-epidemic meningitis

AIDS

90

148. As for health insurance, this year saw an increase in the health insured from 79% in 2007 to 86%, 300 thousand Jordanian citizens were included in the civil health insurance within the network of social security, and 6 new regions were added: north Shuna, Burma, Zay, Qatraneh, Hasa, and Eil, regions classified as poverty pockets into the free civil health insurance umbrella(151). Table 16 shows the percentage of the population s health insurance coverage according to the insuring body in 2008. The Ministry of Health also renewed the health insurance agreement with 44 hospitals in the private sector this year, according to which state employees covered by civil health insurance can receive treatment in these hospitals, according to the degree of the insured, provided the employee bears 20% of the treatment costs and 80% are born by the health insurance fund(152).

149. As for the sale and trade of human organs, the Center is deeply concerned at the growing phenomenon of human organ trade, confirmed by the study prepared by the ministries of social development and health in cooperation with the competent security bodies during 2008. It revealed 127 cases of kidney sale, all outside the Kingdom, in Egypt, Pakistan and Iraq. It also showed that 90% of the youth sold their kidneys outside the Kingdom, half of them are married and living difficult social circumstances and suffer extreme poverty(153). The study indicated that 77% of those who sold their kidneys did not suffer health relapses or complications after the surgery, while 23% of them suffered complications including blood poisoning and dangerous infections that led to the death of some as a result of the transfer of the kidney in unsafe manners. The Center believes that the success of the security agencies in detaining 81 individuals who trade human organs (sell kidneys) and referring them to the judiciary in 2008 indicates the urgent need for addressing this phenomenon and finding solutions for the reasons of its spread.

150. As for food and its security, 2008 saw the closure of several food institutions and plants, and warnings and notices for them by the Food and Drug Administration(154), as a result of seizing large quantities of expired food items, in addition to the non-compliance of these institutions and plants with the public health and safety terms. Health monitors conducted approximately 275 thousand visits in 2008 that resulted in several warnings, notices and

(151) Subscribers Directorate, Health Insurance Administration. (152) Subscribers Directorate, Health Insurance Administration (153) The study showed that 55% of those who sold their kidneys are male, belong to the age group of less than 31, and

that the majority of the youth, 79%, who sold their kidneys live in the Baqa Camp, and that 57% of them working in trades.

(154) Article 2 of the provisional Food Monitoring Law No. 79 of 2001 defined food as any substance or product whether manufcatured, semi manufactured ot non-manufactured, the purpose of which or the expected purpose of which is human consumption, and it includes drinks and gum, and any substance used in manufacturing food, its preparation or its treatment, including water, etc.)

Table 16: Health insurance coverage (%)

Insuring Body

Population insured (%)

Civil Health Insurance

41%

Military Health Insurance

28%

University Health Insurance

1.5%

Private Health Insurance

6%

Insurance Companies

6%

Funds and Unions

3.5%

Total

86%

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closures 27,167 cases(155), which indicates that the status of food and its security in Jordan requires extreme care.

151. As for medication, the Center values the Food and Drug Association s reduction of the prices of 1600 types of medication imported from Europe in 2008, by percentages ranging from 10% to 34%(156). The Food and Drug Administration is also currently working on reducing the prices of generic medication based on the original medication price(157)s which were reduced based on the price of the country of origin. The Center also noted the closure of 140 pharmacies by the Food and Drug Administration in 2008 out of 1700 pharmacies practicing in the Kingdom, including 15 pharmacies found in possession of forged medication(158) and 125 pharmacies found in possession of smuggled medication, in addition to the closure of 4 medication warehouses due to the illegal import of medication, i.e. the medication was not tested and its validity was not verified by the competent authorities. It is worth noting that the Food and Drug Administration closed 56 pharmacies in 2007(159). The Center also noted the absence of the phenomenon of the use of herbs by some doctors or alleged doctors including herbalists and conmen who take advantage of patients outside of correct scientific methods and charge large amounts of money in return, on the pretext of the ability to health diseases proven incurable by modern medicine except through the use of medical compounds.

152. To protect the right to health, the Center reaffirms its recommendations in its earlier reports with regard to health, and stresses the following:

A) Create a national strategy to improve psychological health services, amend the valid laws and policies, create an independent commission to protect psychological patients and prevent their abuse and include them in health insurance.

B) Seek to increase the percentages of those included in health insurance, in its various kinds.

C) Take deterrent legal action against doctors or alleged doctors who take advantage of patients using herbs, far from correct scientific methods, and charge large mounts in return.

D) Create effective mechanisms of inspection and monitoring by the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, to guarantee all food institutions and plants and restaurants all over the Kingdom meet all public health and safety conditions.

(155) Food and Drug Administration. (156) The reductions included antibiotics and chronic disease medication like heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and

cholesterol, in addition to cancer medications. Food and Drug Administration. (157) Generic medication: medication that the is the same or similar in their composition to the original drug s

composition, original medication: the medication discovered and manufactured for the first time in the world. (158) Forged medication: medication not manufactured in medication plants and sold for prices less than those

permitted, and different in the form of packing and color, and not concentrated or within the specifications. (159) Food and Drud Administration.

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Right to a Safe Environment

153. Environmental issues have been the focus of many world countries in the last two decades, as a result of the environmental deterioration in its various forms resulting from the increase in the population and the advanced technologies that contributed to expanding the destructive effects to the environment, such as water and air pollution, deforestation and soil erosion. It is noted that the constitution did not address this right directly, but the international agreements ratified by Jordan guarantee it(160). The Jordanian Environment Protection Law No. 52 of 2006 confirmed this right and gave environmental issues priority in treatment. The Center found from monitoring the environmental indications of 2008 several positive developments in this era, with an increase in the negative points, especially the decrease in forest areas, an increase in their overuse and a lack of follow-up in planting them, water and air pollution, the prevalence of flies and mosquitoes in a manner that threatens tourism to the Jordan Valley region, the lack of efficiency of waste water stations that increased the rates of pollution in dams and water areas and the spread of bad smells, which threatens agriculture on the river banks, flood areas and valleys.

154. In the area of institutional and legislative regulation, the government approved instructions to grant pre-approval for licensing or renewing the licenses of environment associations of 2008(161). It drafted the Environment Fund Regulations and the Environmental Inspection and Monitoring Regulations. The Ministry of Environment provided environmental information, especially environmental conventions on the right to an safe environment to the public on the Ministry s website(162). The staff of the Royal Administration for Environment Protection (previously known as the environment police) were increased from 400 policemen to 497 policemen, 5 new divisions were created as were four new squads, in order to enhance the capacities of the Ministry of Environment in dealing with the various environmental violations. The Ministry of Environment and the Royal Administration for Environment Protection also recently adopted a program to reveal by air the hot environmental spots, to monitor the establishments and plants that cause environmental pollution, and report the environmental violations should they occur.

(160) Namely, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Convention to Combat Desertification, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol requesting industrial states to reduce their carbon emissions, Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

(161) Issued pursuant to article 24 of the Environment Protection Law No. 52 of 2006. (162) www.moenv.gov.jo

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155. In the area of enhancing monitoring and inspection, 2008 saw the writing of 17.643 environment tickets. The Ministry also shut down 85 establishments in 2008. The central licensing committee granted 640 licenses and rejected 234 requests for licensing industrial, agricultural and trade projects out of 874 requests, for violating the environmental conditions for licensing investment projects.

156. In the area of air pollution, an agreement was reached with the World Bank to execute projects and programs in the Kingdom in the area of central cooling at a cost of one million dollars as a grant from Montreal Fund. The Center values the government s commitment to halting the use of materials harmful to the ozone layer completely by the end of 2009, after it stopped the use of 97% of materials harmful to the ozone layer. The Standards and Metrology Institute adopted a decision to amend the Jordanian metrological standards in the environmental area and obligated vehicles to use catalytic converters to reduce car exhaust emissions as of the beginning of 2007. The Center indicates that this decision was not enacted in 2008 for large transport vehicles and was enacted on a voluntary basis for small transport vehicles. The Ministry of Environment also drafted a draft law to monitor the quality of air in Jordan. 12 stations were installed and operated, and the project includes three main phases: monitoring the quality of air in the main cities, vehicle exhaust emissions, and large plant emissions. The Ministry of Environment also started implementation of an environment settlement plan with the administration of the Cement Factories Company according to a timetable, to obligate the company to apply all required measures to improve the environmental reality in the city of Fuheis, however, it failed to follow it up, as citizens still complain of pollution, especially at night(163). Bag filters were also installed to eliminate dust emissions instead of the electric filters used by the Cement Factories Company in Rashadiya according to an environment settlement plan with the Ministry of Environment. Finally, the Balqa Applied Sciences University started the process of measuring cement dust in the areas of Fuheis and Rashadiya through 5 monitoring stations in Fuheis and 3 stations in Rashadiya.

157. In the sector of water and sewage, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation failed to achieve comprehensive management of the water sector and overcome water resource problems, so that waste water plants and the failure of the sewage system infrastructure became a source of pollution for rivers and dams. They are also a danger to agriculture. The Center also noted the lack of coordination between the ministries of environment, water and irrigation, agriculture and industry in combating water pollution and modernizing waste water plants

(163) The settlement plan that included changing the filter suystems for the plant s chimneys and cretaing raw material warehouses was encated to reduce dust emissions in addition to planting a belt of trees on the perimeter of the plan, and other measures that prevent dust emissions from the mining areas.

Table 17: Number of closures, by type of establishment

Type of Establishment

No of Closures

Trade

Agricultural

Industrial

Service

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that have come to threaten the agricultural sector. The emissions of bad smells from the waste water plant in Jarash has also come to negatively affect tourism in the Roman city.

158. As for solid and hazardous waste and its management, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MoMA) prepared in cooperation with the Deir Alla dumpsite unified specifications to separate solid waste, and prepared instructions to regulate the transfer, storage, manufacture and use of organic fertilizer and its trade for 2003, in order to eliminate the problem of flies in the Jordan Valley area. The Center values the response of the competent bodies in implementing this initiative in response to the recommendations in the 2007 report, to combat this chronic problem, which negatively affects the quality of life of the citizens and the tourism opportunities in the Jordan Valley. The Center notes the failure of the Ministry of Environment in achieving any progress in eliminating flies and mosquitoes in the Jordan Valley, the numbers have increased as did the dangers, which threatens the development of the Valley and its quality of life, and specifically tourism in the Dead Sea. The Center notes that the Ministry of Environment created a policy at the national level to manage electric and electronic waste, and sees a need for developing a system to manage electronic waste and expired cell phones, in cooperation with the various communication companies and computer companies. The Ministry also executed the project of sorting household waste at the source (partnership project with the private sector in managing solid waste) in Greater Amman, which is a positive development in the dealing of official bodies with some environmental problems.

159. The Center is concerned with the escalating severity of attacks on the forests for purposes of illegally trading wood in 2008. The Royal Environmental Protection Administration issued 256 environmental citations in this regard.

160. As for pesticides, the figures of the Ministry of Agriculture indicate that Jordan imports annually approximately 100 thousand tons of various pesticides, in addition to its location production, which requires monitoring the various uses of these pesticides to protect the citizen and the environment alike. The results of the studies over the past eight years indicate a drop in the percentage of samples in which permissible pesticide residue was found, according to the Jordanian metrology and international metrology adopted for this purpose. As the Ministry of Agriculture, through a center for analyzing pesticides, takes random samples of important and local agricultural products to examine them and determine the level of pesticide residue in them, the Center sees a need to grant them the authority of taking any measure on the samples in which the level of pesticide residue is higher than that which is permitted, according to the metrology.

161. As for chemical fertilizers, the figures of the Ministry of Agriculture indicate that Jordan annually imports about 50 thousand tons of various chemical fertilizers, in addition to ammonium phosphate and potassium chloride and some compound fertilizers that are locally produced. These fertilizers are easy to use and dissolve quickly in the irrigation water, which leads to the pollution of water paths and floods, specifically in terms of eutrification and the growth of moss, thus becoming not potable and not fit for human

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consumption. The Center sees a need for the National Center for Agriculture Research and Guidance to intensify awareness and guidance campaigns to farmers on the dangers of adding chemical fertilizers in quantities that are larger than the actual needs of the plants, creating a guide list specifying the actual needs of the agricultural products in terms of chemical fertilizers, as well as the time for adding them, and offering services of soil and plant analysis to farmers for nominal fees to specify the actual needs of plants for fertilizers. The Center reaffirms the Ministry of Water and Irrigation should examine random samples from ground water wells and surface water to determine the extent of their pollution with chemical fertilizers, especially in irrigated agriculture areas.

162. As for natural fertilizers, the Ministry of Agriculture figures indicate that the annual production from various animal farms is about 1.07 million square meters of manure, and the use of this unprocessed waste in the Jordan Valley, especially in the planting of the October cycle crops, escalates the spread of house flies in large numbers, which leads the municipalities and the Ministry of Agriculture to conduct pesticide campaigns at a high cost. This affects the public health and safety. In this regard, the Center commends the establishment of a plant to treat manure in Deir Alla, in order to reduce this problem.

163. With regard to agricultural plastic, Ministry of Agriculture figures indicate that Jordan has approximately 30 thousand plastic houses in addition to the black plastic needs of these houses. The effect of this plastic substance lies in the fact that it cannot be appropriately destroyed(164), and thus it affects the agricultural productivity and it closes irrigation channels and pipes if it gets to them. It also leads to the death of crops if they graze in these areas, which causes an economic loss.

164. As for olive pressing plants, the Ministry of Agriculture records indicate 93 modern pressing plants and 10 old pressing plants distributed all over the Kingdom. The lines of production total 182 in them. These plants produce large qualities of waste water estimated at 160

180 thousand square meters annually. This water contains phenol, and the improper treatment of this cases spring water pollution and the pollution of agricultural soil, rendering it not fit for planting(165), if it is not dumped in the pools created for this purpose at the dumpsites created especially for this purpose. These mills also produce jift (byproduct of olive pressing) in quantities estimated at 80

100 thousand tons annually. The Center notes that this substance no longer constitutes a burden to the environment, because it used for heating after it is dried and formed into molds. It has also come to generate additional income for pressing mill owners.

165. As for animal farms, the Ministry of Agriculture figures from the last agricultural survey conducted in 2008 indicate the presence of 3.5 million sheep and goats and 86 thousand cows, in addition to the widespread chicken farms (egg farms, meat farms and mother

(164) Many farmers resort to burning it and emitting gases that is harmful to health, or tilling it with the land which hinders the growth of plant roots and pollutes the soil

(165) Waste water is processed by pouring it into valleys beside the pressing mills, or owners of water tanks pour them into nearby valleys or empty them into agricutlural lands.

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farms). The Center refers to the negative impact of these farms which appears when they do not comply with the special environmental and health conditions created by the ministries of agricultural and environment, especially when not dealing properly with the manure produced by the farms and the waste water from the cow farms. This affects the public health and safety of the nearby residents, as a result of the bad smells and the multiplication of bugs and mosquitoes, in addition to affecting the quality of milk and products of these farms in general

166. In the area of trade and industrial cities, the Center noted the great spread of trade industries in all municipalities(166), especially after the municipality mergers and the expansion of their borders on one hand and the expansion of the borders of the formation after the construction spurt in Jordan recently on the other. This led to the increase of citizen complaints

recently

on the presence of these industries around their homes and close to them in a manner that disrupts and bothers them. It noted that most of these industrial cities have become inside the environment of housing cities(167), which leads to the pollution of the environment in general and the nearby citizens in particular, especially since most of these cities lack infrastructure services, are haphazard in their construction and their buildings distort the general view of the cities.

167. The presence of stone crushing plants and stone quarries near residential areas and agricultural lands negatively affects the health of citizens, and their homes and farms, because of the explosions of the stone crushing plants and the resulting soil and dust. Most stone crushing plant owners leave the work site after finishing work in a manner that distorts the general view and affects public safety.

168. In spite of all this, the Center recommends applying a host of measures that ensure the protection of the right to an safe environment, namely:

A) Expedite the approval of the draft Environment Protection Fund and the draft Environment Inspection and Monitoring regulations as they are a positive basis for addressing some environmental issues.

B) Draft regulations for managing electronic waste in cooperation with various communication and computer companies.

C) Continue to conduct the study by the Ministry of Environment to provide an index on the extent of the Jordanian environment s pollution with pesticide residues.

D) Monitor the level of pesticide residues periodically by the Food and Drug Administration, especially in imported milk and children s food items.

E) Develop and modernize waste water plants in a manner that responds to the population increase in the cities and villages, especially those that are dumped into the Zarqa stream which feeds King Talal dam with polluted water.

(166) Such as: cement block plants, tile and marble plants, stone crushing plants, etc. (167) Meaning the service activities such as mechanical repair car shops, car painting shops, blacksmitworkshops,

aluminum workshops and others.

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F) Create a timeline for eliminating flies and mosquitoes in the Jordan Valley and other areas in the Kingdom by addressing warming, swamps and manure.

G) Adopt a national program by the Ministry of Environment to encourage paper bag production plants for use in shopping to gradually become a replacement for plastic bags, and offer the necessary facilities for establishing plants, especially by recycling the plastic used in agriculture and exempting them from taxes.

H) Establish treatment plants for water produced by the olive oil presses in the north, center and south of the Kingdom, and obligating the owners of these presses to treat the by-product water in them, to eliminate environmental pollution resulting from this water as well as reuse this water in agriculture.

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Right to a Decent Standard of Living

169. The right to a decent standard of living is considered the essence of the other economic, social and cultural rights(168), as it is not restricted to providing the essential elements for human survival, it also linked to its independence and freedom from being followers for others(169). It is closely related to the right to work, and the right to social security. The right to sufficient food, appropriate as a component of an appropriate standard of living, it closely linked to human dignity. The economic, social and cultural right committee specified in 1999 in its general comment No. 12 the main component of the right to sufficient food(170), which necessitates following appropriate economic and social policies to eliminate the problems of poverty, unemployment and high cost of living.

170. As for poverty, the Center believes poverty is a natural byproduct of the spread of unemployment, the high rates of economic assistance, rising prices, low wages and low levels of education. The percentage of the population who income was lower than 556 JD annually, which is the poverty line, decreased to 13% in 2006 compared with 14.2% in 2002(171). The Table No. (18) shows the poverty rates in the Kingdom s governorates(172). The Center points out that the government specified 20 locations as poverty pockets in the Kingdom, where poverty exceeds 34% of its total population(173). It indicated that 71% of the poor in these areas fall near the absolute poverty line, compared with 29% suffering

(168) The Universal Declaration for Human Rights recognized the decent standard of livingin Article 15/1, which stipulates Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control . Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights reaffirmed this right, and the said article linked in its second paragraph this right with freedom from hunger.

(169) The appropriate standrad of living refers to the quality and quantities of goods and services available to the individuals and the method of distribution of these goods and services among them, and it is general measured by a group of criteria such as: wages, real povery rate for the individual, quality of health care, education and social welfacre and their accessability. Studies also add to the earlier cirteria intangible criteria in the measreuement of the quality of life, such as: comfort, security, cultural resources, social life, mental health, political and social stability, and mnay other indicators.

(170) For more details, see: General Comment No. 12 on The Right to Sufficient Food , by the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee, 20th Session, 1999.

(171) Economic performance in 2007, Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, from the link: www.mop.gov.jo/uploads/economic_A_new1.pdf

(172) Based on an interview by the research team with the poverty official at the Department of Statistics dated 30/12/2008. These percentages represent the more recent numbers by the Department of Statistics on poverty.

(173) The government identified 13 regions from the twenty regions with a poverty rate in excess of 73% of the population: Ruweished, Wadi Araba, Dleil, Sleihiya, Husseiniya, Jafir, Beirein, Mreigha, Azraq, Weira, Deir Al Kahf, Um Al Jmal and Ghour Al Safi. See: Poverty Assessment Study of 2004, prepared by the World Bank in cooperation with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the Minsitry of Social Development and the Statistics Bureau, 2004, and there were no official published studies after that.

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from chronic poverty(174). The Center considers that the decreased wages are linked to increased poverty rates, followed by the spread of hunger and denial, especially in light of the high rates of economic assistance totaled 68.2%(175), and the high prices of goods and services. Wages are not sufficient to meet the multiple human rights and places them in the circle of permanent want. Many of these families add to their cash income through several mechanisms to adapt to the difficult living conditions, such as: receiving aid from relatives and charity aid institutions, however, they do not leave the circle of want. The Statistics Department indicates that the percentage of families receiving humanitarian assistance in the form of financial aid totaled (5%). The National Aid Fund came in first in offering this assistance with 4.1%, NGOs 0.3%, and aid offered by individuals 0.5%.

171. The Center considers that percentages as clear signs on the degree of want in society, and calls on the government to enact strategies to combat poverty and save it from dispersed solutions for this problem in light of the conflicting roles of the social MoSD aid funds, e.g., the National Aid Fund, the other loan funds(176) and the CSOs, the fragile organizational infrastructure of these institutions, the weak government funding for them, and their inability to gain the trust of the local community in the poor areas. This makes the consecutive governments and the CSOs partners in assuming the responsibility for failing to improve the living standard of citizens. The Center also points to a host of obstacles facing MoSD in addressing the poverty problem, namely: lack of financing for most strategic plan programs, competition among agencies working on micro financing, difficulty in marketing products of productive projects, lack of sustainability of fixed assets for the majority of projects as their owners can dispense with them(177). The Center demands the government assesses the work of these institutions, their programs and their styles of management periodically, to improve their roles, especially the National Aid Fund responsible for

(174) The Poverty Assessment Study in Jordan of 2004 was conducted by a team of local experts in cooperation with international experts from the World Bank to be the first of its kind in Jordan in terms of the scientific methodology followed in the calaculation of poveryt lines and its other indicators. For more details see the link: www.surf-as.org/FocusAreas/PR/CoP/PResentations/Poverty%20in%20Jordan_Arabic.ppt

(175) Jordan in Figures Brochure for 2006, page 1, Statustics Bureau. (176) For example, the Zakat Fund offers monthly aid to families and orphans to improve their living conditions. The

number of beneficiaries totals 1,579 families in addition to over one thousand orphans in various governorates of the Kingdom. See the link: www.zakatfund.org/policy_zakat.html

(177) Ministry of Social Development, interview conducted by the research team on 15/6/2008; see also: Al-Ghad newspaper, Experts discuss partnership agreements on combating poverty and unemployment between societies and Ministry of Social Development, 5/3/2008.

Table 18: Poverty rates in the Kingdom s Governorates, 2006

Governorate Poverty rate for 2006

Amman 9.4

Madaba 10

Irbid 12.1

Maan 12.7

Mafraq

Zarqa 14.9

Balqa 15.3

Aqaba 15.4

Jarash 16.7

Ajloun 17.7

Tafileh 19.1

Karak

21.7

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adopting transparent and clear criteria in this regard, especially with the increase in the poor in light of the great increase in oil prices(178). It believes the Fund is incapable of implementing its policies in light of its limited financial resources that totaled 72 million dinars in 2008, an increase of 14 million compared with 2007(179). The Center notes that the financial aid offered by the National Aid Fund does not contribute to achieving social security for the poverty, as increasing the aid offered to individuals from JD 33 to JD 36 following the liberation of oil prices is considered a very small amount that does not meet the basic needs in light of the cost of living(180).

172. The Center also indicates that the consecutive government sought, in the past years, to increase the tax burden on the citizens, to positively amend the local revenues in the budget to cover the deficit, especially with regard to the percentage of the general tax on sales imposed on consumption items. It therefore calls on the government to refrain from increasing the tax burden on the citizens in light of its negative effect on the living of citizens, and reply on alternative measures that guarantee the control of public expenditure and reform the tax system. In this regard the Center reaffirms the need to cancel the fees on the property check paperwork paid by the National Aid Fund beneficiaries, totaling 6 JD and 100 fils when visiting the Land and Area Department to prove they do not own property as a condition for obtaining national aid. It considers the various fees(181) imposed on those wanting to benefit from the Fund prompt some to not seek that aid, especially families consisting of four or more members which need 30 JD to check property.

173. The Center noted the increase in the phenomenon of begging and its multiple forms and methods(182). It indicates that in spite of several legal provisions prohibiting begging and the imposition of penalties on those who practice it, the problem lies in the lack of actual enactment of these legal provisions(183). The Center notes the opening of a Center for

(178) The oil prices saw a marked decrease in the final quarter of 2008 as a result of the international financial crises, but this did not reflect on the prices of goods and services locally.

(179) The benefitting families increased from 65,658 to approximately 73 thousand families. Reported from the link www.naf.gov.jo/admin/UploadImage/publication/f17.pdf

(180) Statistics indicate that the National Aid Fund serves approximately 37% of the total poor only, i.e. a rate of 74 thousand families , with a financial allocation of approximately 64 thousand dinars. Interview conducted by the research team with the National Aid Fund on 16/6/2008.

(181) Such as: fees for requests of records, sale and mortage paperwork, detecting records paperwork, producing registration records, and paperwork for the National Aid Fund to investigate the property of those applying for repeat cash assistance. The reason for the increase in the property check fees were pursuant to Article 15 of the HCPD Law in order to support the HCPD Fund.

(182) Direct begging by pleading with others and indirect begging such as seeling goods to make money. (183) The number of beggars caught in 2008 was 1,684 while those caught in 2007 were 1,567 as a result of the

intensification of efforts and the seriousness in fighting begging by the competent authorities. Article 389 of the Penal Law and its amendments No. 16 of 1960 defined the beggar as: Everyone pleading or asking for handouts from the people using as an excuse his injuries, handicap or any other method, whether he is moving or sitting in a public place, or found to be leading a child under sixteen years of age to beg and collect chairty, or encouraging a child to do so .

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Beggars in Madaba on 30/11/2008, which fits approximately 250(184). It also commends the national MoSd-GAM campaign to eliminate begging from the summer of 2007 to the summer of 2008. Its most prominent positive results were: 1) raise the awareness of the citizens on the danger of this phenomenon through notifying the competent authorities of the beggars and homeless b) effective cooperation by the various media outlets to combat this phenomenon through advertisement, broadcasting series, distributing posters, and others c) Intensify MoSD efforts by filling out a form by the family of the begging child with important data for the Ministry s database to indicate repeat cases, the economic income and social stats d) the Ministry s attraction of approximately 400 cases, 89 cases needing protection and care were admitted to locations allocated and prepared by the Ministry, such as: senior citizen homes and handicapped centers. Strict measures were also taken for 311 cases, such as imposing high financial bonds and referral to administrative rulers e) Providing 200 job opportunities to several beggars who took begging as a profession, in other professions such as working in the gardens and as cleaners f) limit the begging gangs that take advantage of children, whose members were found to be individuals with priors, and they were detained g) decrease in the percentage of recurrence among begging children to 20% in 2008, while the percentage in 2007 was 38%. The Juvenile courts also dealt with 450 cases, and 14 were referred to protection and care centers.

174. As for unemployment, its rate during the last quarter of 2008 was 12% compared with 13.1% in 2007. It specifically affected university graduates, with the number of the unemployed with BA degrees reaching 15.5%(185). The Center also notes that Jordanian labor faces many challenges in the job market, namely the intensive competition by migrant workers who have increased significantly in the past few years. It calls on the government to find a balanced equation to resolve this problem. It is not sufficient to talk about the turning away of Jordanian workers from working in some vocational sectors, the reasons for this phenomenon must be sought out and address. In this regard, the Center values the Royal initiative to increase the numbers of those admitted to the National Employment and Training Company by 10 thousand additional users, with the total reaching 15 thousand users, to eliminate unemployment rates among the youth in the Kingdom s governorates186. The Center calls for expansion in this direction and establishing advanced industrial academies that contribute to addressing the unemployment problem, provided these

(184) The new center receives beggars from both sexes referred by the judiciary and administrative rulers, in addition to underage begging firls. A social study is prepared for the beggar as soon as he is admitted to the center to ascertain his economic and social status. They are subjected to training courses and awareness, training and educational programs, and those who are able to work are trained on various skills.

(185) Annual Report of the Worker and Unemployment Survey for 2007 issued by the Statistics Bureau, on the link (186) His Majesty the King launched the program of the National Employment and Training Company in May 2007. It

aims to train youth on the professions that the market lacks, such as tiling, stone building, cement block building, painting, carpentry, electricity, air conditioning, and heating, which are professions that are in high demand with the increase in construction. The Company started it work in an alliance with the Armed Forces, the MoL and the contracting sector, and provided trainees with a monthly salary, health insurance, social security, housing, food and clothing, priviledges that promoted large numbers of Jordanian youth to join the trianing program to gain a work opportunity needed in the makret. What remains is the commitment of the partners, which are the companies that recruit the graduates. For more details see: www.pm.gov.jo/araboc/index.php?page_type=news&part=1&id=3765

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academies are established in cooperation with the private sector and with its contribution to management and financing, to provide skills workers for national industries, with a focus on the need to attract female Jordanian workers to the job market, as the percentage of female participation in work is less than 12% according to the Statistics Bureau figures of 2006(187).

175. As for the rising cost of living, the Center noted that 2008 saw consecutive increases in the prices of food products188 by 18.77% compared with 2007. The phenomenon of the increases in goods and services is the result of several reasons(189) that contributed to the rising of the index for the consumer prices190 for all good items in 2008 (139.9) compared with 115.51 in 2006 and 121.74 in 2007(191).

176. On the governmental procedures to combat high cost of living, and in spite of the government s raising of salaries and wages in early 2008, it did not lead to a tangible improvement in the standard of living, because these increases were accompanied by consecutive increases in oil prices(192), which led to increasing burdens for the citizens in this changing economic reality. Although the international prices of oil and food decreased since the last quarter of 2008 as a result of the international financial crises, no decrease was senses in the lives of citizens, because the merchants refused to reduce the prices of goods

(187) Worker and Unemployment Survey 2006, Annual Report by the Statistics Bureau, February 2007. (188) Statistics of the Department of Statistics in an interview with the Chair of the Prices Division, 27/1/2009. (189) The main reasons for the rise in good and service prices in the first ninth months of 2008: rising international

prices for most food products and rising oil prices internationally with the lifting of financnial subsidization allocared from the budget, which lead to the rise in prices of all products, goods and services, the high cost of product cost as a result of the increase in imposed fees and taxes, and the alliance among the merchants benefitting from the rising prices, who pushed quickly in this direction as a result of the weak government role in monitoring and control market prices and their development.

(190) The index for consumer prices is meant to detect changes to the general level of consumer and service prices in the a specific period of times, and this figure is a relative figure that shows the relationship between two figures, one of which is the base and the other is for comparison. The index for food goods saw an increase of 26.14% in 2006, which was 121.24 in 2006 and 132.5 in 2007, while it was 157,38 in 2008. As for the prices of clothing and shoes, the index in 2006 was 96.62, in 2007 it was 99.84 and in 2008 it was 110.29. As for housing, the figure was 111.58 in 2006, 113.8 in 2007 and 129.67 in 2008. The prices of other goods and services (transport, communications, education, medical care, culture, entertainment had an index of 114.41 in 2006, 117,39 in 2007 and rose to 130,24 in 2008. For more details see: Index for consumption prices statistics, Statistics Bureau, from the link www.dos.gov.jo/sdb_ec/sdb_ec_a/index.htm

(191) For food tiems it was 649.5 JDm for clothings and shoes it was 71.36 JD, for housing and its facilities it was 453.85, for transport, communciations, education, ehalth care and culture and entertainment services it was 537.89 JD. The total annual spending for the individual was 1712.6, thus the family consisting of five individuals spends a total of 8564 JD per year. According to the state budget of 2008, the total salaries, wages and compensation for workers in the public sector are 661.1 million JD, distributed among 174,158 employees and contractors, which means that the average rate for the individual is 316.3 JD montjly. This explains clearly the gap between the cost of leaving and the salaries that constitute about 4779.6 JD. Referenece must be made that the varge income for private sector workers in sJD 234 monthly, and the percentage of workers with wages less than 244 monthly is 73% out of 376,784 workers in various economic sectors.

(192) The government increases prices of oil derivates on 8/2/2008 in varying percentages. The prices of unleaded petrol rose by 4%, gasoline and diesel by 76% and electricity fuel by 11%. The government considered the measures of the soecial security network that will accompany the lifting of subsidiaries for the goods and the resulting liveration of prices sufficient to protect the poor and those with limited income from the rising prices.

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and services on the pretext of buying them at high international process, contrary to what they were doing when the prices were rising. This means that initiatives from the private sector on prices cannot be waited for. The government must interfere with the force of the law to protect the society and guarantee the provision of goods and services at fair prices for all reflecting the decrease in international oil prices.

177. The Center notes a host of government procedures taken to eliminate price increases in 2008, in order to protect the right to a decent standard of living for a large group of society, namely(193): a) grant financial increases to the salaries of the civil and military employees and retirees in the public sector and offering indirect support to the other groups of the private sector(194). b) implementation of the social security network that included several measures aimed at alleviating the severity of rising prices: allocating 301 million JD in the budget for the social security network, then adding another 200 million; exempting a group of basic food items from sales tax and customs; reducing them for another group in percentages ranging between 5 and 22%(195); prohibiting the exports of goods whose prices are rising significantly to meet the needs of the local market(196); delaying the full liberation of the prices of gas which cost the budget 8.5 million JD a month; postponing the liberation of feed prices which cost the budget 148 million JD; refraining from raising the prices of bread in spite of the rising cost of wheat around the world and the increase in the cost of government subsidies to 242 million JD; avoiding increasing electricity prices for the poor groups who consume less than 160 kilowatts a month; and exempting industrial production raw materials from customs in order to maintain the competitiveness of the sector. c) Implement a plan for expanding the establishment of parallel and popular markets to cover all parts of the Kingdom , although the Center noted that the prices of goods in them are still

(193) The government procedures were obtained from the prime ministry and the relevant ministries such as MoF, MoIT, MoSD, the Civil Consumer Institute, and other relevant institutions and departments. For more details please visit the link: www.pm.gov.jo/arabic/index.php?page_type=news&part=1&id=4032.

(194) The government gave employees and retirees an increase of JD 50 to those receiving less than 300, and 45 to those with salaries higher than that. It also granted the individual in the fmaily with an annual income less than 400 JD cash support totaling 25 JD, provided the value of compensation to the family does not exceed 150JD. 15 JD cash support was offered to every individual with 400 to 800 JD income annually, provided the value of compensation for the family does not exceed 90 JD. JD 10 cash support was offered to every individual with a family income of 801-1000 JD annually, provided the value of compensation for the family in this group does not exceed 60 JD. It urged the private sector to increase the salaries of its workers. However, the majority of the private sector to did comply with this increase as the government does not have administrative authority over it to increase the salaries of the employees. Therefore, there is a large group of workers in the pirvate sector, totalling 600 thousand individuals, who are still under the mercy of their employers.

(195) The Civil Consumers Institution decided to reduce the profit margin for 27 basic food items and to buy 10 thousand tons of sugar and seeling it at a profit margin of 34 fils per kilo, in addition to an earlier stock of 11 thousand tons. The prices of vegetable oil were also reduced by 1.8% and new markets were opened this year, to come to 22 civil and military markets.

(196) The most notable example is the extention of the ban on exporting eggs for three additional month. However, the Center noted that the MInsitry of Agriculture opened the door for exporting sheep to Saudi Arabia in spite of the higher prices of red meat in the local markets, after Saudi Arabia liften the ban in importing Jordanain sheep which lasted about two years after the International Disease Office anounced Jordan free of the foot and mouth sidease. The prices of local red meat rose by 10 to 20%, while the prices of chicken meat rose because large percentages of local production were experted abroad which led to diminished quantities in the market.

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high compared with wholesale prices. d) Halt the privatization procedures of the Mills and Grain Company in which wheat and barley are stored, and direct the company to create the necessary plans to increase its current capacity and distribute its mills through the Kingdom, to provide a strategic supply of wheat for one year instead of 6 months. The Center notes that the previous government procedures aimed to provide a decent standard of living for limited income citizens, but the results of the experience on the ground was limited with the continued increases in the prices of goods and services, as it could not stop their decreasing buying power. The Center noticed that the government lacked a specific strategy to deal with the effects of the price liberation from a legislative and procedural point of view. This was clear in the changes in the prices of goods and services at the end of every month, and an ensuing chaos in the market. This was used by some greedy merchants. The citizen s buying power was weak after the prices exceeded the value received by employees and retirees.

178. In the area of the right to appropriate housing, the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee identified a group of considerations that expanded the interpretation of the right to housing to guarantee for individuals living somewhere in security, peace and dignity(197). In light of the increase in the growth rate that reached 2.2%(198), this right faces a real challenge, which will increase the need for homes, and specifically apartments, especially since the Jordanian society is a young society, with the youth constituting 57.5% of the population, which means that the future need for building new homes is urgent.

179. To achieve decent housing with the essential components for living in dignity and security, the Center sees a need for providing a host of guarantees and conditions for housing, including the legal guarantee to continue occupying the residence without fear of eviction by coercion(199). The Center notes that the Landlords and Tenants Law No. 30 of 2000 specified the midnight of 31/12/2010 for the end of approximately one million rent contracts in the Kingdom(200). The owners will demand the tenants vacate the property or sign new rent contracts according to the terms of the owners without legal guarantees that protect the tenants, which threatens a sizeable number of tenants with homelessness or subjection to the terms of the owners after the enactment of the new provisions(201). It is noteworthy that the

(197) The Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee identified a group of considerations that must be taken into place for the housing to be appropriate. For more details, see: General Comment No. 4 on the Right to Appropriate Housing , the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee, sixth session, 1991.

(198) Department of Statistics, from the link: www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home/ dos_home_a/main.index.htm (199) The Center found that the Marka District Authority evicted several buildings in the Mahatta region without giving

tenants sufficient time before demanding their evacuation. The tenants complained they were notified of these procedures by the owners of the property but not sufficiently in advance, as the appropriation decision was issued in November 2007 and published in the daily newspapers so that the owners can visit the Land Department and collect their dues. Those properties were appropriated to implement the Amman Zarqa railway project, and asked the merchants within 3 days of the date of notification to leave the rented property, or else the GAM mechniery would remove their peoperty to warehouses by force.

(200) This figures includes the rent contracts for all types of buildings (homes, commercial stores, offices and others). The statistics of the Family Expenditure and Income Ruvey of 2006 indicate that the percentage of rented houses constitutes 23.7%. For more information see the Department of Statistics.

(201) To see the law, see the link: www.arblaws.com/board/showthread.php?t=4350

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Landlords and Tenants law over the past decades took into consideration social and humanitarian considerations with regard to the terms of the rent contract(202). However, the new law reinstated the idea of negotiation, canceling what can be considered sponsorship of the tenant, and giving the agreement between the parties to the contract the first and last saw on the duration of the rent. This can be considered a dominant economic dimension of the rent contract at the expense of any other consideration. In this context, the Center values the directive by His Majesty King Abdullah II to the government in the speech from the throne to start a national dialogue on the law that takes into consideration the interests of all parties in the contractual equation, which gives hope that the current law can be amended before its provisions on canceling the legal extension become valid, thus increasing the possibilities of a legal, economic and social crises that can be avoided to maintain legal stability and civil security, and take into consideration the social aspects of the rent contract, without hindering the economic and investment growth of Jordan.

180. The Center considers that the application of the Landlords and Tenants law will have negative effects on the right to housing, especially as it set the end of 2010 for the end of the rent contracts made before 2000. This will lead to the evacuation of many homes and signing new contracts which will entail additional costs for citizens. This necessitates the government should hurry to adopt and implement housing projects for limited income individuals and the poor, especially the tenants among them.

181. Decent housing is linked to the availability of the necessary facilities for health, security, comfort, water, energy, means of waste disposal and emergency services. To ascertain the reality of services and basic structural facilities available to the people, the Center points out that the percentage of families linked to the public electricity network was 99%, and the percentage of homes linked to the sewage system was 57.3%. The water ration for individuals totaled about 141.9 liters/day(203). However, the Center noted that the increase in electricity rates in 2008 while maintaining the first group (first 160 units a month) of the consumers in homes fixed and supported. The government also maintained the rate of water pumping fixed without change(204). The Center values the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources request for bids on an electricity generation through wind energy project, which is hoped to reflect on reducing the costs borne by the citizens. The Center believes that the

(202) It is no secret that this provision constitutes a violation of the general rules that necessitate the contract is the law of the parties to the contract, and if the economic circumstances during which what was called the pirnciple of the legal extenion of the rent contract was approved changed, the legal logix and the considerations of justice necessitate reconsidering the exceptional principle that dictates the extention of the rent contract by the force of the law. This perhaps prompted the legislator to reconsider the Landlords and Tenants law and the cancelling of the principle of the legal extention of the rent contract, while giving ten years for the enactment of the new provisions in this regard, which ends with the end of 2010.

(203) Jordan in Figures, 2006, p 3, 22. (204) The Council of Ministers approved the decision of the Electricity Sector Regulation Commission Board of

Directors to amend the electricity rate for ordinary subscribers as follows: from 1 to 160 kilowatts / hour monthly by 32 fils for every kilowatt / hour, from 161 to 300 kilowatts / hour by 71 fils for every kilowatt / hour, from 301 to 500 kilowatts / hour by 85 fils per kilowatts / hour, and over 500 kilowatts / hour monthly by 113 mils per kilowatts / hour/ As for the commercial subricbers, it was 86 fils per kilowatts / hour. See the Prime Ministry website on the link: www.addustour.com/ViewTopic.aspx?ac=%5CLocalAndgover%5C2008%5CLocalandGover_issue156_day13_id33663.htm

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shortage in sewage system services and its treatment leads to polluting surface and ground water and health hazards that may cause the spread of cases of diarrhea and diseases among children. The Center reaffirms guaranteeing the right of individuals to receiving a fair share of water that needs the various needs and finding efficient ways of managing water resources. The ability to bear the costs accompanying housing is considered one of the main components of ensuring the right to housing. The high costs negatively affect meeting the basic needs of individuals. The Center points out that the percentage of families living in rented homes reached 22.1%, with an average rent of 50

99 JD, of these 49% were tenants(205).

182. The Center received several complaints during the summer of 2008 on the suspension of water to entire areas or neighborhoods for several days, especially in the governorates of Zarqa, Jarash, Jarash and Irbid consecutively, and received several individual complaints on not receiving water in elevated homes. The Center stresses the need for enabling all citizens to assume the direct and indirect costs of water, its facilities and services, and considers that the proposal to increase the water prices will cause the water bill value to double. It recommends that the expected increases in water prices do not affect the smaller consumption groups(206). It also recommends the Ministry of Water and Irrigation adopts an escalating water rate, so that it accommodates the smaller income groups with an acceptable beginning. It also stresses the need for saving water to make the program of distribution a success in all regions of the Kingdom, and stresses the need for intensifying the media awareness programs for citizens on the need to save water.

183. As for the service of collecting solid waste, the Center believes that the method of collecting waste from homes and other sources and disposing of them constitutes a danger to the health of citizens. Some municipal councils establish transformation stations to collect waste in certain locations, and then they are moved to waste dumps using large trucks(207). The Center noted the spread of moving salesmen who collect some of this waste from the dumps and

(205) See statistics of Family Income and Expenditures of 2006, p 42, Department of Statistics (206) The government raised the water rates in mid August 2005 by an increase on the water bill as a whole and not on

the price of the cubic meter. The additional increase approved for the water bill in the fourth quarter of 2005 was based on the Council of Ministers decision to cover a part of the costs assumed by the Authority in producing and distributing water to the subscribers, in addition to covering the high cost of electric energy that recently took place in 2005 . The rate approved by the Council of Ministers and that came into effect on the first of October 2005 was as follows: 1.65 JD for groups whose use is less than 20 cubic meters during the cycle, 2.65 HD for those who consume between 21 and 40 cubic meters in the cucle, and 3.65 for those whose water use exceeds 41 cubic meters, and the same rate applies to non residential subsriptions. The Council of Ministers had aprpoved an additional increase in 2003 with a miniumum amount of 500 fils and a maximum of 1.500 JD for the overall bill. Interview conducted by the research team with the spokesperson at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation dated 7/5/2008. See Petra news agency website at www.petra.gov.jo/Article.aspx?Lng=2&Section=8&Article=20492, and Al Rai newspaper website at www.alrai.com/pages.php?news_id=201189, dated 15/3/2008

(207) Waste is collected from homes and other sources in two ways: sidewalks bins: citizens drop their waste in special bins with different dimentions, and collection that is door to door by sanitation workers who collect waste from the homes directly to larger bins or collection cars. For more details see: Jabir Daradkeh, Jordanian Experience in Solid Waste Management, Public Institution for the Protection of the Envinroment, from the link: publications.ksu.edi.sa/Conferences/Morocco%20Conference/11.doc

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sell them to waste traders. This is a negative phenomenon that leads to the scattering of waste in a chaotic manner and constitutes a health hazard to the population. In this context, the Center calls for developing an effective system for managing solid waste in terms of collection, transfer and treatment, as Jordan currently has a clear policy on classification, recycling and benefitting from waste. Criteria must be adopted for the operation of dump sites, a larger role must be given to the private sector in managing solid waste and benefitting from the experiences of the countries in this regard, legislative enactments must be drafted to guarantee proper management of the waste while collecting, moving, recycling and dumping, and studies must be conducting periodically to identify the type and quantities of waste and methods of using and recycling it.

184. The rise of the steel and cement prices in 2008 led to the rise of home prices. The rate of increase during 2006 2008 was 38.9%, which prevents those with limited income from owning these homes, especially with the high cost of loans financed by the banks. In this regard, the Center values the initiative by His Majesty King Abdullah II Decent Housing for Decent Living that aims to enhance social and economic security for people with limited income who constitute a large group of citizens, about 58% of the population208. The Center stresses the need to execute the royal initiative on decent housing as soon as possible according to the higher specifications that guarantee providing decent housing to citizens in a proper civilized environment, and ensure that these housing areas take into consideration the environmental and social factors so that their population is from all social and professional levels. It stresses the importance of distributing the housing units to those who actually deserve it according to clear criteria that guarantee justice in distribution and merit, and providing health, comfort and public safety, in addition to a clean environment and terms for sustainable development. The Center also values MoSD allocation of JD 2.5 million to build 12 homes in every governorate to housing poor families that receive cash support from the National Aid Fund during 2008. It considers that the Ministry can adopt a

(208) 208 The Royal initiative aims to build approximately 100 thousand homes in all areas of the Kingdom within a five year plan. The Housing and Urban Development Institution is implementing the government plan set for creating homes for people with limited income in two phases. Approximately 20 thousand and five hundred apartments will be built in 2008, and 75 thousand apartments will be built in the second phase of the project, distributed among 3 housing cities, with 75 thousand housing units, completely equipped with infrastructure services and green zones. 25 thousand apartments will be distributed in all areas of the Kingdom within the next 5 years. The initiative adopted several housing projects in all governorates of the Kingdom , in 23 sites. 1200 apartments in Princes Iman Neighborhood, 1000 apartments in Abu Alanda, Al Diyar/Mecca 500 apartments, Ahl Il Azim / Al Jiza city with 5000 apartments, Al Mustanada area / the beltway 500 apartments. As for the Irbid governorate, 200 apartments will be built in Husin, 800 in Nuaimeh, in Zarqa, Jabal Tariq 530 apartments, old Zarqa 200 apartments, Custodian of the Two Mosques 5000 apartments. As for Kerak, 400 apartments will be built in Thunaya, in two phases, while 254 apartments will be built in Al Eis areas and Im Al Salafieh in Tafileh governorate. In Jerash, 450 apartments will be built in Bayadir Ajrameh, while approximately 222 apartments will be built in Al Wahdaneh area in Ajloun. In Balwa, 800 units will be built in Al Huda region, in Madaba / Ab region 60 apartments and 656 apartments in Al Faiha area. In Mafraq, 250 apartments will be built in Eidoun, in Maan 250 units will be built, in Shobak, 328 apartments, in Azaba 1500 units. See: Report King Abdullah II Launches National Housing Initiative, Prime Ministry, 27.2.2998, at: www.pm.gov.jo/arabic/index.php?page_type=news&part=1&id=4166 in addition to the interview conducted by the research team with the Housing and Urban Development Institution on 11/6/2008.

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housing needs financing program for the most poor as it deals with this group and is capable of coordinating with the local and international economic commission that provide long term loans.

185. The appropriateness of housing for living requires all factors of health and psychological safety, but the large size of families (an average of 6 individuals) led to crowding inside the homes. The Center considers that crowing leads to improper healthy, social and psychological housing conditions. It also refers to the air pollution that negatively effects the appropriateness of housing209. Housing is also considered appropriate if its inhabitants can benefit from work options, health care services, hospitals, and schools, along with other necessary facilities, so that individuals can benefit from them without burdening them physically and financially. The Center points out that the percentage of families living 1 km from the nearest elementary school is 32%, 1 km from the nearest doctor s office 24%, 1 km from the nearest health center 33%, 1 km from the nearest hospital 0.06%, and 1 km from the nearest mother and child center 30%210.

186. To protect the right to food, the Center recommends the need to hold a national dialogue in which the political, economic and social groups contribute to reach a balance national formula in the area of wages and prices in the public and private sectors, to achieve a decent standard of living for the citizens. It also recommends several specific measures, including:

A) Identify salaries and wages based on the cost of living. B) Limit direct and indirect fees and taxes on goods and services. C) Enact the Competitiveness Law that prohibits monopolization, and allows citizens and

CSOs to file cases against monopolized merchants. D) Expedite the approval of the Consumer Protection Law by Parliament, as it will

constitute a quantum leap that will grant citizens much rights and privileges. E) Encourage the civil and military institutions to continue their important role in providing

goods, especially basic goods, of good specifications and at competitive prices. F) Enhance the social security network as an institutional system, so that the poor groups

can address the living burdens by providing health, social and housing care, social welfare services through civil and military pensions and through social security for the private sector workers, and appropriate work at an appropriate age, and insurance against unemployment provided the citizen does not become a burden rather than a producer.

G) Intensify official and non official national efforts to eliminate begging by increasing awareness and education campaigns, and providing health care and psychological consultation services at centers for beggars.

H) Adopt a national strategy to use energy based on the following: energy consumption reduction through educating citizens on the importance of using public transport and the various energy alternatives such as the electrical railway between the cities, and expanding them gradually, gas and rock oil.

(209) Family survey statistics issued by the Department of Statistics. (210) Interview with the Family and Social Surveys Department at the Department of Statistics dated 17/6/2008.

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187. In the area of the right to appropriate housing, the Center recommends the following:

A) Facilitating the ownership of land and housing for citizens based on equality and transparency, including women, youth and the poor, improve the poor neighborhoods and alleviate the severity of poverty.

B) Reconsider the Landlords and Tenants Law on the basis of the right to housing is a social issue primarily, which will lead to drafting a fair law that balances the rights of landlords and tenants, and includes legal controls for cases of evacuation and rent increase.

C) Review and update the national water strategy and propose policies, programs and projects that are priorities according to accurate and studied work plans and clear indications for measuring performance in order to improve the water sector in the Kingdom, develop the water resources in the Kingdom and use them in the best possible manner and adopt modern and advanced technologies to treat sewage water to reuse it in agriculture and industry while seeking continuously to stop the overuse of ground water and protecting it from pollution.

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111

Rights of Vulnerable People

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Women s Rights

188. Article (6) of the Constitution entrenched the principle of equality between men and women alike(211), but Article (23) discriminated positively for women when it stipulated including special terms for the work of women and juveniles(212). Even though Jordan also has ratified CEDAW,(213) the Center notes the government maintains its reservation on Article (9-2) of the Convention on granting women a right equal to men with regard to granting their nationality to their children, as well as paragraphs c, d, and g of Article (16) on marriage and family relations(214). It is worth noting that the Center and the National Committee for Women s Affairs, in cooperation with the CSOs, submitted to Parliament in April 2008 a list including their demands to amend 12 laws on women: Election, Nationality, Residence and Foreigner s Affairs, Passports, Associations and Public Meetings, Labor, Social Security, Penal, Juveniles, Landlords and Tenants and Personal Status), as the legal constitutional provisions and international HR conventions by Jordan and published in the official gazette must be in harmony, to achieve equality among the citizens without discrimination. However, Parliament did not amend most of them, and sufficed with amending the Associations and Public Meetings Law in a manner that does not meet the demands of the women s sector.

189. The Center commends the government s response to one of its recommendations in its annual report of 2007. The Protection from Domestic Violence(215) was published in the official gazette on 16/4/2008. It aimed to preserve family ties and reduce the effects of the penal procedures followed in cases of crimes among family members. It also aimed to replace the freedom restricting penalties with less harmful measures in these punishments. This law allowed the FPD director and the chairpersons of FPD divisions to apply preventive measures, including the defendant s promise to refrain from harming the victim or any of his/her family members. In cases of danger to the victim, or any of his/her family members, a number measures can be taken to guarantee protection from family violence. These measures include denying the defendant entry into the family home for a period not exceeding 48 hours, if there is no other way to provide protection for the victim or one of the family members. They also include keeping the defendant for a period of no more than 24 hours at the FPD or one of its branches until protection has been provided for the victim

(211) Article 6 stipulates: Jordanians shall be equal before the law. There shall be no discrimination between them as regards to their rights and duties on grounds of race, language or religion .

(212) This was translated in the Labor Law No. 8 of 1996 and a tangible reality. (213) This Convention was published in the Official Gazette in issue 4839 dated 1/8/2007. (214) The Council of Ministers withdrew its reservation on article 15/4 on granting women an equal rate to men with

regard to the movement of individuals and the freedom of choise in choosing their residence and housing, pursuant to its decision No. 3951 dated 27/1/2009.

(215) Law No. 6 of 2008 published in the official gazette, issue 4892, dated 16/3/2008.

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or one of the family members, if no pre-emptive measures could be taken. The FPD director and the chairpersons of its divisions may also refer the victim and the defendant to a family reconciliation committee (FRC). The law also grants competent courts of first instance the right to issue a protection order that obligates the defendant to refrain from harming or inciting harm on the victim or any of his/her family members; or from going near the foster place of residence, whether it is a safe house, a shelter or any place stated in the protection order; or refraining from damaging the personal property of the victim or any of the family members, and enabling the victim or his delegate to enter the family home in the presence of the delegate to take personal belongings and hand them over to the relevant individual according to a document of receipt, if the court is convinced of the need to protect the victim or any of the family members. The court may also, in case the parties to the conflict agree, take measures of referring the victim and the defendant to the FRCs, and refer one or both parties to the complaint and the family members to family guidance sessions or psychological and social rehabilitation sessions as alternative measures to protection.

190. Although the law is meant to preserve the family and implement alternative punishments to freedom restricting penalties, a careful study of the law reveals the following: a) The scope of applying the law is limited. Having given an elaborate definition of family member in article (3), it goes back and stipulates that the perpetrator of the crime must be living with the victim in the family home, which means it does not apply to family members if they reside in another home. b) It expounds on the authorities granted to judicial police assistants and gives them the authority to halt prosecution without monitoring by the judiciary. This conflicts with the principle of separation of powers, and the right of the judiciary in the first place to issue decisions of halting the prosecution in criminal cases as the competent authority in dispute settlement. The law grants this right to the FPD director and heads of its divisions and completely overlooks the role of the public prosecutor. Even though the law grants the court the authority to refer the conflict to FRCs, these committees do not have the authority to cease prosecution. They are rather obligated to implement the provisions of the penal code. This use raises many questions on expanding the authorities of the judicial police assistants and the unjustified reduction of the judicial authority authorities represented by the public prosecutor and the court of first instance. C) Although the law grants the court and the FPD the authority to refer the dispute to FRCs and family guidance sessions and issue protection orders to resolve the disputes, and provides for establishment of FRCs by a Minister of Social Development decision, these committees have not been formed yet, and no mechanisms for their work have been created. This is a reason for not implementing the law. D) The law granted FPD employees a host of protective measures, which are very dangerous and are difficult to implement, namely not allowing the defendant to enter the family home for a period not to exceed 48 hours (expulsion from the home). E) The law did not grant the public prosecutor any authority and it was not mentioned at all, while the FPD director, its staff and the court are mentioned only, and the authorities of the public prosecutor were granted to the FPD director and staff.

191. Among the national legislative enactments related to women s right is the Alimony Loan draft law, on which the Center cooperated with the National Committee for Women s

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Affairs and the women s organizations to prepare. The project aims to alleviate the suffering of those deserving of alimony, including wives, divorcees, widows and parents, and implement the alimony ruling which cannot be implemented due to the absence of individual responsible for its payment, ignorance of his place of residence or the lack of money to implement the alimony ruling. Article (11) of the draft law provided for giving the Fund Administration the authority to refer to the convicted individual and collect the alimony and fines the Fund paid for him. Article (9) also stressed that the amount in the court ruling is paid in a period not to exceed 15 days from the completion of the required documents. The Center hopes parliament will pass this draft law as soon as possible.

192. National legislative enactments related to women s rights include the Social Security Law drafted by the Social Security Corporation. This project addressed insuring maternity leaves in Articles (42-A) and (43)(216). However, the Center believes these two articles do not comply with Article (19) of the Jordanian Labor Law and its amendments No. 8 of 1996, which granted working women the right to maternity leave without any deduction from her salary.

193. As for the Family Office draft regulations, provided by the Supreme Jude Department and the National Council for (NCFA). It was submitted to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau on 10/4/2005. As such offices required a legal provision to form a basis for their establishment and referring cases to them before they are referred to Shari ah judges for hearing, it was necessary to pass an amended law for the Shari ah Procedural Law No. 50 of 2007, published in the Official Gazette on 19/11/2007(217). The Center believes these family offices provide many advantages that aim to protect the family, namely: provide an appropriate environment for the family to resolve the conflicts among the family members without causing dysfunction and loss, alleviating the financial, psychological and health suffering of its members, saving time, effort and money when seeking to resolve conflicts among them outside the courts, and protecting the children from entering into long judicial procedures harmful to their psychology. The system provides an opportunity to collect the conflicts of one family before one judicial entity with experience and knowledge in hearing legal affairs, reform and guidance, taking into consideration the social and psychological aspects when resolving problems and reaching satisfactory solutions. They also reduce the

(216) Article 42/A stipulated: The insured is entitled to a maternity leave for four births maximum pursuant to the periods specified in the valid labor law, provided: 1. The birth takes place during the period of her inclusion in the provisions of this law. 2. The period of her subscription in the insurance is not less than nine consecutive susbriptions before she is entitled to the maternity leave. Proof od birth with an official certificate. Article 43 stipulates: a. the insurance is provided with matrnity leave compensation equal to her pay pursuant to the last pay subject to deduction at the time of birth, provided this compensation is no more than her average wages for the last nine months by over 8% maximu m. b. The service of the insurance during the maternity leave shall be considered an actual service period and the subscriptions for old age, handicap and death insurance shall be deducted from the compensation paid to her during this period, and a percentage of 5.5%.

(217) Article 11 of the amending law of the Sharia Procedural Law consititutes the legal basis for their establishment, and its states the following: A pleading is submitted to the judge who refers it to the court clerk for registration. The judge may refer the requests for registering divorce and the cases he finds the family conflict may be resolved by the family reform and reconciliation offices to the offices established at the sharia courts, and all the detailed matters related to them shall be specified pursuant to regulations and instructions issued for this purpose.

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load on the judges as a result of the multiple cases before through the agreement signed between the parties to the conflict, which has the force of an executive order.

194. As for violence against women, the Center contributed to a study on the reality of violence against women and evaluating the Jordanian experience in this area in cooperation with NCFA. It showed that the most prominent challenges facing combating violence against women is the dispersed work of the relevant institutions, in a manner that does not give a clear perception on the volume of the problem at the national level, as there is no agreement among these institutions on a specific concept of violence and the lack of a national detection system for cases of violence.

195. To enhance the protection of women s rights, the Center recommends applying a host of legal and practical procedures, including:

A) Withdrawing the government reservations on Article (9-2) in order to achieve harmony with the principles in the relevant international conventions, the principles of justice and human rights(218).

B) Ratify the optional CEDAW protocol.(219)

C) Expedite the completion of the constitutional procedures to pass the Alimony Loan draft law and the draft Family Office regulations.

D) Harmonize between Articles (42-a) and (43) in the Social Security draft law on providing maternity insurance with Article (19) of the Jordanian Labor Law and its amendments No. 8 of 1996.

E) Support women s participation in public life, assume senior political and administrative positions in state institutions and guarantee their effective participation in parliament as candidates and voters.

(218) The NCHR reports for 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 National call for withdrawal of the reservations on Articles 9/2 and 15/4 of the Convention. For more details, see the discussion on the right to a nationality in this report.

(219) Adopted and submitting for signing and ratificationpursuant to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution dated 9/10/1999. It came into effect on 22/12/2000. The Protocol allows receiving individual complaints from individuals who claim they are victims of a violation before the Committee to Combat Discrimination against Women.

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Child Rights

196. The Constitution addresses child rights as an integral part of HR in general. Article (5) linked the Jordanian nationality with the provisions of the law, and the same is said about all personal status matters, such as the right to visitation, alimony and others, when Article (103-2) of the constitution referred personal status issues for Muslim parties to the Shari ah Courts jurisdiction and Article (108) referred personal status issues for Christian parties to the canonical courts. The constitution also referred in Article (10) to the sanctity of the homes inhabited by adults and minors. As for the right to education, Article (20) stipulated it when it made elementary education mandatory for Jordanians and free in the government schools.

197. The year 2008 saw a host of legislative steps that contributed to providing protection for children in agreement with CRC provisions, namely passing the Protection from Domestic Violence Law No. 6 of 2008(220). This law protects the family members, including the children, within the institution of marriage from domestic violence. The law is also a response to the general comment No. 19 on Article (23) of the ICCPR which reaffirms the adoption of legislative and administrative measures to guarantee equality between men and women and providing the necessary protection for children after the couple breaks up, as they are the weakest link in the family conflict. In addition to paragraph 189 of the violence against women chapter, the most important features of the law with regard to children are:

A) All procedures and information related to domestic violence cases are completely confidential.

B) Children adopted by foster families who did not complete eighteen years of age are included in this scope of this law.

C) Focus on preventive and reform procedures and measures, such as referring the victim(s) to special centers for sheltering women and children until a resolution to the conflict is reached. The court may issue a temporary protection order for the abused party that guarantees the victim is not harmed by the family members, and the ordinary or alternative place of residence will not be approached subject to criminal punishment, and if the protection order is violated the preventive measure is turned into a freedom restrictive freedom not exceeding six months, in addition to a fine of JD 200.

D) Refer the family members to guidance sessions or psychological and social rehabilitation, including abused children. Reference must be made to MoSD draft regulations for licensing and managing shelters for children in order to improve their performance according to the international criteria and achieve the goals of institutional sheltering of children who need this service.

198. In June 2008, the government withdrew the Child Rights draft law from parliament, in order to harmonize it with CRC provisions, which became part of the national legal system after

(220) The law was passed on 16/3/2008. For more details, see item eight of this report on women rights in this regard.

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its publication in the official gazette on 16/10/2006. But, 2008 saw no activity to approve a new child rights law that is in agreement with the international criteria. In this regard the Center lists several comments that should be included in the Child Rights draft law in harmony with the international criteria for child rights, namely:

A) Expand the umbrella of legal protection for children who are abused by any form of abuse, especially economic abuse like begging and child labor.

B) Make the punishments for perpetrators of physical, moral or sexual abuse against children stricter.

C) Grant illegitimate children birth certificates without the approval of one of the parents (usually the mother), which was done in fact in the framework of MoSD efforts when a Shari ah fatwa was issued granting the guardian (the state) the right to issue birth certificates for children who committed no mistake.

D) Reaffirm the care of foster families or institutions pursuant to the national laws, especially with regard to the adoption system.

E) Non-discrimination in the alimony for children between the females who choose to stay with their mothers after puberty and the male who retains this right in the same circumstances.

F) Register and document cases of handicap from birth for purposes of improving care and rehabilitation for the children with disabilities in the present and future.

G) Introduce psychological programs, both prevention and treatment, and stress offering of these services at child care institutions.

199. The most important developments in 2008 in the situation of child protection include the hotline for helping abused children, a joint PSD- Jordan River Foundation endeavor. Approximately 2,387 calls were received since 2007, including about 40% from abused children requesting assistance, support and protection. The Center also received 29 complaints in 2008 related to child rights. The following graph shows the classification of complaints from children or their representatives:

Types of complaints received by the Center in 2008

11

4

55

11

5

4

2

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Right to a limony

Right to travel

R ight to health care

Custody &

visitation

Right to education

R ight to fair trial

Decent family

protection

O bta ining identification documents

Non-exposure to torture & cruel

treatment

Social securities

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The Center also tracked the violations against children as part of the project Building CSO Communities to Draft Parallel Reports and Track Child-Related Violations in cooperation with Save the Children. A network of CSOs was formed to raise awareness of the CRC and enact its provisions. Over 1,221 cases of child right violations were tracked in the Kingdom, and these violations fall into seven groups: the right to education, the right to special protection, the right to healthcare, the right to participation, the right to life, survival and growth, the right to play and entertainment and the right to nationality. The graph highlights the distribution of these violations according to the type of the violation:

Numbers and types of violations tracked by the CSO network

7553

75

150169

319

419

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Right to a name and a nationality

Right to life, survival &

development

Right to participation

Right to play

Right to protection

Right to health

Right to education

200. Through tracking the violation cases classified above, the Center registered several comments on violence against children, as follows:

A) inability to catch sexual abusers of children when they do not leave proof proving their act, as there is physical evidence that fades after 72 hours of the attack, and the child cannot express his problem during this period because he needs a month at least to become familiar with the others.

B) Most child cases are referred by the FPD to protection and care homes as Neglect or Physical Abuse, but it is later ascertained that they are usually with sexual dimensions.

C) Lack of an obligatory mechanism to rehabilitate adult abusers. As for those under 18 years of age, they are referred to protection and care homes or juvenile centers, to receive the appropriate rehabilitation and treatment.

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D) The personal right is dropped by the guardian if the abuser is a family member, and children fear reporting or revealing cases of sexual abuse if the abuser is a family member(221) or someone close to the family.

E) Children with disabilities suffer from physical and moral violence represented by not preparing schools and educational staff to receive and educate them.

201. In light of this reality, the Center recommends continuing the legal and administrative procedures for the Child Rights draft law to submit it to parliament and approve it as soon as possible, especially as it has been submitted for a long time. It also stresses the need to enact the Protection from Domestic Violence Law and issue regulations and instructions necessary for it.

(221) For example the Center tracked the case of a child whose grandmother on his father s side burned and tortured him severely due to urination, which leed to deep burns that caused severe pain and an inability to walk correctly. When the complaint was follow-up by the Protection Home and referred to court, the case was amended as severe harm leading to permanent disfigurement , and after the father dropped his personal right the punishment was a five JD fine.

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Rights of Persons with Disabilities

202. Jordan was on the list of the first twenty countries to ratify the International Convention on the Protection and Enhancement of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 31/3/2008, and on 3/11/2008 Jordan occupied a seat at the International Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the UN, mandated with tracking and following-up the implementation of the international convention for the disabled. To enact Article (33) of the Convention which obligates national HR institutions to continue to track at the national level, the Center is conducting this mission as part of a committee consisting of experts in disabilities established especially for this purpose(222). The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Law No. 31 of 2007, in compliance with the provisions of the international convention of this group, replaced the Persons with Disabilities Care Law No. 12 of 1993 and its amendments.

203. The Center noticed advantages to this law, specifically the establishment of a Higher Council for Persons with Disabilities (HCPD) to draft policies for persons with disabilities, review them and follow up their implementation, as well as grant a legal meaning to the disability as opposed to care . Although the law is important, which carries many rights and principles taken from the International Convention of Persons with Disabilities and the two international covenants, the definition of the person with disabilities contradicted the legal concept.

204. For the purposes of promoting and enhancing the rights of persons with disabilities in society, the Center signed a joint HCPD-British Council memorandum of understanding to enhance the effective participation of persons with disabilities and integrate them into society on the basis of equality and equal opportunities. Pursuant to this memorandum, the network Opportunity for All was established, a voluntary non-official network consisting of representatives of 101 CSOs and government bodies concerned with disabilities. 8 training courses were also held in the various regions of the Kingdom, in which no less than 246 participants of the Network members participated, in addition to representatives if the various media outlets. Moreover, two specialized studies were conducted, the first entitled Disabilities in the Kingdom Pursuant to the National Legislature and the International

Criteria and the second Analyzing the Content of Jordanian Daily Newspapers on Persons with Disabilities .

(222) In the summer of 2006, on the initiative of the ministries of social development and political development, a committee of experts was formed, consisting of representatives of the relevant government bodies, representatives of CSOs and persons with disabilities active in this area, with NCHR participation. Prince Raad Bin Zaid, Lord CHaimberlain, chaired this committee.

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205. It is noteworthy that the Center received 27 complaints on the rights of persons with disabilities during 2008 compared with 3 complaints for 2007. The following graph shows the distribution of complaints according to the type of right:

Distribution of complaints received by the Center, by type of right, 2008

Violated right

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

Right to work

Right to humane

treatment and physical

safety

Right to employment

Right to community

rehabilitation

Right to medical

rehabilitation

Right to social

securities

Right to sport and recreation

Right to freely select

residence

Right to education

Right to naturalization

Child s right to develop

skills and to integration

into

Right to customs

exemptions

Right to health care

N

um

ber

of

com

pla

ints

206. As for the disadvantages facing the full integration of persons with disabilities into society, they lie in the following:

A) lack of logistical facilities that enable persons with disabilities to move and benefit from the services available if they do exist.

B) No fine and/or citation for those who park in spaces allocated for persons with disabilities, as this act is not considered a violation according to the provisions of the Traffic Law No. 49 of 2008.

C) The business owners are afraid to hire persons with disabilities as they feel that they have a low level of production and are not efficient at work.

D) Lack of literary programs for persons with disabilities. E) Lack of medical staff working on diagnosing and treating disabilities. F) High cost of cochlea transplants; which constitutes an obstacle to those who cannot

afford it and who suffer from a hearing disability and need this service. G) Lack of follow-up and care for mentally disabled persons after age 16, as MoSd-

supervised schools for these persons receive children until they are 16 only, which constitutes an obstacle to the process of their integration into society.

207. In reality, 2008 saw positive developments to improve the circumstances of persons with disabilities, namely:

A) A HCPD survey of disability centers in the Kingdom to coordinate work and improve the level of services offered.

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B) Allocated 4% of the jobs listed on the Government Jobs Schedule, a total of 400 jobs, to persons with disabilities.

C) HCPD and MoSD Financial support to charities working in the area of disabilities. D) GAM produced a guide on the requirements of national construction for persons with

disabilities pursuant to the instructions issued for this purpose on 29/5/2008. E) The Higher Education Council issued resolution No. 10/1/2539 to enable persons with

disabilities to access higher education institutions, provide environmental facilities and exempt disabled students whose disability exceeds 40% from the fees of accredited universities by 90%.

F) The MoSD expanded the Jarash Center for the care and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities with an additional capacity of 90 persons, to serve the largest possible number of individuals with multiple and extreme disabilities.

G) The MoSD opened Hittin Early Detection Center in Rusaifah area to offer better care and rehabilitation services to this group in society, and specifically diagnose all cases of disabilities and offer speech therapy, physical therapy and functional therapy services.

208. In light of the earlier points, and to guarantee the rights of persons with disabilities, the Center recommends enacting the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Law No. 31 of 2007 to create systems and instructions to guarantee appropriate and full implementation of the law. It specifically calls for implementing Article (4-c) of the law which obligates public and private sector institutions with over 50 workers to make sure no less than 4% of their staff are persons with disabilities. It stresses the need for expediting the formation of a national tracking committee to follow up the implementation of the provisions and items of the International Convention pursuant to Article (33) thereof.

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Rights of the Elderly

209. The rights of the elderly are based on general principles based on the need to ensure non-discrimination on the basis of age. The Declaration of the Rights of Older Persons of 1993 included five principles: independence, participation, care, self-achievement and dignity. The Center notes that the legislative enactments addressed the issues of the elderly from an age point of view only, and did not address the biological factors and their health situation, sufficing with regulating and licensing senior citizen homes(223). In the period between 14/6 and 9/7/2008, the Center conducted a series of field visits to senior citizen homes in the Kingdom in cooperation with the MoSD, for purposes of studying the services offered to this group in society, evaluate their role, identify their needs and consider the problems facing them.

210. The number of homes for senior citizens of both genders total 10 operating homes, administered by either voluntary associations or the private sector. Table 19 shows the number of homes, beneficiaries and supervising body.

211. The Center noted comments on the work of these homes and their interaction with the elderly, including:

A) Although the Social Affairs and Labor Law No. 14 of 1956 urged the established, financing and administration of any institution that fulfills the goals of the Ministry, such as centers for the elderly, no such institution for this purpose has been established since the

(223) Article 9 of the Constitution stipulates: No Jordanian may be prevented from residing at any place, or be compelled to reside in any specified place, except in the circumstances prescribed by law .

Table 19 Showing the Names of Senior Citizen Homes, Number of Beneficiaries and Supervising Body

Name of Home Year of Est.

Supervising Body

No of Beneficiaries

Male

Female Total Dar Al Diyafah for Senior Citizens

Volunteer

Princes Muna Center for Senior Women

Volunteer

Dar Al Salam Senior Citizens Home

1970 Volunteer

Al Ziyara Center for Senior Women

1992 Volunteer Senior nuns

Humanitarian Care Home for Nuns

Volunteer

Amman Senior Citizens Home

Private

Al Amal Home for Senior Women

Private

Samir Shamma Homes for the Elderly

Volunteer None currently

Modern House for Senior Women

Private

Al Zahra Home for Senior Citizens

Private

Wadi Al Shita Center for Senior Citizens

2007 Private

125

50s, as the Ministry indirectly supervises this role by coordinating and cooperating through covering the expenses of those referred by it.

B) The number of elderly benefitting from the services of the shelter homes in the Kingdom for the volunteer and private sectors was 302 elderly during the period of the Center s visit, and the staff totaled 140, which is a positive indication on the quality of services offered on the basis of proportionality of number of beneficiaries and workers.

C) During a visit to an elderly home it was found that the facility was not complying with the conditions and instructions for elderly homes; MoSD, which was contacted on 26/7/2008, followed the situation up and shut the home in accordance with the law.

D) The shelter and care services to the elderly are characterized by improper geographic distribution, as they are centered in the central region.

E) The cost of residency for the elderly in the private sector is relatively high, ranging between 200 and 1000 JD monthly, while at charity and volunteer associations relatives of the elderly or their providers cover the costs of residency and services with an amount ranging from 120 to 170 JD monthly. They also receive poor elderly after ascertaining their economic situation free of charge.

F) The entertainment services for the elderly are simple and limited, usually represented by watching television in some cases and exchanging conversations in the halls of the homes, if any, or the sitting room.

G) There are no controls for accepting beneficiaries of the services by these homes. Many of them are younger than what is mandated, and they are classified as humanitarian cases like persons with disabilities or poor.

212. The Center also detected various forms of violations against the elderly; some elderly are subjected to moral and psychological violence as a result of shortcomings and neglecting the duty of visits, and some are subjected to economic violence by their families in some cases(224). It was also noted that the elderly are unable to sue those who abuse them, either because of ignorance and lack of knowledge or because of their financial and health inability to follow-up the case.

213. To maintain the rights of senior citizens, the Center reiterates its recommendations in its earlier reports in this regard, and stresses the need for the following:

A) Criminalize or hold accountable those failing in customs and law to care for their parents. Legislative texts do not hold accountable the perpetrators of violence against parents, although there are many countries in the world that condemn those who leave their parents without a medical and acceptable reason.

B) Facilitate and provide free legal assistance to needy elderly and those without providers, and resolve the problem of government hospitals refusing to treat elderly patients referred by senior citizen homes, although senior citizens are included in free health insurance.

(224) A lady waived her right to the house in which she resides as a result of fraud by her cousins, in return for caring for her and serving her as she is not married and does not have a provider, and after registration and transferring ownership of the property, she was sent to a senior citizen home.

126

C) Implement the instructions for Senior Citizen Homes No. 2 of 2001 in terms of decent housing environment, areas of sitting in the sun, and internal halls for leisure, and providing public safety conditions for the elderly.

D) Use the capacities of the elderly in various activities and areas. E) Build bridges of communication between the local community and the elderly

benefitting from the services of these homes to enhance communication at two levels; internal, in light of the interest and well-being of the elderly; and external, in light of complementarity among generations.

F) Implement educational programs on the rights of the elderly and entrench and respect this group in society in participation with the media outlets.

127

Complaints and Requests for Assistance

Received by the Center during 2008

214. The total number of complaints received by the NCHR during 2008 stood at 373, compared with 422 in 2007. Of the total 2008 number, 258 were related to civil and political rights, while 115 were related to economic, social and cultural rights. A total of 111 complaints (29.76%) were closed, while 117 (31.37%) were still under follow-up at year-end. The Center received 86 complaints (23.06% of the total) that were outside NCHR competence. Reasons for closing complaints without satisfactory results are attributable to lack of cooperation on the part of the complainant, the positive response by the party against which the complaint was lodged to NCHR recommendations and requests, lack of explicit legal cover for the situation, elimination of some violations, and the absence of any stipulation in the NCHR Law that obligates parties to reply to NCHR requests within a specific period of time.

Total number of complaints received by NCHR, according to rights claimed to have been violated

Subject of complaint Number of complaints

Closed, satisfactory

result

Closed, no satisfactory

result

Outside NCHR

competence

Under follow-up

Compplaoinant

not cooperative

Right to recognition of a legal personality (Nationality)

7 1

6

Right to physical safety

30 7 4 2 15 2

Right to movement and residence

33 11 1 2 17 2

Right to asylum

3

2 1

Right to vote

1

1

Right to life

7

3 1 3

Right to freedom and personal safety

38 12 5 7 10 4

Right to humane treatment

29 8 6

12 3

Workers rights

31 7 2 7 15

Right to social security

9 4

2 3

Right to assume public office

4

2 1 1

Prisoners rights

4 4

Right to health

7 3 1

2 1

Right to education

11 6 1

3 1

Right to equality and non-discrimination

1 1

Right to fair trial

47 11 1 20 11 4

Right to obtain identification documents

45 19 3 20 2 1

Women s and children s rights

8 2

4 1 1

Rights of the disabled

4 2 1 1

Juvenile s rights

4 1 1 2

Right to proper standard of living

1

1

Right to housing

2

2

Right to freedom of opinion and expression

1

1

Right to property

7

4 3

Right to a healthy environment

1

1

Right to work

37 12 5 6 12 2

Right to join professional associations and labor unions

1

Total 373 111 37 86 117 22

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215. The total number of requests received by the Center during 2008 stood at 244, of which 144 were related to civil and political rights and 100 to economic, social and cultural rights. A total of 71 requests (29.10%) were closed successfully, while 13 requests (5.33%) were closed with no satisfacotry result. Some 125 requests (51.22%) were being followed up at the time of compiling this report. The Center received 18 requests (7.38% of the total) that were outside NCHR competence. Reasons for closing some cases with no satisfactory result are attributable the lack of cooperation by the petitioner or wish to follow up the request, lack of positive response by the concenred party to NCHR recommendations and requests, andlack of explicit legal stipulations obligating concerned parties to reply to NCHR requests within a specific period of time.

216. It is observed that, compared with previous years, both 2007 and 2008 witnessed increases in the numbers of complaints and almost doubled as shown in the following figure. This may be attributed to the following reasons: 1) the citizens

awareness of NCHR services as a result of the Center s advertising campaign; 2) the

Total number of requests for assistance received by NCHR,

according to the rights claimed to have been violated

Subject of complaint Number of

complaints

Closed,

satisfactory

result

Closed, no

satisfactory result

Outside NCHR

competence

Under follow-up

Compplaoinant

not cooperative

Right to recognition of a legal personality (Nationality)

8 3 1 2 2

Right to physical safety

8

2

6

Right to movement and residence

56 25

3 27 1

Right to life

Right to humane treatment

1

1

Right to freedom and personal safety

10 1 1

5 3

Right to health

12

3

1

5

3

Workers rights 13 3

10

Right to work

35

3

3

2

27

Right to social security 8 3 2 1 2

Right to property

Right to housing 2 1

1 Right to proper standard of living

8 1 1 1 5

Right to a healthy environment

1

1

Right to freedom of thought and religion

1

1

Right to justice

11

3

1

3

2

2

Womens and childrens rights

8 2

3 2 1

Juveniles rights 1

1

Rights of the disabled

4

2

2

Right to obtain identification documents

37 6 2 1 25 3

Right to education

8

3

1

2

2

Right to asylum 4 2 1

1

Juveniles rights

2

2

Right to freedom of opinion and expression

1 1

Prisoners rights

5

5

Total 244 71 13 18 125 17

129

seminars and training courses offered by the Center to raise HR awareness and the Center s role in contributing to removal of some violations; 3) the proficient professionalism of NCHR staff members in receiving and dealing with citizens requests; 4) launching the hot-line service, as well as other means, to receive complaints and requests for assistance around the clock, as illustrated in the following figure:

217. Complaints and requests for assistance received verbally and in person accounted for 73.25% of the the total, while 24.52 were received in writing (14.52% submitted by hand and 6.69 by fax). Most of the complainants, who submit written petitions, provide copies of their complaints to other bodies. Complaints and requests for assistance submitted by e-mail come third and account for 3.71% of the total. This humble percentage is attributable to limited proliferationof internet services throughout the Kingdom. Most of those who submit their petitions by e-mail live outside Jordan and cannot come in person to the Center.Finally, 2.3% of the complaints and requests were received through the NCHR hotline. Hoever, the Center has observed a belief on the part of citizens that NCHR receives complaints only during official office hours. Therefore, arrangements were made for an NCHR lawyer to be available to receive petitioners for two hours every day after official office hours and new instructions were adopted for NCHR lawyers to take turn in receiving hotline calls. Furthermore, an extensive campaign was launched to inform citizens of these methods and of the fact that the Center recives complaints 24 hours a day.

218. As far as distributing complaints among the different governorates in the Kingdom, the following figure shows that 69.05% of the petitioners are residents of Amman Governorate. This is attributed to non-existence of NCHR branches in the other governorates, the high concentration of

130

population in the capital, and the proximity of the Center to residents of Amman Governorate. Zarqa Governorate came in second place with 7.92% of the total number of complaints, followed by Balqa Governorate (5.00%) and Irbid Governorate (3.81%). As far as requests for asssitance, Amman Governorate ranked first with 82.13% of the total, followed by Irbid Governorate (2.75%), Zarqa Governorate (2.41%) and Balqa and Jerash (1.37 each). In order to reach citizens throughout the Kingdom, the Center will build a network of voluteering lawyers throughout the country to receive complaints. It will also strengthen the post service to facilitate receiving complaints from the governorates.

Complaints and requests for asssitance submitted to the Center, by Governorate

219. Regarding the parties against which complaints were lodged, the figue above shows that the largest percentage of complaints (54.57%) were against security forces. Some 26.11% of the complaints were against the PSD, followed by the MoI (18.02%), and GID (10.44%). About 25% of the complaints were related to labor and employment offices. Complaints against employers accounted for 8.88% of this percentage, while those against employment offices constituted 9.14%. Around 11.3% of the complaints wee lodged against the country s main ministries, namely, Education, Health, Social Development, and Higher Education. It was also observed that 3.39% of the total number of complaints were lodged against the Judiciary. These percentages highlight priority areas for focusing efforts to reduce the numbers of complaints and enhance human rights in the Kingdom. Regarding the party whose assistance was sought, the figure shows that the largest percentage of petitions (35.29%) were addressed to employment offices, followed by the MoI (13.33%) and employers (11,76%).

131

Annexes

132

133

Annex A: National Legislation the Need

Amendment

Serial Number Legislative enactments

Year

1 Nationality Law No. 6 1954 2 Crime Prevention Law No. 7 1954 3 Law of the State Security Court, No. 17 1959 4 Penal Law and its amendments, No. 16 1960 5 Penal Trial Procedures Law and its amendments, No. 9 1961 7 PSD Law No. 38 1965 8 Juvenile Law and its amendments, No. 24 1968 9 Protection of State Secrets and Documents Law No. 50 1971

10 Residency and Foreigners Affairs Law No. 24 1973 11 Law on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, No. 11 1988 12 Landlords and Tenants Law No. 11 1994 13 Labor Law and its amendments, No. 8 1996 14 Press and Publication Law No. 8 1998 15 Press Association Law No. 15 1998 16 Independence of the Judiciary Law 2001 17 Temporary Election Law No. 32 2001 18 Public Meetings Law No. 7 2004 19 Reform and Rehabilitation Centers Law No. 9 2004 20 Higher Education and Scientific Research Law No.4 2005 21 Freedom of Access to Information Law, No. 47 2007 22 Political Parties Law No. 19 2007 23 Law on Protection Against Domestic Violence, No. 6 2008 24 Ombudsman Bureau Law No. 11 2008 25 Health Law No. 47 2008 26 Traffic Law No. 49 2008 27 Societies Law No. 51 2008 28 Administrative Divisions Regulation No. 42 2001 29 Judicial Inspection Regulation No. 47 2005 30 Ordinance on Contribution to the Funding of Political Parties, No. 89 2008 31 Court Fees Ordinance No. 108 2008

134

Annex B: Jordan s Status on

International Human Rights Instruments

Instrument Jordans status

Date signed

Date of ratification/

accession

Date of publication in Official

Gazette

Reservations

ICCPR Ratified 30/6/1972 28/5/1975 15/6/2006 --

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Ratified 30/6/1972 28/5/1975 15/6/2006

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Acceded -- 30/5/1974 15/6/2006

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Ratified 3/2/1980 1/7/1992 1/8/2007 Article 9-2 Article 16-C1 Article 16, 1 D, G

Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Ratified 13/11/1991 13/12/1991 15/6/2006

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Ratified 29/8/1990

/ /

16/10/2006 Article 14 Article 20 Article 21

The Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child related to sale of children, child Prostitution and the use of children in pornography

Signed 6/9/2000 -- 16/10/2006 --

The Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child related to the participation of children in armed conflicts

Signed 6/9/2000 -- 16/10/2006

Equal Remuneration Convention, concerning equal remuneration for male and female workers

-- 22/9/1966 -- -- --

The International Convention Against Apartheid in Sports Acceded 16/5/1988 / /

Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages

Signed 1/7/1992

135

Convention concerning the Application of the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining

12/12/1968

Convention on Slavery

5/5/1959

Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery

Signed 27/9/1957

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide of Mankind)

Signed 3/4/1950

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (First)

15/3/2007

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick in Shipwrecked Members of the Armed Forces at Sea (Second)

-- --

(15/3/2007) --

Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third)

-- -- 15/3/2007 --

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth)

-- -- -- 15/3/2007 --

Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1977, Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts

-- -- -- 1/4/2006

Protocol (II) Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1977, Protocol (II) Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts

15/3/2007

The Convention of the Rights of Disabled Persons Ratified 30/3/2007 31/3/2008

136

Annex C: Multi-Lateral ILO

Conventions Ratified by Jordan

Convention Year Ratified

Date of publication in the Official Gazette

C-29 Forced Labor Convention, 1930 1964 2/12/1964 C81 Labor Inspection Convention, 1947 1963 2/2/1963 C98 Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 1963 16/6/2003 C100 Equal Remuneration Convention for Male and Female Workers, 1951 1966 10/7/1966 C105 Abolition of Forced Labor Convention, 1957 1958 Not published

C106 Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 1979 Not published

C111, Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 1963 30/5/1963

C116 Final Articles Revision Convention, 1961 1963 1/4/1963

C117 Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 1963 Not published

C118 Equality of Treatment (Social Security) Convention, 1962 1962 1/12/1963

C119 Guarding of Machinery Convention, 1963 1964 14/5/1964

C120 Hygiene (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1964 1965 2/1/1965

C122 Employment Policy Convention, 1964 1965 16/2/1965

C123 Minimum Age (Underground Work) Convention, 1965 1966 10/4/1966

C124 Medical Examination of Young Persons (Underground Work) Convention, 1965

1966 10/4/1966

C135 Workers Representatives Convention, concerning Protection and Facilities to be Afforded to Workers' Representatives in the Undertaking, 1971

1979 Not published

C138 Minimum Age Convention, 1973, concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment

1997 16/7/1997

C142 Human Resources Development Convention, concerning Vocational Guidance and Vocational Training in the Development of Human Resources, 1975

1979 Not published

C182 Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, 1999 2000 Not published C159 Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons), 1983 2003 --

C144 Tripartite Consultation (International Labor Standards) Convention, 1976,

2003 16/7/2003

C150 Labor Administration Convention, 1978 2003 16/7/2003

C147 Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 2004 16/2/2004

C185 Seafarers Identity Documents Convention , 2003 2004 15/7/2004

137

Index of Topics (Paragraph Numbers)

Topic Paragraph Page Capital punishment 1-2

Torture, cruel and inhuman treatment 3-5 12-13 Narcotics 6 13 Traffic accidents 7 13-14 Suicide

Crimes and other accidents 9 15 NCHR recommendations on the right to life and personal safety

15-17 Right to freedom and personal safety in the Constitution and other national legislative enactments

18

Suppression of freedom 12 18 Temporary PSD detention centers 13 19 Temporary GID detention centers 14 20 Reform and rehabilitation centers 15-16 20-2

Excessive use of force in police raids, house searches and arrests 17 23 NCHR recommendations on the right to freedom and personal safety 18 23 Right to establish justice 19

General impediments to some legislative enactments / Right to establish justice

20-24 24-26

Problems impeding litigation before Shari ah courts

Problems impeding litigation before ecclesiastical courts

NCHR recommendations / right to establish justice

27-27 Juvenile Law No. 24 (1968)

Guarantees for fair trials of juveniles

NCHR monitoring of child-related complaints

Crimes perpetrated by children

Juvenile homes problems

Positive developments in juvenile justice 33-35 29-30 NCHR recommendations / juvenile justice

30 Right to assume public office in the Constitution and other national legislative enactments

37 31

Human resources and administrative organization in the civil service 3

32 Appeals and complaints received by the Civil Service Bureau 3

Violations of the principle of equal opportunities in implementing the right to appointment in pubic jobs

40-42 32-33

138

NCHR recommendations / the right to assume public office 43-44

Right to a nationality, residence and asylum, as stipulated in the Jordanian Constitution and international human rights instruments

Status quo of the right to a nationality

35 Impediments to the right to a nationality, discrimination against women and withholding nationality and identification documents

35

The right to residence and movement

36 Residence and Foreigners Affairs Law and its amendments

36 Asylum

NCHR recommendations / the right to a nationality, residence and asylum

52

The right to election and candidature in national Jordanian legislative enactments

53

Negative aspects in the Provisional HoD Law 54

Legislative performance of the Parliament 55

Aspects of weakness in the legislative performance of the Parliament 56

Laws passed by the Parliament with direct relevance to human rights 57-58 41-42 NCHR recommendations / right to elect and candidature 59

Right to freedom of opinion, expression and the press 60

Violations of the freedom of opinion, expression and the press 61-71 43-47 Legislative enactments governing freedom of the media 72-78 48-50 NCHR recommendations / right to freedom of opinion, expression and the media

79-80 50

Right to establish and join associations and labor unions in the Constitution and national and international legislative enactments

81

Labor unions 81-82

Professional associations 83

Positive developments / right to establish and join professional associations and labor unions

84 53

Demands by professional associations and labor unions 85 53 Labor unions and the Labor Law 86-88 54 NCHR recommendations / right to establish and join professional associations and labor unions

89 55

Right to establish political parties in the Jordanian Constitution and international conventions

90 56

Effects of restrictions imposed by the Political Parties Law 91-92 56 Ordinance governing contributions to finance political parties 93 58 NCHR recommendations / right to establish political parties 94 58 Right to establish associations in the Constitution and in international conventions

95 59

139

NCHR remarks on Associations Law 96 59 Dissolution of associations 97 61 NCHR recommendations / right to establish associations 98 61 Right to work in the Constitution and national legislative enactments 99 65 Situation of the labor force 100 65 Situation of workers health and professional safety 101 66 Agricultural sector / NCHR

appreciates government s response to its recommendation

102 66

Workers in health services companies 103 66 Domestic workers 104-105 67 Apparel and textiles sector 106 68 Child labor 107-108 69 Trafficking in humans 109 70 NCHR recommendations / right of Jordanians and residents in the Kingdom to work

110 70

NCHR recommendations / workers in the agricultural sector 111 70 NCHR recommendations / workers in service companies and domestic female workers

112 70

NCHR recommendations / Workers in the apparel and textiles sector 113 71 NCHR recommendations / child labor 114 71 NCHR recommendations / trafficking in human beings 115 72 General NCHR recommendations/ right to work 116 72 Right to education in the Constitution and international instruments 117 73 School education 118 74 Disabled students and school education 119 75 Exceptional students 120 75 Private schools 121 75 Illiteracy (informal education) 122 76 Education and inmates of reform and detention centers 123 76 Health care and school nutrition 124 76 Vocational education 125 77 Human rights concepts and school curricula 126 77 Negative aspects face by the school education system 127 77 Complaints received by the Center concerning the right to education 128 78 NCHR remarks on the right to higher education 129 78 University fees 130 80 The phenomenon of violence in Jordanian universities 131 81 Positive developments in higher education and scientific research 132 81 NCHR recommendations / right to education 133-134 82 Cultural

rights in the constitution, national legislative enactments, and international instruments

135 84

140

Practices preventing enjoyment of the individuals cultural rights 136

Positive developments / cultural rights 137 86 Books deposited at the Department of Press and Publications 138 86 NCHR recommendations / cultural rights 139 86 Right to health in national legislative enactments 140 87 Health care 141 87 Psychological care 142 87 Non-infectious diseases 143 88 Thalassemia patients 144 88 Problems related to treatment of cancer patients 145 88 Venereal diseases 146 89 Ministry of Health efforts to reduce disease prevalence 147 89 Health insurance 148 90 Sale and trafficking of human organs 149 90 Food and food security 150 90 Medications 151 91 NCHR recommendations / right to health 152 91 Right to a safe environment in national legislative enactments 153 92 Developments in the area of institutional and legislative organization 154 92 Enhancing monitoring and inspection / right to a safe environment 155 93 Air pollution 156 93 Water and sanitation 157 93 Management of solid, dangerous waste 158 94 Forest wealth and biological diversification 159 94 Pesticides 160 94 Chemical fertilizers 161 94 Natural fertilizers 162 95 Plastic house agriculture 163 95 Olive oil presses 164 95 Animal wealth farms 165 95 Handicrafts sector and industrial cities 166 96 Stone and sand crushers and quarries 167 96 NCHR recommendations . right to a safe environment 168 96 Right to a decent standard of living and international instruments 169 98 Poverty phenomenon 170-171 98-99 Tax burden 172 100 Begging 173 100 Unemployment 174 101 Rising costs of living 175-176 102

141

Governmental measures to combat rising costs of living 177 103 Right to decent housing 178-179 104 Landlords and Tenants Law 180 105 Services and basic structural facilities available to residents 181 105 Complaints received by the Center 182 106 Collection of solid waste 183 106 Decent Housing for Decent Living initiative 184 107

Phenomenon of population crowdedness 185 108 NCHR recommendation / right to food 186 108 NCHR recommendations / right to suitable housing 187 109 Women s rights in the Jordanian Constitution and national legislative enactments

113

Protection against Family Violence Law 189-190 113-114 Draft Law on Advancing Maintenance 191 114 Draft Social Security Law 192 115 Ordinance regulating family bureaus and women-related laws which need to be amended

193 115

Analysis of the situation of violence against women and evaluating the Jordanian experience in this area

194 116

NCHR recommendations / women s rights 195 116 Child rights in the constitution and national legislative enactments 196 117 Positive legislative steps taken to provide special protection to children 197-198 117 Developments in the actual situation of child protection 199 118 NCHR monitoring of child rights violations 200 119 NCHR recommendations / child rights 201 120 Rights of disabled children in the Constitution and national legislative enactments

202 121

Law on the Rights of Disabled Windows No. 31 (2007) 203 121 Memorandum of Understanding on Disseminating and Enhancing Rights of Disabled Persons in the Society

204 121

NCHR monitoring / violations of the rights of persons with disability 205 122 Negatives aspects impeding full integration of persons with disabilities 206 122 Positive developments in the rights of persons with disability 207 122 NCHR recommendations / rights of persons with disability 208 123 Principles of the rights of the elderly 209 124 Lodging homes for the elderly 210 124 NCHR monitoring / violations of the rights of the elderly 211-212 124-125 NCHR recommendations / rights of the elderly 213 125

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