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* Source: NCHR, based on Press and Publications Department data.
• The Press and Publications Department turned seven publishing houses to court during 2006 on charges of circulating books prohibited in Jordan . These cases are still under hearing in the Courts concerned.
• It has been noticed that legislations related to publications and publishing do not take into consideration the principle of “ personality of penalty ” as regards to crimes committed through newspapers and other media. There is the assumed responsibility of the chief editor even if he was not the perpetrator, participant or intervener as Article 23/2 of the Press and Publications Law No. 8 for the year 1998 holds the chief editor responsible for whatever published in the publication headed by him and is also responsible jointly with the writer of the essay.
• The NCHR has noticed that the Press and Publications Department, considered as the oldest censorship apparatus in Jordan , has functions which did not change much since the issuance of the Press and Publications Regulations in 1939.
• The Press and Publications Law currently under perusal before the House of Representatives still include provisions allowing the detention and imprisonment of journalists.
The state security law:
Despite the fact that the State Security Court is a special tribunal, its legal jurisdiction has been vastly expanded to become the biggest, compared to other courts in the Kingdom. This court has won significant effect as regards self-censorship by journalists thus deterring them from practicing their right of expression.
The Court is entrusted with considering crimes committed in violation of the provisions of Chapter Two of the Penal Code (internal and external state security crimes) and the crimes against public security prescribed in Articles 157 and 168 of the Penal Code as well as the violation of the provisions of Article 195 related to what is called “ speaking pertly against His Majesty the King “ as well as crimes committed in violation of the State Secrets and Documents Protection Law No. 50 for the year 1961.
The penal code:
Article 150 of the Penal Code is considered as the most critical article affecting freedoms in the Kingdom. Under this article, two members of the House of Representatives were tried before the State Security Law after they extended condolences on the death of “Abu Musa'ab Al-Zarqawi”. One of them was sentenced to two years imprisonment while the other was sentenced to one and a half years imprisonment. The sentences were remitted by the Court of Appeal to one year and one month imprisonment for each. Later, the two deputies were pardoned and the High Board for Interpretation of the Constitution issued a decision dropping their membership in House.
It is recalled that four members of the House of Representatives had been detained in June 2006 in relation to this case, but one of them was released and exonerated while the other was acquitted.
The National Center for Human Right registers that this was the second instance in which Article 150 of the Penal Code was used to bring a deputy before court. In the first instance, Deputy Tujan Faisal was brought to trial before the State Security Court on charges of violating this article. The Court decision in this case was at that time final with regard to misdemeanors (which was later amended), and she was accordingly prevented from exercising her right of nominating herself at parliamentary elections.
Article 118 of the Penal Code was also used more than once to bring journalists to trial on charges of writing essays that could undermine the Kingdom's relations with a foreign country. It has been noticed that this article has been frequently used since the U.S occupations of Iraq in 2003, where individuals are brought to trial on charges of collecting funds or trying to recruiting elements for the support of resistance in Iraq .
The protection of the state secrets and documents law:
This Law was promulgated in 1971 as a provisional law, but is still provisional despite the elapse of 36 years after its promulgation. A study carried out by the “Article 19 Organization” which is a London-based organization concerned with the freedom of expression stipulated in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, described the Protection of the State Secrets and Documents Law as “octopus” as it actually turns all information in the possession of the State into “confidential” information unless allowed to be published.
During the session held by the House of Representatives on 25 th July 2006, the Government replied to an interpellation concerning a report by the Audit Bureau on contraventions at the Vocational Training Institution. The reply was tagged (confidential and limited) with this phrase printed on all pages of the reply together with a warning to the press to abstain from publishing the reply. The warning read as follows: “This document and its attachments are classified at a limited level. It is subject to the Protection of the State Secrets and Documents Law No. 50 for the year 1971. Its disclosure to persons other that those authorized to view, print or Photostat it as well as its publication by any person will make the person concerned subject to legal and penal responsibility as prescribed by the said law namely imprisonment with temporary hard labor for a period not less that ten years.????? The journalists association law and the trespasses against them:
• Compulsory membership in the Journalists Association constitutes a violation of international conventions of human rights as Article 20/2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that “No one may be compelled to belong to an association.”
• The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights have issued several decisions on the illegality of compulsory membership in journalists' associations and trade unions.
• Official statistics in the following table indicate that the number of physical assaults committed in the year 2006 reached 11. The assault on three press photographers under the dome of the House of Representatives during a House session on 11 th December 2006 as they photographed a quarrel between two deputies, constituted a flagrant violation of the freedom of the press.
• Policemen also beat a journalist of Al-Sabeel newspaper as he was covering a celebration held by Moslem Brethren on 14 th April 2006 on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed's birthday under the pretext that the celebration was not licensed and “Must not therefore be covered or photographed” as the journalist was informed.
• The following table shows an excerpt of the assaults, arrests, detentions and harassments reported by a number of journalists during the year 2006: Table No. 7: Number of cases of assaults, arrests, detentions and harassments on journalists during 2006
* Source: NCHR, based on NCHR data. • On 30 th May 2006, Amman Conciliation Court sentenced the Chief Editor of Al-Hiwar weekly magazine, Hashem Al-Khalidi and the former Chief Editor of Sheehan weekly, Jihad Al-Moumani to two months imprisonment on charges of insulting the religious feelings of citizens after re-publishing caricatures considered as offending the Great Prophet Mohammed, which were first published by a Danish newspaper in September 2005. The Defense Attorney appealed the sentence to the Court of Appeal, but no ruling has so far been issued despite the fact that both journalists were remanded in custody at the outset of February 2006. The NCHR registers that the publishers of Sheehan weekly, i.e. Al-Tabba'oun Al-Arab Company” terminated the services of the Chief Editor, Jihad Al-Moumani immediately after the distribution of the issue which contained the offending caricatures. The issue was also withdrawn from circulation and a substitute issue was printed carrying an apology to the readers.
The Association of Journalists also brought Moumani and Khalidi before the Disciplinary Board on charges of violating the Journalists Honor Charter. The Board issued a resolution banning Al-Khalidi from practicing journalism for a period of one year while Moumani was prevented from practicing journalism conclusively. The resolutions are subject to ratification by the Association's board which has not issued any decision to this effect so far.
Among other attempts made by the Higher Board of Information to elevate the upper ceiling of journalists freedom, the Board drafted a draft law amending the Press and Publications Law and a draft law on guaranteeing the right to obtain information. Both draft laws are still in the possession of the House of Representatives. The Publications draft law included an amendment prohibiting prior censorship on books and giving the author the right to print his book without prior censorship. After publication, if the book was found to have contained anything violating law the Government may confiscate the book or prohibit its circulation.
The NCHR, while stressing the importance of bringing about a qualitative change in legislations related to the freedom of opinion, expression, press and information recommends the following: • Ratification of the Optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. • Amendment of current legislations to cope with international criteria and to work on publishing international and regional human rights conventions including the “ Arab Covenant of Human Rights.” Jordan was the first Arab Country to ratify this Covenant which was published in the Official Gazette on 16 th May 2004. • Annulment of freedom depriving penalties in crimes committed in the press and crimes of opinion and to issue an explicit and conspicuous legislation prohibiting detention or imprisonment in cases related to publishing and publications. • Activation of the “ penalty personality” principle and the annulment of the penal responsibility of the chief editor unless it is proved that he had participated in the crime. • Annulment of all forms of prior censorship on the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press and information. • Approval of the draft law on guaranteeing the right to obtain information. • Amendment of the Protection of the State's Secrets and Documents Law No. 50 for the year 1971, to cope with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. • To bring in a text specifying that Journalists should be tried before civil courts and to deprive state security tribunals from this jurisdiction. • Amendment of the Journalists Association Law, facilitation of entry for those wishing to join the Association and granting journalists working in party newspapers and the electronic press the opportunity to join the Association. • Annulment of Government and public sector ownership in newspaper stocks.
Seventh: the right to establish and join trade unions:
By the end of the year 2006, the number of trade unions reached 17, all of which are operating under the umbrella of the Public Federation of Trade Unions. The labor force in Jordan reached about one-million and 200-thousand as estimated by the Federation, while the total number of Jordanian workers joining these unions does not exceed 9 per cent, i.e. around one-hundred thousand workers only. The number of vocational unions reached 13, embracing around 143000 members by the end of 2006. It is noteworthy that membership in vocational unions is compulsory for practicing the vocation. The NCHR has noticed that no new trade or vocational union had been established during the year 2006.
Union elections:
The year 2006 witnessed the holding of trade union elections for the current union session 2006-2011. What calls attention in these elections is the repetition of electing nominees unopposed in eleven out of seventeen unions. This was imputed to the non-existence of competitors in some trade union boards, or to the scarcity in the number of general assemblies therein. It was clear during the elections of the current session that two trade unions which previously witnessed open and strong competition among nominees this year witnessed unopposed elections. These are the Bank Owners Union and the Air Transport and Tourism Union.
It may be mentioned that the reason behind reluctance in nominations is imputed to the lack of desire to fill leading positions in the union, evasion from responsibility, fear of being fired from work in some cases and the domination of some administrative bodies which resort sometimes to the manipulation of all means and methods to discourage nominees from nominating themselves to the elections. This could also be imputed to the desire of the Union's board to continue in view of the success achieved during the former session—at least from their point of view—or due to the scarcity of the number of General Assembly members as mentioned before, or because of the non-existence of a text in the Labor Law allowing devotion to union duties. Moreover, the Labor Law prohibits union activities within institutions. This made many unionists call for providing them with some sort of immunity through introducing a text to the Labor Law protecting the union worker against termination of services as result of union activities or through an agreement concluded among parties of the production process to achieve this target.
* Among leading and most important targets currently sought by trade unions is to increase the number of their members to 30 per cent instead of the current 10 per cent of the total number of workers through reconstruction of the federation and the unions, creating a union committee at every working location regardless of the number of workers at that location, the demand to firmly establish the doctrine of social dialogue among social partners and providing workers with security and working stability.
Union issues:
The most significant issue which pre-occupied the labor movement during 2006 and was a surprise to the government and parties to the production process was the resurrection of the labor movement and its adoption of escalatory steps and programs aimed at improving the standards of living of workers, which included strikes and sit-ins in many public and private sector institutions. The number of strikes reached ten most prominent of which was the strike and sit-in carried out by workers of the phosphate, cement, potash, magnesia and oil refinery companies.
Distinctive demands by strikers included the amendment of basis wages, bringing them under the health and social security umbrella, increasing their location allowance and granting them a high cost of living allowance as result of the Government's decision to increase the prices of fuel. The role of the trade unions concerned was represented in leading strikes and sit-ins and to negotiate on behalf of the workers in order to reach a solution acceptable to all parties of the production process.
Participation of women in union activities:
The average of the Jordanian woman's participation in the volume of the labor force is estimated at 15.2 per cent while this average reaches in developing countries 40.2 per cent. Average of women's membership in trade unions reached 15 per cent. Among every 250 members of administrative bodies in trade unions, there are only 20 women. This is imputed to culture prevailing among workers who believe that there are not enough women who are qualified and able to carry out union activities, or due to gender discrimination, lack of role participation, passive social view of women's' work, the retreat of the role of trade unions, shortage in the number of women unionists, ignorance of laws and the failure of women to understand their role as unionists and the role of the union itself in addition to the prevalent public opinion that unions oppose government policies related to workers and the feeling by women that their unions would not grant them their rights and gains as an active unionist all of which make women refrain from joining unions.
To activate the role of women in union activities, the Federation of Trade Unions calls on unions to appoint a woman as member in every administrative and executive body which does not include an elected woman, to appoint a woman to fill the post of a controller, approve a women's quota in elections which was not accepted by union, laying down an article calling for the formation of a women's committee which would enjoy the status of an independent judicial person to enable women to undertake their role alongside men unionists towards serving the labor movement in general and the union in particular.
Labor unions and the labor law:
Article 13/b of the Labor Law dives labor inspectors the right to inspect registers of the labor unions, which is considered as an intervention in the internal affairs of the unions and a disparage of their independence to administer the affairs of their members. The Labor Unions Federation also receives subsidies from the state general budget and from the Social Security Corporation, but these subsidies do not suffice their target from the Federation's point of view. This urged the Federation to ask once and again during 2006 to elevate the ceiling of these subsidies to enable it shoulder its responsibilities towards workers through convening orientation sessions, issuing pamphlets and magazines, activating the workers Studies and Research Center and paying off the Federation's membership fees to international organizations.
* The NCHR wishes to refer particularly to the case of workers of the Jordanian Drug Factory, whose number exceeds five thousand working in 25 factories. Those workers have been trying for long years to set up a special branch within the framework of the General Trade Union of Workers of Chemical Industries in view of the private character of the problems of this category and their variation to a considerable extent from those existing in chemical detergents factories. The National Center hereby recommends that their demand to establish a special branch for them within the framework of the General Trade Union of Workers of Chemical Industries, be met in accordance with the Union 's by-laws. Freedom of union membership:
The right of union membership is still prohibited for a group of citizens, specifically government officials. Teachers are still included in this prohibition based on a decision taken by The High Board for Construing the Constitution No. 1 for the year 1994, which includes that constitutional provisions do not permit the promulgation of a law for a union embracing government teachers. This urged teachers to demand the creation of a special federation instead of the trade union.
Vocational unions:
The executive branch in general and all security departments in particular still view union activities with some sort of suspicion. Vocational unions are often accused of violating their own laws or of going beyond the requirements of professionalism and the involvement of those leading them with political activities at the expense of professional interests and the interests of members. This year, measures restricting union activities were adopted successively by security apparatuses and the Ministry of the Interior, most important of which was the prohibition of holding the Friday Prayer at the Unions premises in accordance with the Law of Public Gatherings during activities of the Jordanian Wrath Day proclaimed by trade unions following the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, called for by Unionists and citizens as means for expressing their thoughts. Security apparatuses also prevented the holding of Eid El-Fitr prayer through condensed police presence in front of the Unions premises and on the roads leading to the premises thus preventing citizens and union members from performing the Friday and Eid El Fitr prayers.
* During 2006, acts of arresting and detaining a number of unionists by the security authorities were repeated. Among those arrested were Deputy and unionist Ali Abu Al-Sukkar, Engineer Turki Al-Jawarneh and Engineer Tareq Abu Khalaf, as result of expressing their political stand towards events witnessed by the Arab region.
During the year 2006, the Lawyers Union struck out the names of more than 100 lawyers of its members who are not practicing the profession in accordance with a decision adopted by the Disciplinary Board of the Union which looks into 60 to 70 conduct complaints weekly against practicing lawyers. The Jordanian Physicians Union struck out the names of 3235 physicians who failed to remit their financial commitments after sending them warnings. According to Article 15/c of the Jordanian Physicians Union Law of the year 1972, practicing medicine by any physician whose name had been struck out of the Register of Practitioners shall be considered illegal and that the Union's Board is committed according to law to strike out the membership of any physician if he fails to remit his commitments for a period of six months.
On the other hand, the trade union's draft law presented by the Government on 6 th March 2005 is still pending and has not achieved any progress at the Legal Commission of the House of Representatives after depriving it from urgency. Eighth: The right to form political parties:
International criteria of human rights have guaranteed the right to the formation of political parties and the right to join them, as Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 16/1 of the Jordanian Constitution for the year 1952 also guaranteed the right to form political parties and the right to join them.
The year 2006 witnessed the formation of a joint commission from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Political Development and five members representing Jordanian Political parties. The commission was entrusted with laying down a preliminary draft of an amended draft law for the Law of political parties promulgated in 1992.
An atmosphere of positive consent prevailed within the commission where several articles were approved, including the formation of a commission for political parties to act as an official reference for dealing with political parties. This commission comprises judges, lawyers and in addition to the Ministers of the Interior and Political Development. Another article approved raised the number of the party's constituent body from 50 to 100 founding members. The amended draft of the Law of Political Parties also gave prominence to the role of Jordanian political parties in their capacity as Jordanian national institutions through enabling them practice political activities and supporting them towards the realization of their goals. This appeared conspicuously in raising the ceiling of financial support extended by Jordanian donors from 5-thousand to 10-thousand dinars and the exemption of the party's movable and immovable funds from taxes.
The joint government-political parties commission also approved that the Law of Political Parties should include an article imposing the support of political parties from treasury funds in accordance with certain criteria which include the participation of women in the ranks and leadership of the party and the enhancement of the role of youths in party life .
The Commission agreed on two types of financing offered to political parties from the state treasury. The first is temporary financing that would continue for a period of four to six years where political parties receive equal funding covering the costs of the party's headquarters and part of its overheads. The second type of financing is one defined on the basis of availability and dissemination factors of the party, the number of deputies carried by the party to Parliament and the number of their votes in addition to extending subsidies only for once to the political parties which proclaim merger within one party. Despite the many points approved, a dispute appeared on adding an article to the draft law of the new Law of Political Parties stipulating the prohibition of forming political parties on sectarian, racial, or geographical bases or maintaining discrimination based on race, origin, religion or creed, as defenders of this trend believe that this would be beneficial in restricting extremity, while other parties believe that the addition of this article would be an attempt to empty the political parties' programs from their ideological dimensions and political doctrines. They also maintain that this article from their point of view contradicts with the Jordanian Constitution which stipulated that the State's official religion is Islam that the majority of the Jordanian people are Moslems by faith and religion and that the Jordanian people at large are Moslems in terms of culture and civilization.
* The NCHR, while supporting the promulgation of as new law for political parties strongly stands against the formation of political parties on religious, sectarian, religious or geographical bases.
Despite the positive inclinations of the government exhibited by the formation of the Joint Commission which undertook the responsibility of amending the Law of Political Parties, and despite the existence of objective circumstances related to the political parties themselves which in turn led to weak interest in political parties and their weak participation in reading the Jordanian economic, social and political realities as well as their inability to construe its programs into a tangible practical reality. The continued accusations of being loyal to external forces and the measures taken to isolate and suppress them had passive effect of the performance of partiers and their role, prestige and popular influence.
The draft law had been vitiated for its failure to obligate the party to hold its general assembly at least one every two years, thus violating the established by-laws of some political parties which extend the period between one general assembly and another for more than two years in order to grant the party leadership enough time to implement its program. Therefore, we believe that it would be better to leave the decision on fixing the period between one general assembly and another to the political parties themselves.
* Despite NCHR welcome of the incorporation into the Political Parties draft law, presented to the House of Representatives at its extraordinary session, of a text stipulating that the government should finance political parties from the State treasury, we, however, believe that the mechanism of distributing such financing among parties should be stated in the law instead of leaving it to a system laid down by the government.
It must be noted that the law of political parties includes other positive aspects most important of which is the non-admissibility of questioning a citizen, making him accountable or undermining his constitutional rights because of his partisanship. Another positive aspect is allowing the use of official information media and opening public utilities for Party activities.
* On the other hand, the year 2006 witnessed several security harassments and pursuits against many party members. Security apparatuses arrested several members of the Islamic Amal Front Party on the background of the so-called case of (smuggling arms to the Palestinian Hamas Movement). Despite the release of the persons detained, it must be noted that the detention of some of them continued unrightfully for more than five months without accusations and were held under inhumane conditions in solitary confinement cells.
The arrests which included elements of the Islamic Amal Front Party on the background of the Hamas case, were not the only arrests in 2006, but were preceded by the arrest of some party elements by police for short periods on charges of calls made by the party urging citizens to strike for a period of two hours in protest against increasing the prices of fuel and charges of distributing pamphlets to this effect.
* The year 2006 also witnessed the detention and arrest of a number of members of some leftist parties on charges of participating and calling for organizing sit-ins and popular activities in support of resistance in Palestine , Lebanon and Iraq . The NCHR also registered that security apparatuses besieged and watched the home and clinic of the secretary-general of a leftist party, namely the Communist Workers Party. They also searched clients and prevented them from entering his clinic.
* During the year 2006, the Minister of the Interior and the Governor of the Capital refused to license many activities and rallies on the occasion of Earth Day and in support of resistance in Palestine , Lebanon and Iraq . Security forces also prevented holding some rallies and sit-ins by force (The rally summoned by opposition parties and trade unions at the Trade Unions' premises in support of Lebanese resistance in the face of Israeli aggression).
The NCHR also received complaints on the prevention of some members of the Islamic Anal Front Party from working and non-approval of their appointment in view of their party membership in accordance with the General Intelligence Department directives. Many of the complaints received by the Center indicated that among those whose appointment was not approved because of their membership in the Islamic Amal Front Party, were many holders of doctorate degrees who had applied to Jordanian universities. Non-appointment included the son of a member of the Executive Bureau of the Islamic Amal Front Party despite the fact that he ranked first among those who sat for the aptitude test organized by the Petroleum Company in Aqaba, as his appointment was annulled by a letter issued by the General Intelligence Department No. 4/4/5790 dated 8 th December 2006 as mentioned in the complaint.
* Suppression in 2006 was not only confined to members of the Islamic Amal Front Party but was extended to include members of other parties. The Center received complaints from the Peoples Wahda Party indicating that some party members had been sacked from their jobs due to their party membership and in accordance with directives issued by the General Intelligence Department. The licenses of five tourism guides were not renewed by the Minister of Tourism according to a letter sent by the Minister of the Interior and after seeking the opinion of the General Intelligence Department because of their membership in the Peoples Wahda Party. (Note: Following NCHR intervention, the General Intelligence Department lifted its reservation concerning four of the five guides at the first stage, and later lifted the ban on the fifth after a second intervention by the Center). The Center also received complaints that some members of the Peoples Wahda Party were delayed at border checkpoints while other members of the party were detained for several hours at Al-Ghuwairiyyah Security Station in Zarqa after distributing party pamphlets on the increase of the prices of fuel. One party member was summoned by Zarqa Intelligence where he was interrogated on his activities at the party's Youth Bureau. He was asked to collaborate with them and was offered specific questions on the party and its activities.
Ninth: Right to associate and join associations
The UDHR stated in Article 20/1 that " Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.”
Article 22/1 of the ICCPR provided for the right of each individual to " freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his inter ests.”
The Jordanian Constitution of 1952 also stressed in Article 16/2, 3 the right of Jordanians 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, and the control of their resources shall be regulated by law .”
• In 2006, 5 associations were disbanded for violating the main regulations of the Associations and Social Societies Law No. 33 of 1966, because their general goals were not achieved, for not rectifying their status or for not implementing the purposes provided in their by-laws, suspension of work for six months or failing to do their work.
* The NCHR registers in this regard a vast discrepancy between the Association Establishment Law on one hand and the provisions of the relevant international conventions on the other. The Association Law in its structure and mechanisms still falls short of the international criteria in those conventions. From a practical point of view, the NCHR notes heavy restrictions and security interference practiced on a wide scale on the activity of associations. It recommends fundamentally reconsidering the Associations Law in accordance with international criteria and in a manner that enhances the role and participation of civil society institutions in political, economic, social and cultural development freely.
Economic, social and cultural rights
First: Right to work
The right to work is closely linked with human dignity, and influences the enjoyment and practice of other rights. Additionally, the wages received in exchange for the work have an important role in guaranteeing a suitable standard of living.
The provisions of Article 23 of the Jordanian Constitution on the right to work are in harmony with the principles included in the ICESCR , specifically Article 7.
In spite of the fact that the Jordanian Constitution explicitly stated that 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 standards, there are still many reasons and factors negatively influencing the enjoyment of this right, namely:
A. Exercising the right to strike:
The NCHR considers articles 134 and 135 of the Labor Code restrict the rights of workers to practice the right to strike in various forms, and grant the Minister of Labor great authority with regard to any conflict among workers and employers, which does not agree with the rules and principles of international conventions, specifically the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention of 1948, and the Convention concerning the Promotion of Collective Bargaining no. 154 of 1981.
As the Jordanian government has not ratified either of these agreements yet, the NCHR recommends the Jordanian government ratifies them and amends the Labor Law appropriately.
* The year 2006 saw a number of strikes in a number of major companies in the Kingdom, following a failure in the communications between the employers and professional union representatives. The strikes took place after increasing energy prices and the subsequence severe increase in transport rates and some basic goods. The strikes demanded increasing wages and improving working conditions.
B. The slow pace of the Wage Authority and the Judiciary in settling labor disputes:
Practice indicates a length of litigation procedures in spite of the explicit provision in the Labor Law that labor cases are urgent.
C. Child labor:
The NCHR would like to express the following comments: • In spite of the publication of the International Convention of Child Rights in the official gazette on 16/10/2006, the Draft Child Law has been under study by Parliament for the last three years. • In spite of Jordan 's ratification of international conventions regulating the provisions of child labor and setting the minimum age for hire, including the Convention on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, the follow-up for the legislature implementation is still either non-existent or very weak. • In a field study conducted in 2006 on the increase in child labor, poverty and the social environment were in the forefront of the reasons behind the increase. The study that included six governorates also indicated that 16% of the children earn wages between 10 – 50 JDs per month, and that the working hours range between 10 and 12 hours a day. This study did not include children working in agriculture.
Note: The NCHR recorded the death of a migrant worker as a result of heart disease after working long hours. He was found to be seventeen years of age.
D. Domestic Servants:
The NCHR monitored the status of this group of migrant workers in 2006, and found the following: • The status of this group is still as it is, and the recommendations in the Center's 2005 report were not taken into consideration to change their status. • Complaints to the NCHR indicate most domestic servants are continually being forced to work long hours without one day of rest per week, and are subjected to harsh and inhumane treatment and sexual harassment. This is in addition to other violations, such as passport withholding and lack of legal paperwork done to obtain work and residence permits. • The Ministry of Labor established a special directorate to follow up the status of domestic servants, but no real change took place in 2006, and no surveys were conducted for this group of workers not included in the Labor Law. E. Migrant Workers in Qualified Industrial Zones:
In 2006, an NCHR team conducted a number of visits to the qualified industrial zones QIZs and the Aqaba Free Zone. The Center received a number of written and oral complaints. The results of the monitoring of the status of work and workers are summarized as follows:
There were a number of sit-ins in the QIZs during 2006, all of which focused on improving worker living standards and wages due to them, delays in the payment of wages on time, lack of payment of wages in some cases and plant closures. Officials in these institutions classify these strikes as sit-ins because they do not recognize the inclusion of migrant workers in the Labor Law, in addition to the fact that migrant workers are not allowed to join worker unions.
The NCHR finds that denying migrant workers the right to join worker unions violates the criteria of the International Labor Organization which grants this right to all workers regardless of their nationality.
Importing and employing workers and work contracts:
• Workers are brought through recruitment agencies in the exporting countries, which charge exorbitant amounts from those selected. These amounts are divided between the foreign recruitment agencies and the employers in Jordan after payment of travel expenses, resulting in a financial burden on the worker who works for several months to pay off the amount borrowed in most cases.
• It is customary for the worker to be obligated to sign an initial work contract in the country of origin which includes the total salary, estimated at between 250 – 650 dollars, while the worker is obligated upon arrival to Jordan to sign a new contract with the employer where the monthly wage is set at 110 – 130 dollars per month. • Most plant administrations – in the QIZs – apply the provisions of the Jordanian Labor Law on the Jordanian workers, ignoring their application on migrant workers. • Migrant workers are forced to work 10 hours per day without the payment of overtimes wages for the two extra working hours, and 70% of the plants in the QIZs force migrant workers to work for periods up to 16 hours per day in return for a wage between 25 – 50 piaster per each extra working hour after the first ten hours. • Most plants refuse to commit to the minimum wage, and the decision to increase the minimum wage to 110 in 2006 was not applied to migrant workers until the beginning of 2007, which constitutes a violation of the equality principles in international conventions. • Some plants set the working days at 6 days per week for Jordanian workers, compared with seven work days per week for migrant workers. This procedure was amended and migrant workers were granted one day of rest per week as of the second half of 2006. • Three plants obligated migrant workers to work 24 hours on Thursday in exchange for the day of weekly rest they were obligated to respect. • Some plants draft two wage statements and obligate workers to sign them. The first is in accordance with the signed work contract to send to the Ministry of Labor and the second according to the actual amounts paid to the workers, which led to complaints by the workers and strikes. • Some plant owners sold their plants and left Jordan without paying worker wages for several months, which forced the Ministry of Labor to intervene to find solutions to settle the status of the workers, usually at the expense of the workers. • Some plant administrations refused to allow representatives from the NCHR and work inspectors to enter and see the living conditions of the migrant workers. Some workers stated the health situation is critical, and some accompanying work inspectors stated they did not see the living conditions in these zones. • Work spaces do not enjoy a healthy environment according to the special international criteria. For example, textile plants full of dust and sand do not have a mechanism to ventilate the work space. • Workers stated in a number of plants that representatives from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Environment did not visit work spaces or their residence at all. • The administrations of some plants do not complete the legal procedures for workers to obtain work and residence permits, thus subjecting workers to the danger of deportation at any time according to the Residence Law. This also constitutes a violation of the signed work contract and a violation of the law and regulations. • Passports are withheld by employers in spite of the fact that this is a violation of the law, thus restricting the freedom of worker movement, in violation of international conventions. • Several workers complained on the visits of the NCHR team of maltreatment and sometimes beatings and verbal abuse by the plant supervisors. • Some female migrant workers complained orally of being subjected to sexual harassment. • Some workers stated that plant administrations detain them as punishment in their "place of residence" and they are not allowed to leave or work in case they do not fulfill the instructions given to them; in case they object to the harsh working conditions of long working hours and low wages; or in case they threaten the administration with a strike. The NCHR recorded one case of detention and in turn notified the public prosecution of the incident. Ministry of Labor Procedures: • The Ministry of Labor started inspection rounds in the second half of 2006, and shut down some plants violating the laws and regulations. Although some cases were settled, only 30% of the plants abide by the rules and regulations set by the Ministry. • Inspection procedures are restricted to official working hours, and some inspections start and end with a meeting with the administration without hearing worker complaints, or even seeing the status of the work and residence locations. However, the Ministry of Labor arranged inspection procedures in some days of the week for work spaces starting June 2006. F. Trafficking in Persons:
As a result of the escalation of international immigration and the ensuing manipulation of persons in the last ten years, the General Assembly of the United Nations called in Res. 53/111 dated 9/12/1998 on the member states to participate in an anti- trafficking of persons' international conference.
The international conference convened in the city of Palermo passed what is known as the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the additional protocol – Palermo Protocol – to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. The convention came into effect in 2003 and in spite the fact that Jordan signed the agreement; it did not ratify it as of the date of this report. However, on 14/3/2006, it submitted the papers to join the protocol attached to the convention referred to above. Note: The Jordanian government should have ratified the agreement first to be followed by the protocol second. The protocol defines trafficking in persons as " the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”
Thus the process of trafficking persons includes taking advantage of the position of vulnerability of persons.
* The NCHR received in 2006 a number of complaints from domestic servants and workers in QIZs. Most of these complaints were focused on:
• Delayed payment of wages and non-commitment to the minimum wage, withholding the passports of migrant workers, exploiting migrant workers by forcing them to work long hours without payment for extra hours, exploiting children to work for long hours for nominal wages, and exploiting them in hard labor that contradicts with childhood.
These violations in their various forms of exploitation, cruelty and abuse are considered trafficking in persons as defined by the International Convention on Trafficking in Persons in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Additional Regulation – Palermo Protocol.
Recommendations:Based on the mission of the NCHR to preserve the rights of this group of workers and eliminate violations of their rights, it recommends the following:
• Stressing the recommendations in the Center's 2005 report, especially those related to amending the Jordan Labor Code so that its provisions apply to domestic servants and workers in the agricultural sector, and linking the minimum wage with the rising cost of living. • Eliminate all forms of discrimination on the basis of profession or position in keeping with the Discrimination Convention (Employment or Profession) no. 111 of 1958, ratified on 4/7/1963. • Take the necessary measures to eliminate all forms of forced labor in keeping with the Abolition of Forced Labor Convention no. 105 of 1957, ratified on 31/3/1958. • Apply effective procedures to eliminate child labor in keeping with the Convention concerning Minimum Wage Fixing no. 138 of 1973 ratified on 23/3/1998. • Stipulating health insurance for workers regardless of nationality or gender, taking into consideration the proportion of doctors and nurses to the number of workers in the plant. • Sign the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families of 1990. • Apply the freedom of associations and actual recognition of the right to collective bargaining, and join Convention no. 87 of 1948 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, and the Convention concerning the Promotion of Collective Bargaining no. 154 of 1981. • Activate the legal texts applicable in the Kingdom related to the illegality of withholding passports, in accordance with Article 18 of the Temporary Passports Law and its amendments no. 5 of 2003. • Include seeking child labor among the work inspectors' duties and submitting monthly reports to the Ministry of Labor to eliminate this phenomenon. • Identify a clear and specific punishment for perpetrators of the crime of exploiting children under sixteen for work, and applying strict punishments against employers of children in dangerous work and work harmful to health, or their use at night in work not in harmony with childhood innocence, in keeping with the Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor of 1999 no. 182, ratified on 20/4/200. Second: Right to education
The right to education is closely linked with the other human rights, and is a main provision for the sustainability of political pluralism and freedoms that constitute the most important features of a democratic society.
The percentage of the Ministry of Education budge to the state budget is estimated at 10.28%. In spite of high percentage of spending on education, it is noted that the number of rented schools totals approximately 800 schools, in addition to the application of the two shifts system and the diminished capacity to absorb the annual increase in students due to the lack of new schools.
Despite compulsory and free education in the basic stage of education in government schools, where school books are distributed to students for free, students offer regular and simple school "donations.” However, they constitute a burden on low income and impoverished families, especially when there is more than one student from the same family going to school. These donations are in fact almost compulsory as students who do not pay them are punished and denied attendance of classes in some cases, which is a violation of the right to education.
Programs to education drop-outs through preparing reading materials were created. 14 sections were equipped in the Kingdom's schools with 210 students. However, this number is low compared with the number of drop-out students estimated by the Ministry at 6800 students.
• A problem arose in 2006 which undermined the enjoyment of the right to education in terms of education being free and compulsory. It is the problem of imposing exceptional conditions to accept Arab and foreign students. The Ministry of Education issued instructions on the acceptance of foreign students in schools, and these instructions stipulated the acceptance of non-Jordanian students in government schools for fees up to JD 20 in the basic stage, JD 40 for vocational education and JD 30 for secondary education, in addition to stipulating residence and availability.
• Issuing these instructions in spite of all the calls through the memos sent to the Ministry of Education by the NCHR, UN agencies and NGOs pleading their relinquishment, and the insistence of the Ministry of Education to go ahead with their implementation, is a violation of all international criteria of human rights in the field of right the education, especially the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and the memorandum of understanding signed between the Jordanian government and the UNHCR. It is a discriminatory act against foreign children and a violation of Article 13-2-A of the ICESCR.
• The NCHR also notes the increasing phenomenon of school violence. The Ministry of Education conducted a survey on this phenomenon and the results indicated that the most prevalent form of violence was violence among the students themselves, followed by violence perpetrated by students against teachers, followed by violence perpetrated by teachers against the students. It is noted the Ministry started a hotline to receive complaints on school violence. There is a need to pay the necessary attention to this problem, namely by enhancing curriculum and extra-curriculum programs on the culture of human rights, democracy and the culture of peace.
• The school nutrition program came into effect in 1999, which includes distributing a meal to each student, as well as keeping a medical record for each student. However, the issue of bad milk arose in 2006, which was distributed to the students. The Ministry received complaints from 7 schools on the expiry of the milk distributed, and it was later determined they did not meet the specifications. The NCHR stresses the importance of the nutrition program for students, and believes it is necessary to create a close monitoring mechanism for nutritional products distributed to students. It also stresses the need to enhance the health programs for students through periodic medical tests and providing some health requirements in schools.
• With the increase in fuel prices and living costs in the Kingdom, the cost of education rose. The effect was felt in private education with the rise in transport fees for students and school tuition in general, which constituted a burden on students and their families in assuming the high cost of education.
With regard to the Ministry's procedures for literacy, the number of adult education centers supervised by the Ministry according to its statistics for the school year 2005/2006 totaled 309 centers, 284 for females and 25 for males, serving 3903 people, among them 3556 females and 347 male. The increase in number of female beneficiaries is noted, necessitating increasing efforts to educate males. It is also noted that the number of beneficiaries is still far from the total number of illiterates in the Kingdom, which may total approximately half a million people.
• Teaching human rights in school curricula. The Ministry of Education highlighted this issue, as it started years ago the preparation of a human rights matrix, in spite of the political obstacles that faced its execution. The Ministry, in cooperation with the NCHR, also contributed to training its staff on the techniques of introducing human rights concepts into school curricula. Through its continued development of curricula, the Ministry worked to introduce some concepts of human rights into its curricula, such as religion, Arabic and social studies for the first, second, fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh grades. This is considered an important step in human rights education. The NCHR stresses the need to continue these efforts by introducing the remaining concepts in all classrooms, as there are still some concepts in the curricula that are not in line with human rights values.
Kindergartens The Kingdom has 1682 kindergartens, including 401 governmental kindergartens established by the Ministry of Education, most of which are in rural areas. However, there are still areas that do not have kindergartens. There are some problems in private education on kindergartens, as services offered to children vary from one school to the next, in addition to the low teacher salaries that are sometimes less than the minimum wage.
There is ugly exploitation by some private schools due to the strong competition among the applicants for teaching positions, leading some to accept salaries that do not exceed JD 50 per month.
Higher Education:
A total of 192042 students are enrolled in Jordanian universities, and females constitute 50.6% of them. Jordan has 22 universities, 10 are government universities teaching 72.3% of the students, and 12 are private universities. The number of migrant students of various nationalities is estimated at 23053 students.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research issued a special strategy for education entitled: "Towards Developing a National Higher Education and Scientific Research Strategy for 2005 – 2010.” This is considered an important step to develop higher education. However, the following comments apply to it:
• With regard to acceptance in universities, some of its principles included taking into consideration the capability of the universities to absorb when accepting students and the quality of education. This principle leans towards controlling acceptance and not expanding it. The stress should have been on working to increase the number of education beneficiaries. The other principle is the unification of the minimum grade that qualifies students for acceptance in Jordanian universities. In spite of the importance of this principle which will unify the minimum scores for acceptance among government and private universities, it does not treat the discrepancy in the grounds of acceptance among government universities for the same specialization, due to the exceptions that have become the rule, violating the most basic human rights, in addition to the discrepancy in acceptance based on the parallel program and others. It must be noted here that this issue referred to in the Center's two former reports was not referred to in the strategy, and no procedures was taken in this regard.
• As for the Human Resources Development Theme – C. Students, there are important trends towards enhancing diversity in student nationalities to guarantee cultural, social and academic plurality and grant universities an Arab, regional and international dimension, as well as towards enhancing academic, psychological and social counseling programs to control student behavior and direct it towards forgiveness, freedom of expression, respecting the opinions of others and steering clear of bigotry, in addition to reconsidering the content of the Military Sciences class to include training and community service. It is worth noting that it does not refer to the concepts of human rights and democracy in these articles to build a culture of human rights and peace, especially since the phenomenon of university violence has recently been steadily increasing.
• As for "University Funding", Article 7 of the procedures mentioned: Financially able students should assume the cost of their university studies, while for financially incapable students, the state, fully or partially, coves the costs of the studies (through establishing a fund at official higher education institutions to pay out grants and loans to students) while the universities allocate financial resources to cover all tuition for excelling students.
The NCHR views the policy of burdening students with the cost of education is still practiced, and even stressed by the Strategy up to 2010, as students pay significant amounts for education. Universities accept higher tuition that may be triple or quadruple the fees from of students on a free competition basis in return for a university seat with a lower grade for acceptance, under different names including parallel programs, evening programs and others. Additionally, the policy of exceptions in acceptance is still practiced widely with percentages reaching two thirds.
All these procedures in terms of acceptance and cost of education are a violation of human rights international criteria, which stressed 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 as established in the ICESCR , Article 13-2-C.
* The NCHR cannot but stress the need for eliminating all these discriminatory measures in foundations for acceptance and university tuition.
It also stresses the importance of making Human Rights a university requirement for all students to promote the culture of human rights.
As for student participation in managing their affairs, some universities still appoint half of the members of student councils, in addition to their president, which is a blatant violation of the right of students to participate in managing their affairs, and an unwarranted interference by university administrations that violates the criteria of democracy and respect for human rights. It stresses the need to amend these instructions so that the representative process is conducted through democratic elections only. Third: Right to social insurance
International conventions and covenants reaffirm the rights of individuals to social insurance and securities. Article 22 of the UDHR stipulated that " everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security", and Article 9 of the ICESCR states "The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to social security, including social insurance.”
Although the Jordanian Constitution did not provide outright for the right to social insurance, except for its stipulation in Article 23 that " Special compensation shall be given to workers supporting families and on dismissal, illness, old age and emergencies arising out of the nature of their work", there are institutions that work to provide this right: The Social Security Corporation, the Civil and Military Retirement Fund and retirement funds at some professional associations. These institutions provide a steady income during which the capabilities of the individual are temporarily or permanently disabled or upon reaching the legal age or death.
The Social Security Law no 19 of 1978 (replaced by law no. 19 of 2001) stipulated the Corporation will provide the following insurance: insurance against work injuries and profession-related diseases, insurance against old age, disability and death, insurance against temporary disability due to disease and maternity, health insurance for workers and beneficiaries, family grants and insurance against unemployment, taking into account that these insurances will be implemented in phases. Up until now the insurance system against work injuries and profession related diseases and insurance against old age, disability and death are implemented in social insurances.
In order to include the largest group of citizens in the social security umbrella, and based on Article 7 of the Social Security Law, the Council of Ministers decided that it shall be obligatory for all establishments with five workers or more.
* The NCHR recommends after thirty years since the passing of the Social Security Corporation Law expanding the application of the insurances stipulated in the law to enjoy the largest possible amount of social insurances.
* The Social Security Corporation is also commended for including in its strategy for the years 2005 – 2007 all expatriate Jordanian workers in social security. The number of expatriates insured as of 21/12/2006 was 670 members.
The NCHR recommends the following: • Including workers in agriculture, forests, shepherding, seamen, fishermen and sailors in the provisions of the Social Security Law. • Coordinating between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Social Security Corporation on the number of establishments registered, for the purposes of guaranteeing the commitment of all establishments to the provisions of the security. • Starting the implementation of the remaining insurances provided for in Article 3 of the Social Security Law or at least regulate health insurance for workers and beneficiaries. • Including workers in establishments with less than five workers in the provisions of the Social Security Law (secretaries and nurses in law offices and clinics for examples). • Amend Article 37 of the Social Security Law related to determining the accredited medical reference, to form a joint committee of the government and the Corporation to certify the report on ending employee services upon the worker's injury or disability due to injury. • Amend Article 53B of the Law which gives male children of the insured rights to the pension or disability payment in case of the death of the insured, to include male and female. • Amend Article 45A of the Social Security Law, to cancel the condition in it on earning a lump sum payment for the insured, which states "on condition that the subscription duration is no less than 12 subscriptions.”
Fourth: Right to Health
This right was stressed by the UDHR in Article 25/1 and the ICESCR in Article 12. The Temporary Public Health Law and its Amendments no. 54 of 2002 also stressed the importance of providing healthcare to individuals, but it focused on physical health and the treatment of diseases without giving sufficient attention to psychological health.
On this basis, the NCHR recommends the following: • Consider psychological health an integral part of healthcare services.
• Provide psychological health care services to children under 18 years of age, as these services are only provided through psychiatric clinics.
• Increase the number of centers focused on psychological health to cover all of the Kingdom's provinces.
• Strengthen monitoring of the sale of anesthetic pills and medicines.
• Create appropriate mechanisms of inspection and monitoring to guarantee the respect of human rights in all psychological health facilities.
• Increase qualified staff dealing with this group of society.
• As for AIDS, there is currently no international agreement imposing explicit commitments on the countries in this regard, but due to the close link between this disease and human rights issues, many declarations and guidance principles dealing with disease were adopted. A UN program was established for AIDS in order to unify efforts to fight this disease. At the national level and after the discovery of the first case in 1986, the The Ministry of Health worked to fight this disease through its efforts in prevention and health care. An Anti-AIDS National Program was established, and aims to limit and control the spread of disease locally, and alleviate the effects on patients afflicted with it and their surrounding environment through the strategies followed by this program. In the second half of 1999, the Ministry also established a center for counseling, volunteer testing and hotline to offer guidance to citizens. It offers confidential awareness services to the youth and to patients afflicted with disease. The National Anti-AIDS Strategy was also launched for the years 2005-2009, which aims to reduce the spread of the HIV virus among the population and the at-risk groups of the population, as well as raise awareness, educate and reduce the stigma of the patients.
According to the disease indicators, Jordan is considered one of the countries with low rates of affliction. Statistics indicate that since the discovery of the first case and as of the year 2006, the total accumulative number of individuals afflicted with it was 492, among them 171 Jordanians and 321 non-Jordanians. This figure represents the cases discovered and registered in the Ministry of Health records, and it is expected that the true number is higher.
In spite of the efforts exerted to fight this disease, society still discriminates against this group. This violates the principles of human rights. Thus the Center recommends the following: • Focusing on the various types of media to raise awareness and educate on the disease, methods of transmission and prevention, and allow civil society institutions to participate effectively in the awareness programs.
• Increase awareness campaigns and education among society groups, especially the youth and inmates of correction and rehabilitation centers, on sexually transmitted diseases and their dangers to public health.
On health insurance, some positive developments were recorded on the expansion of beneficiaries. Two new groups were included: pregnant women and senior citizens over 60 years of age.
According to the National Strategy of the Ministry of Health for the period 2006–2010, around 60% of the Kingdom's population are covered by various types of health insurance. In spite of this, 40% of the population remains outside the umbrella of health insurance, specifically the age group 7–18 years of age 1, in addition to citizens living in areas classified as pockets of poverty in the Kingdom 2. It is worth noting that the Health Insurance Directorate has started implementing an expansion plan to be executed in two phases, the first in the beginning of 2007 to include the age group 7 – 14, and the second in the second half of next year to include the age group 15 – 18. The NCHR recommends continuing the expansion of the health insurance umbrella and include all society groups in health insurance, until fair and comprehensive insurance is achieved.
Fifth: Right to the Environment
In spite of the lack of a provision on the right to an appropriate environment in the Jordanian constitution, Jordan has taken positive steps in this field during 2006. During the year the Jordanian Environment Protection Law no. 52 of 2006 was passed after the former temporary law no. 1 of 2003 was applied. The Council of Ministers also passed a number of environmental regulations in various fields: The Harmful and Dangerous Substances Management, Transfer and Exchange Regulations no. 24 of 2005, Soil Protection Regulations no. 25 of 2005, Environment Protection from Pollution in Emergency Circumstances Regulations no. 26 of 2005, Solid Waste Management Regulations no. 27 of 2005, Air Protection Regulations no. 28 of 2005, Natural Reservations and National Parks Regulations no. 29 of 2005, Environmental Effect Evaluation Regulations no. 37 of 2005 and Land Use Regulation Regulations issued by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs at the end of 2006.
• The Ministry of Environment created in the second half of 2006 environmental conditions and criteria for the establishment of industrial and free zones. According to these conditions, the appropriate locations for the establishment of these zones shall be determined in a manner that guarantees limiting the negative effects on the surrounding environment.
• The NCHR commends the announcement by the Prime Minister in September 2006 of the government's intentions to move the Fuhais Cement Factory outside the area, and recommends the government follow-up with making the necessary arrangements to execute this recommendation.
• The Environmental Police Administration was established as of 14/6/2006. Since its inception, it started training its staff on environmental and legal fields in cooperation with the government entities and civil society institutions concerned with the environment. At the end of 2006, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, it caught dozens of environmental violations in some establishments for violating the provisions of the Jordanian Environment Protection Law.
• A new directorate named the "Inspection and Law implementation Directorate" was established, as the reference entity for inspecting various establishments in the Kingdom to ascertain the level of their compliance with the requirements of the Jordanian Environment Law of 2006. It works in cooperation with the Environmental Police Administration for the purposes of executing resolutions and implementing punishments in accordance with the provisions of the law.
• The Environmental Work Coordination Commission was formed, and includes in its membership non-governmental environmental associations. In 2006, the Commission worked to prevent the establishment of the chlorine factory without conducting an environmental effect evaluation study, investigated the admission of iron imports from Ukraine to verify they are not radioactive, and prevented the establishment of investment projects in Dibbin forest.
• At the end of 2006, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) operated 16 cameras to monitor environmental and hygiene violations in Amman .
As for waste and its management, the following was accomplished:
• GAM approved the establishment of a waste recycling plant in Al Ghabawi area south east of Amman on 35 dunums of GAM property. A company from the private sector will establish the plant.
• The Biotic Gas Plant Project was expanded, which benefits from gas resulting from the Ruseifa dump to increase the production energy of biotic gas from the buried dumping ground and consequently produce a larger amount of electricity while reducing the emission of methane gas and carbon dioxide to limit the green house effect.
• There was limited improvement in medical waste management in hospitals. New hospitals under establishment are required to build waste incinerators. Hospitals without incinerators treat waste by sending it to large incinerators such as the one in the Founding King Hospital in Irbid.
Quality of air:
• The Standards and Metrology Institute made a number of decisions in 2006, namely: • Forming the Permanent Technical Committee for the Safety and Protection of the Environment no. 39 in order to prepare and amend Jordanian standards for the environment. • A decision was taken at the end of 2006 recommending obligating vehicles to use "catalytic converters," which clean car exhausts, as of early 2007. • Approving the Jordanian standard specification on the maximum limits allowed of air pollutants from fixed resources.
But the year 2006 recorded an increase in air pollution inside the cities, and especially Amman , due to the large increase in the number of vehicles in the city and the bad quality of fuel used, especially diesel.
The process of cleaning building stone using the "sand pelting" method still causes dust pollution, which affects the general health of the population, especially in Amman , due to its large investments in the construction sector.
Radioactive pollution and hazardous materials:
• The Ministry of Health contacted the Jordanian Nuclear Energy Commission after receiving a memorandum from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of Jordan in Moscow dated 5/1/2006 stating that the metal products bought at the end of 2005 from the Ukraine were made of the Chernobyl Reactor waste and contain high levels of harmful rays. The Environmental Work Coordination Commission and the Health and Environment Committee in Parliament also worked to form a fact finding technical committee on the nuclear pollution of the imports with members from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environment, the Nuclear Energy Commission, the Royal Scientific Society and the Customs Department. The results of the tests conducted by the Jordanian Nuclear Commission indicated the imports were free of any nuclear radiation. It is worth noting that the Nuclear Energy Commission is the formal entity charged with testing radiation as it has the necessary technical capabilities and labs for it. This Commission gave a report at an earlier time that the junk imported from Iraq is free of radiation, but international experts at the UN program on environment in Iraq stressed after that they contain radiation.
• The Royal Scientific Society implemented the comprehensive information system for the management of hazardous chemical materials on 7/8/2006. This project aims to link the ministries of environment, health, industry and trade, agriculture and the Customs Department with a comprehensive electronic information network to manage hazardous chemical materials so that there is a unified system to document and manage hazardous chemical materials within the ministries participating in the project in terms of mechanism and data, importers, consumers and locations of storage.
Agricultural Pesticides: • As of the date of this report, imported and local grains and legumes have not been included in the necessary tests to determine the level of pesticide residues in them in view of the effect they have on the health of citizens.
• The Ministry of Agriculture in 2006 analyzed 200 samples of imported agricultural products from 30 countries and found that 15 samples contain pesticide residues.
• DDT residue was found the milk of mothers in the northern governorates (Irbid, Shouna, Mafraq, Jerash and Ajloun). 17 samples were collected and analyzed between 9/5/2006 and 9/8/2006. Most animal product samples, eggs, red meat and poultry, were also found to contain pesticide residue.
Water and sanitation sector:
• According to the sources at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the percentage of citizens serviced with sanitation increased in 2006 from 57% to 61%.
• The Khirbit Al Samra Purification Plant was transformed from a plant working on the natural purification system to a mechanical purification system, thus increasing its efficiency, so that the resulting treated water meet the standards and can be used safely in agriculture.
Forests and biodiversity:
• The assault on the forests increased due to illegal logging for the purpose of selling wood after the increase in fuel prices.
• The idea to establish an investment project that includes building a hotel and entertainment center in the Dibbin area stirred a great deal of objections, due to the construction and infrastructure required for the project which will cause vast environmental damage and lead to the cutting down of a large number of trees, as well as pave the way for investment on forest lands. Additionally, allowing the establishment of this project violates the provisions of Article 28 of the Agriculture Law which do not allow authorizing the land to any individual or entity, or its allocation, sale or trade regardless of the reason.
As the NCHR follows this case with great interest, it highlights the fact that the areas occupied by forests are limited in comparison with the total land of the Kingdom, and warns that it is dangerous to establish such projects in the forests because they will lead to diminishing the green areas and threaten the plant cover and biological diversity. The implementation of this project in Dibbin also raises a question mark on the role of Jordan in confronting the danger of desertification and the green house effect, which currently threaten the world and constitute a danger to the environment and human life. Environmental awareness:
• The Ministry of Environment issued guidelines for licensing to avoid duplicity and guide investors, in addition to a guide to licenses and evaluating the environmental effect of construction work for 2006.
• The environmental theater was introduced as a new method to promote environmental awareness on environmental issues such as waste recycling, protection of biodiversity and forests.
• An "Environmental Violations" guide was issued by the Ministry of Environment and the Environmental Police. It contains the various types of environmental violations and the procedures and punishments as well as their legal basis. It covers the following environmental fields: plants and hunting, the marine environment, water and sanitation, noise, waste, plants and establishments, vehicles, natural reserves and parks, agricultural production and public health, and pesticides.
Other indicators:
• There were no studies this year evaluating the environmental effects in accordance with the provisions of the Jordanian Environment Law for some major projects which should have such studies conducted for them before their establishment, especially with regard to location alternatives which will lead to negative environmental effects on the surrounding environment and the population and will increase pollution and traffic congestion. Of these projects is the construction of towers in the Amra gardens location in Um Uthaina, which is already crowded, at the expense of one of the larger and more important parks in the capital, in spite of the warnings of the environmental organizations that these procedures are a clear violation of the Jordanian Environment Law.
Sixth: Right to suitable standard of living
The UDHR recognized this right in Article 25, as did the ICESCR in Article 11: " the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions" and this is related "to be free from hunger.” In this regard the NCHR has the following comments: • The poverty line for individuals in Jordan reached JD 504 annually, an increase of 28.6% from what it was in 2002, which then was JD 392 (figures from the Public Bureau of Statistics 2006). • The rise in oil prices internationally cause successive and unprecedented increases in the prices of goods, services and basic items like water, electricity, food, transportation fees, school tuition and medicine prices. • The lack of sufficiency and effectiveness of social support networks and programs, which are considered government interference policies aimed at protecting the government, prompted the government this year to establish the Coordinating Committee for Social Solidarity, in accordance with regulations no. 67 of 2006. It aims to coordinate the efforts of institutions working in the field of social solidarity and their complementarities to prevent redundancy and waste resources and capabilities. • During 2006, the Ministry of Social Development adopted the poverty evaluation study in Jordan for 2004, which is the last specialized study on determining the characteristics of the poor in Jordan . It indicates that the pockets of poverty in the Kingdom are spread over 21 regions. • The National Aid Fund also established a database on poverty, the poor and pockets of poverty. Work is underway to establish another database at the Ministry of Social Development. A plan was also created to target the poor by the National Aid Fund in cooperation with the World Bank and the participation of the Ministry of Social Development. • The Ministry of Social Development also established in 2006 a number of homes for impoverished families and conducted maintenance on others of various sizes. 98 homes with an area of 34 square meters and 145 homes with an area of 56 square meters were built , 12 homes were maintained and extended, and 23 others were bought. • The number of beneficiaries of the productive families' project and local credit funds totaled 170 families that obtained 170 loans for productive projects, a total of 252,350 JDs. Additionally, three local credit project funds were established in Manshiyat Bani Hassan (the north), Bani Hashem villages (the center) and Al Eis (the south), at a total amount of 30,000 JDs. • The Ministry of Social Development offers institutional social care to approximately 250 orphan children, supervises 1050 orphan children in non-governmental institutions, cares for 350 sentenced and detained juveniles and juveniles needing care and protection. It also cares for approximately 1020 individuals with special needs. It continues to purchase institutional social health care for the elderly from the While Beds Association (Dar Al Diyafa) and the Orthodox Charity Association ( Princess Muna Center ) for approximately 120 elderly impoverished individuals, at a cost of JD 120 per month for each individuals. • The number of cases benefiting from the National Aid Fund Program totaled 73,000 in 2006, with total allocations of 60 million JDs. • The Fund's administration revealed 400 cases in the Kingdom who received salaries from the Fund while the direct beneficiary is diseases, and the Ministry of Social Development suspended 29 thousand cases of duplicate aid cases to avoid redundancy in aid through more than one entity. • The Zakat Fund at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs offers monthly payments from the Fund to approximately 1750 families and emergency financial aid to seven thousand needy individuals, in addition to in-kind assistance of goodwill packages, dates, school bags, food packages, etc. The Fund also provides for 832 orphans, and supports 170 families through enabling them with training projects. The Fund has 9 medical clinics that offer medical services to approximately 10 thousand needy individuals, with all specializations.
Seventh: Right to suitable housing
This right to suitable housing affects other human rights recognized in international conventions and the enjoyment of these rights. It specifically affects the right to health, and affects as well the right to work. The right to work and a minimum wage and social insurance all effect the enjoyment of the right to suitable housing.
The average Jordanian family size is 5.49. The results of the population census revealed that the average size of the housing unit is 110 square meters, 6 out of every 10 inhabited housing units use kerosene or diesel as a main source for heating, and the rate of rented houses is 20% of the total housing units. This prompts us to refer again to our former annual report for 2004 on the Owners and Tenants Law no. 30 of 2000 which is considered a delayed problem until 2010 when the leasing contracts made before 2000 expire. This will lead to the evacuation of many homes and the redrafting of contracts, and subsequently will lead to additional expenses burdening the citizens. The state should adopt and implement a national program for impoverished family homes. • The Public Institute for Housing and Urban Development, as a strategic partner involved in the treatment of the housing crisis in the Kingdom, is implementing several comprehensive housing projects with good specifications. These will be completed in the next find years. These housing projects will cover 70% of the housing needs for the Kingdom. • A number of projects were completed by the Institute in 2006, namely the Mafraq Expansion Project, Naour 1 and 2 Housing Projects, Al Bader Housing Project in Irbid, Shafa Badran Housing Project and the infrastructure for the Majd Housing City in Zarqa. • In 2006, 12 partnership agreements were signed with investors from the regulated private sector to construct 6580 apartments and supply 2040 pieces of land with services to individuals with low and limited income.
The NCHR recommends reconsidering the Owners and Tenants law referred to above, on the basis that the right to housing a primarily social issue. It also calls for passing a fair law that balances between the right of owners and tenants, and includes legal controls for cases of evacuation and increasing rent.
It also recommends paying special attention to the establishment of new popular housing projects through reviving the role of the Public Institute for Housing, so that priority is giving to individuals of low and limited income, including state employees and other citizens in the Kingdom's various governorates. It also recommends connecting more populated areas with the sanitation system.
Eighth: Right to water
This right falls within the basic guarantees for providing a suitable level standard of living, as it is one of the most important conditions for survival, and a prerequisite for the application of other human rights. The right to water cannot be separated from the right to the highest level of health that can be attained, and the right to suitable housing and sufficient food. It was interpreted by the committee on economic, social and cultural rights in its comment no. 15 of 2002 as follows "These aforementioned rights cannot be attained without achieving the right to water, and the right to water grants each individual a sufficient amount of water that is safe, acceptable, and affordable for personal and home use.
Jordan suffers from an imbalance in the demand for water and the quantity of water available. According to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation figures, the Jordanian individual's share of water per year for all uses decreased from 170 cubic meters in 2005 to 150 cubic meters in 2006, while the international poverty line for water per person annually is 1000 cubic meters according to the World Bank studies.
The natural increase in population, the forced immigration to which the Kingdom was subjected over various periods, the economic and social development and the population and construction expansion led to the severe decrease in individual share, until it reached this level.
Figures from the Members Directorate at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation indicate that the fees for water and sanitation are not unified in the Kingdom. If the water use for one family per month is 62 square meters, the bill for this amount in Amman would be JD 30,263, in Zarqa it would be JD 20,984 and in the remaining governorate in the Kingdom and in the Jordan Valley it would be JD 20,424.
The figures of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation also indicate that the number of unlicensed wells in the Kingdom reached 1386 wells as of 2006.
The continued misuse by citizens of the sanitation network by dumping waste and residue from stone mills, slaughterhouses and car oils, and the arrival of this waste at purification plants leads to the reduction of their efficiency in treating waste water, in addition to increasing the environmental problems in the Kingdom.
The NCHR recommends the following:
• The Ministry of Water and Irrigation works to utilize the maximum capacity of traditional and non-traditional water sources to reduce the water deficit and meet the needs of citizens. The delay in the implementation of the Disi Water Relocation for ten years is a negative indication of the performance of the related ministries, especially as this project is considered among the most important strategic projects in the Kingdom. Questions are being raised on the real reasons behind the delay in this important project, in spite of the changes in governments and ministers of water. • Intensify laboratory test conducted by the Ministry of Water of potable water. • Replace and repair damaged water networks to improve the process of water distribution and decrease the percentage of lost water. • Amend Article 59-A-2 of the Temporary Public Health no. 54 of 2002 to make the minimum punishment is one to three months detention, and merge with paragraph b of the same Article so that the punishment is appropriate to the perpetrated crime.
Ninth: Rights of womenJordan has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), but made reservations against Articles 9(2), 15(4), and 16(c, d, and g) of the Convention. The NCHR and several NGOs have received many complaints from Jordanian women who are married to non-Jordanians, demanding the right to give their nationality to their children. NGOs have also called for lifting the government's reservation against Article 9(2) of the Convention. These demands harmonize with the principles mentioned in relevant international conventions, as well as the principles of justice and human rights. Regarding Article 15(4) on movement of persons and the freedom to choose one's residence and domicile, some Islamic jurisprudents in Jordan are of the view that women are indeed entitled to the right to move and choose their place of residence, which agrees with the provisions of Islamic Law, especially in the light of women's right to include such provisions in their marriage contracts (Article 19 of the Civil Status Law No. 61 of 1976).
In the light of the above, the NCHR is of the opinion that there are no justifications anymore for having reservations against Clause (4) of Article 15 of CEDAW and recommends lifting this reservation.
CEDAW has not gone through the full ratification procedures stipulated in Article 33 of the Jordanian Constitution. The Jordanian Coalition — consisting of the Human Forum for Women's Rights, NCHR, and Mizan (Law for Human Rights) Group — has launched a national campaign advocating Parliament's adoption of CEDAW and publishing the convention in the Official Gazette. This would fall in line with efforts being exerted by Jordanian women's organizations, as well as the directions of the international community, especially after Jordan 's election in 2006 as a member of the Human Rights Council.
The level of woman's participation in political action within political parties is noticeably low. Woman's participation in the founding bodies of 34 existing political parties does not reach half the number of members, with the exception of one party (the Lebiral Party), which counts 53 women among its 105 founding members. At the same time, women's participation in political parties does not exceed 10–15% on average and is non-existent in three political parties, namely, the Jordanian Ba'ath Socialist Party, the Progressive Arab Ba'ath Party, and New Jordanian Arab Fajer (Dawn) Party. This contradicts the strategy and plan of action for the political development and the national strategy for women, which aim at activating women's political participation and enhancing their empowerment. Women constitute only about 7% of the total number of founding members of Jordanian political parties and women have been represented on the founding bodies of 31 of the 34 political parties now licensed in Jordan .
• The draft Municipalities Law, which the government has referred to the National Assembly, provides for allocating 20% of all municipal councils' seats to women and maintaining their right to compete for the rest of the seats, thus ensuring strong and efficient women's participation in this sector, which is the base of local democracy. • The Jordanian National Committee for Woman Affairs has drafted an “Alimony Fund Law” that aims to mitigate the suffering of alimony-deserving wives, divorcees, widows and parents, and seeks to guarantee the execution of alimony verdicts, which are difficult to execute on the pretext that the convict is absent, his address is not known, or does not have enough money to execute the alimony verdict. • Article 11 of the proposed draft stipulates authorizing the Fund to have recourse against the convict and to exact the alimony amount, as well as any fines defrayed by the Fund on behalf of the convict.
The NCHR recommends the following:
• Working as speedily as possible on completing the Constitutional procedures to ratify CEDAW and publish it in the Official Gazette. • Amending national legislations, specially the Nationality Law, with a view to harmonizing with CEDAW provisions, and lifting the reservation that prevents Jordanian women from exercising their right to pass their nationality to their children. • Working on enacting a law on family violence. Tenth: Child rights
A Royal Decree was issued to approve Law No. 50 of 2006 on Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Law was published in the Official Gazette on the 16 th of October 2006. The Law was adopted together with the government's reservations against Article 14 concerning the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as Articles 20 and 21 concerning adoption.
In accordance with Article 44 of the CRC, Jordan also submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Commission the country's third report on the Situation of Child Rights covering the period 1998–2005. The report gave information related to all the Government's measures and procedures, including amendments to national laws, polices, programs and strategies regarding CCR implementation.
In April, 2006, the NCHR partnered with other NGOs to prepare the report supporting Jordan 's Third Report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The supporting report highlighted the priorities for CRC ratification in the different legislative stages, the adoption of the draft Law on the Rights of the Jordanian Child of 2004, submitted to the National Assembly, and for discussion of the state of vulnerable children, namely, abused children, child workers, child beggars, children in conflict with the Law, handicapped children, and refugee children. The report also addressed the proposed priorities within a methodology based on describing the status quo and supporting it with facts. On other hand, a Royal Decree was issued to approve the Council of Ministers' Decision No. 2212, dated the 29 th of August 2006, that ratified the two optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The approval came followed NCHR correspondence with the Minister of Foreign Affairs urging ratification of these two protocols as international instruments that do not infringe upon, but rather reinforce the rights of Jordanian citizens. The two protocols were signed by Jordan and came into enforce as of the 6 th of September 2000.
The draft Law on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the Council of Ministers on the 27 th of May 2004 and subsequently referred to the National Assembly. However, the Assembly has not discussed this draft until now.
On the 14 th of March 2006, the NCHR, in its name and on behalf of Civil Society Organizations, addressed the Prime Minister calling to ask the National Assembly to give priority to studying and adopting the draft Law. Furthermore, the NCHR recommends the urgency of expediting adoption of the final version of the draft.
• During 2006, NCHR field visits were made to 11 out of the 24 childcare institutions. Through meeting with the the administrations of these institutions, the visitors aimed at obtaining information about the children's health, social, psychological and educational conditions and inquiring about the problems and difficulties the children face. It was evident to the visiting team that conditions at childcare institutions vary from one institution to another and that they meet most of the children's basic needs in terms of nutrition, food, drink and clothing, but lack meaningful educational and social programs, as well as individual childcare plans that meet the children's psychological, social, recreational and educational needs. • Ministry of Social Development statistics for 2006 reveal that 80% of all children at childcare institutions come from dismembered families. 15% are born out of wedlock, and 5% are orphans.• Under directives from Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, a committee was formed to draft a bylaw for licensing boarding childcare institutions. The draft gives such definitions as supervision agency, boarding institution, function of a boarding institution, bodies that are permitted to obtain a license, conditions for licensing, admission at the care institution, and other technical, administrative and professional vocational matters. The committee has completed the bylaw draft and submitted it to Bureau of Legislation and Legal Advice. • It is evident that there is a remarkable surge in incidents of taking children of unknown lineage into custody at childcare institutions. As the authorized agency, the Ministry of Social Development grants the right of custody to married couples, who are not able to have children of their own. In doing so, it gives priority to Jordanians living in Jordan , where it can follow up on these children after their placement under custody. • NCHR recommends the following: • Upgrading the performance of workers at childcare institutions in the area of guidance and developing programs for the rehabilitation and re-integrating the children into their communities. • Extending health insurance to all children in childcare institutions. Detained Children
Juvenile justice and child protection and prevention policies stam from a growing realization that depriving law-violating children of their freedom is often not nesessery or sometimes conducive to adverse consequencies. Hence, it is inevitable that criteria for child rights are adopted and guarantees of fair trials of juveniles are made, bearing in mind that juvenile courts tend nowadays to adopt a new system for dealing with crime, wherein the society, the victem and the abusor play effective roles. The accommodation of the needs of the victem and the abusor with those of the society is at the core of the objectives of the “Reform Justice,” which seek to complement and enhance criminal justice. “Reform justice” revolves around the notion of remedying the effects of crime and distributing the burden of responsibility in terms of addressing delinquency problems, as such responsibilities do not fall only on formal institutions, but civil cociety organizations should be involved through implementing preventive and guidance programs that can also serve as punishment that does not supress freedom.
During 2006, a total of 230 juveniles were shifted from the complicated litigation procedures to rehabilitation and guidance programs. Sometimes, it suffices to effect a reconciliation between the juvenile parties to the conflict, and/or indemnify the damages when necessary, by implementing the juvenile “reform justice” project, which is being implemented at a number of official institutions and the civil society organizations as a pilot project that aims to curb any resort to restraining freedom.
The fact that the number of children detained in juvenile centers and institutions has remained within the same numerical framework over the last five years is best proof of preferring non-institutional treatment to committing children to reform institutions. In 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, the numbers of detained children were as follows: 5,295, 6,139, 6,115, 5,777, and 5,474 respectively. The high number of repeat offenders may be the best evidence that a new approach and a developed concept of the criminal justice should be followed.
The number of male juveniles admitted to, or benefiting from services at juvenile delinquency centers stood at 3,221, of whom 413 (i.e., 13%) were counted as repeat offenders. As for females, there were 53 juveniles, while 153 girls needed protection and care. The total number of repeat offenders stood at 15 girls (i.e., 28%.
• Prohibiting torture and cruel treatment is a key concept stipulated in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on the Civil and Political Rights.
Despite the genuine desire to deal humanely with detained children, some excesses and violations have been reported at the individual levels that reflect the need of person who deal directly with juveniles to be aware of international commitments and national legislation that focus on the protection of juveniles deprived from their freedom.
Some of the reported excesses and violations are listed below: • The NCHR received 23 complaints from children , who have been subjected to torture in order to force them to confess to the crimes attributed to them, and/or abused by workers in detention centers. Accordingly, the Minister of Interior and the Director of Public Security were approached on the 31 st of August 2006 with a request to deal with these violations in a manner consistent with national legislation and international cretiria. • Detained girls enjoy lesser levels of protection, care and assistance than those enjoyed by male juveniles. The recurrent incidents at Al-Khansa Center for Detained Girls had a direct impact on adopting a strategic plan by the Ministry of Social Development, its immediate partners and those who deal with juveniles, namely, the NCHR, the PSD's Family Protection Department, and several civil society organizations that operate in the field. The plan aims to improve the girls' conditions and provide them with better services along the lines of those provided to their male peers. • Although Article 99 of the Penal Procedures Law No. 9 of 1961 authorized the Judicial Police to issue arrest orders for the temporary detention of a juvenile for no longer than 24 hours, there was no compliance with the period specified in the Law. Detaining juveniles exceeded the limit on the pretext that detainee was an administrative detainee, which violates the provisions of Juvenile Law as well. Article 4 of the said code vests the authority to detain juvenile only in the Judiciary. The number of juveniles detained only at Al-Zuhour lock-up by virtue of an administrative decision during the first half of 2006, amounted to 38, according to official records of that security center. Consequently, we addressed the Ministry of Interior and the Public Security Department to seek information on these excesses. • Law-violating juveniles suffer from not lifting the security restrictions imposed on them on the pretext that they are repeat offenders, which is deemed to be a breach of the Law and an explicit violation to Article 6 of the Juvenile Justice Law. A citizen has complained to the NCHR that these records have not been deleted from his security record 10 years after he, and others, were acquitted of the crime attributed to them when they were juveniles. In the PSD response to our letter, it was clear that the acquittal records cannot be deleted because the computerized system does not have this facility. Thus, dealing with these restrictions is for statistic purposes only.
* In the light thereof, the NCHR recommends the following: • Considering the gradual and comprehensive transformation of specialized system of juvenile justice a priority, which should be addressed in the next stage. • Endeavoring to establish a specialized administration to follow up on children in conflict with the Law within a joint working mechanism between the concerned parties, such as the Judicial Council, the PSD, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education, for the purpose of applying International Cretiria and activating Article 9 of the Juvenile Justice Law, which stipulates that “social defence bureaus may be established, provided that they include specialists in forensic medicine and psychological and social guidance.Furthermore, the judge may seek assistence from any party if the interest of the juveniles and the requirments of justice deem it necessary.” This article has never been activated but, in case it is applied, it will constitute a nucleus for a specialized juvenile administration, which will in its turn contribute to opening new horizons for a better future for children. • Expediting the completion of the remaining legal and administrative procedures required to amend the 1968 Juveniles Law No. 24. • The necessity of dealing seriously with reports of the behavior controller, starting with the person who authors the report, so that the report becomes comprehensive and objective and contains practical recommendations by controller, thus contributing to changing and correcting the juvenile's behavior, and ending with the way the judges deal with the different components of the report. Child beggars
According to the Jordanian Juvenile Law No. 24 of 1968 and its amendments, child beggars are classified as children who need protection and care. This definition harmonizes with international criteria that advocate for the rights of children, as Article 31 of this Law focuses on the preventive aspect of these children moves them from the category of crime perpetrators to the category of victims of special circumstances that lead them to beg in pursuit of quick earnings, which requires intervention by the State and the society in order to protect them against themselves and from others. Legal texts governing begging
• Juveniles Law No. 24 of 1968 and its amendments — (Article 31/10). • Law No. 37 on Control of Juvenile Behavior of 2006 — (Articles 2 and 4). • The Penal Code No. 16 of 1960 and its amendments — (Article 389). Beggars' detention centers
• The Child Beggars Center at Zarqa, which receives boys aged 7–12 years from all regions of the Kingdom. • Abu Thar Al Ghafari Center at Umm Al-Asaker region, which receives both male and female adult beggars. Follow-up measuresThe Behavior Controller carries out investigations and prepares a social study of the child's family. If it is proven that the child has a family capable of looking after, and raising him/her well, the controller will submit a report to the juveniles judge, who will pass a virdict releasing the child and sending him/her back to his family. But, if the juvenile is a repeat offender and it has been established that his/her case is one of permenant vagrancy and begging and that his/her family is fragmented or not trusted for taking care of him/her, the judge will pass a verdict sending the child to one of the centers specialized in protecting and providing care to juveniles.
If it has been proven that the situation of the child's family has improved, his/her guardian or any of his first- or second-degree relatives will be allowed apply to the Behavior Controller in the relevant Directorate of Development, who will examine the situation and submit a report to the judge testifying to the state of affairs, upon the merits of which the juvenile is released.
In 2006, there were 710 child beggars (424 boys and 286 girls. During the previous year, the number of child beggars was 1,011, of which 836 were boys and 175 were girls.
It is to be observed that the number of child beggars has dropped by 30%, which enhances the theory of good follow-up and sharing of responsibility by the different parties that deal with this category of children. However, it is also to be observed that the number of female beggars has increased in comparison with the past years. This fact may be attributed to the nature of our Arab communities, which specifically sympathize with girls, thus creating a barrier in the way of alleviating this phenomenon. Results and Recommendations:
• The problem of begging has social, financial and legal dimensions. The social dimension is depicted in the idea of taking begging as a profession and getting used to engage in this social problem which could be best solved by awareness and information campaigns matching the problem's size and extent, in addition to conducting educational and guidance courses and exploring the ways and means of fighting begging and transforming the activity from one of invoking pity and mercy to a goal that aims to correcting the behavior of children and those who exploit them. • The financial dimension is depicted in the poverty problem, which will not be solved through begging. It is rather a problem to be addressed by the State through national strategic plans. • As for the legal and penal dimension, we find that Article 389 of Penal Code No. 16 of 1960 punishes repeat beggars by imprisonment for a no less than one year. But, the text of this article has not been activated in courts in such a manner as to make it a penal and social deterrent. Even though the value of the bale bone in the case of beggars is relatively high, it has constituted only a small deterrent in relation to the number and frequency of offences, which shows the extent of the benefits gained from begging by the children and their families.
Recently, begging by children has been prohibited under penal responsibility as provided for in Juvenile Behavior Control Law No. 37 of 2006.
The NCHR is of the opinion that the activation by the courts of the provisions related to begging may take a more serious dimension in addressing this social problem. Eleventh: Rights of disabled persons
On the 13 th of December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the first human rights international convention in the 21 st century that grants wide-ranging rights and freedoms to disabled persons around the world. However, the provisions governing legal capacity in the draft Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities were ambiguous. The footnote to Article 12 of the draft convention included the capacity of obligation (entitlement to rights), but not the capacity of performance (disposal of rights), which diminished the rights of disabled persons in relation to legal disposal. But, representatives of the participating States, including Jordan , took steps to correct the afore-mentioned text, while most of the Arab States expressed their reservations thereon. In harmony with this trend, the Ministry of Political Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development, encouraged the parties concerned with following-up on disability-related affairs at official institutions and the civil society organizations to form a committee to amend Law No. 12 of 1993 on the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities and its Amendments and/or draft a new Law to replace it. Accordingly, a committee was formed with members representing all the concerned official and civil society bodies, including the National Center for Human Rights. The committee submitted the draft Law on the Rights of Disabled Persons. This came simultaneously with the launch of the National Strategy on Disability, focusing on providing sustainable solutions to the problems faced by this category of citizens. The preparation of this strategy was inspired by directives from His Majesty King Abdullah II.
Main amendments proposed on the draft Law: • Changing the title of the present law from “Law on the Welfare of Disabled Persons No. 12 for the Year 1993” and its amendments to “Law on the Rights of Disabled Persons,” in line with modern global trends that aim to guarantee that disabled persons are entitled to full enjoyment and exercise of their fundamental rights and freedoms and in order to shift the focus from a care-based to a right-based approach. • Introducing new core themes inspired by the international convention, i.e., the core theme of public life and political participation, the core theme of family life, the core theme of rehabilitation in the community, and the core theme of the right to litigate. • Replacing the provision in Article 6 related to the establishment of a “National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons to be chaired by the Minister of Social Development” with “… Higher Council for the Affairs of Disabled Persons, which shall have a corporate personality and enjoy financial and administrative independence.”
The NCHR recommends the following: • Working on ratification of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and making Jordan one of the first States to sign and ratify this Convention. • Training cadres representing the different sectors of society — including judges, teachers and policemen — on the rights of persons with disabilities in order to ensure positive engagement of their part in the framework of development that mainstreams all social categories. Twelfth: Cultural Rights
International instruments — notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 27) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 15) —contain provisions that address cultural rights in an explicit way. The Jordanian Constitution does not include any explicit provisions related to cultural rights, but Article 15 (i) of the Constitution refers implicitly to cultural rights when it stipulates that “which 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.” According to Culture Law No.36 of 2006, the Ministry of Culture is responsible for drawing general policies for cultural action and cultural development; supporting cultural organizations and institutions; creating an enabling environment for unleashing creative and artistic capacities; enhancing, highlighting and disseminating intellectual, cultural and artistic creativity; establishing cultural and artistic centers and museums; honoring men of letters, writers and artists and encouraging talented Jordanians; and entrenching democracy concepts, including commitment to human rights and freedom of expression and opinion. The Ministry's budget for 2006 was modest, which restricted the Government's ability to support and encourage creativity. Despite the establishment of a fund to support cultural, the ordinance for this fund is still at the Prime Minister's Office awaiting the completion of usual legislative procedures. The Ministry of Culture has developed a plan for cultural development for the period 2006–2008, which includes 31 cultural programs and projects to be implemented by the Ministry. The main challenges facing cultural development in Jordan , as articulated in this national plan, are: • Scarcity of resources; • Poor infra-structures for the culture sector in most Governorates; • Concentration of cultural activities in the capital Amman ; • Weakness of the Culture Ministry's staff (the educational level of around 50% is less than secondary); • Centralization of the decision-making process within the Ministry's organizational structure; • Limited support provided by the Ministry to cultural establishments and creative individuals; • Poor coordination among the various players in the area of cultural development (official organizations, civil society institutions, the private sector).
The Ministry of Culture also grants the “State Appreciation and Encouragement Awards” to intellectuals in recognition of their works. These awards, however, were not distributed in 2005, but in 2006, six appreciation awards (five to individuals and one to the Ministry of Culture at the University of Jordan ) and six encouragement awards (five to individuals and one to a civil society organization) were distributed. The Ministry of Culture published 30 books in 2005 and 20 books in 2006 and supported the publication of 50 books in 2005 and 40 books in 2006. At the end of 2003, all the Ministry's directorates in the country's 11 governorates outside Amman were closed. Four directorates, however, were reopened in 2006 and it is expected that the others will be reopened in 2007.In Jordan, there are many civil cultural institutions, established by individuals in order to organize their cultural and creative activities on the basis of Societies Law No. 33 of 1966 , by virtue of which these institutions enjoy independence, but work under the auspices of Ministry of Culture.In terms of the right to protection and the enjoyment of scientific and intellectual creativity, Jordan has ratified two international conventions that entered into force in 2004, namely, the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) convention protecting authors' rights and the WIPO convention on protecting sounding recordings.
On the 31 st of May 2005, the amended Law No. 9 was issued. The most important amendments included lifting both freedom-suppressing punishments and financial penalties imposed against anyone who commits acts that constitute crimes under this Law. This Law was instrumental in protecting copyrights. A total of 296 violations of intellectual property rights were referred to courts in 2005, while 290 violations were referred to courts during the following year and up until the 27 th of November 2006. The Minister of Culture formed a coordinating committee to enforce the copyright law and combat all forms of violation of, and infringement upon the rights of producers, intellectuals and citizens. This committee submitted its recommendations to the Prime Minister, who has circulated them among the relevant stakeholder. It is noteworthy that National Library, in cooperation with the Jordanian Intellectual Property Association and the King Abdullah Center for Intellectual Property, launched an awareness campaign of the protection of intellectual property rights. The campaign aimed at raising the society's general awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights and their positive impact on the national economy. The National Library also organized an inspection campaign of shops, kiosks and street-pavement stalls selling records, compact disks and tapes with the aim of verifying that these materials comply with valid laws and regulations within the Copyright Law. Corruption, in its all forms and manifestations, is one of the most flagrant violations that infringes upon all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. C orruption threatens all people, particularly the poor, as it aggravates poverty by re-directing the allocated resources from the alleviation of poverty to the pockets of dishonest of officials and influential individuals. It also depletes tax revenues and custom duties, hikes the costs of contracts, lowers quality, restricts investment and weakens company work. Also, it impedes and causes setbacks to development and leads to the escalation and intensification of crime. • Article 1 of the 2004 United Nations Convention Against Corruption (published in the Official Gazette on the 1 st of August 2004 by virtue of Law No. 28 of 2004, which ratified it) states that the Convention's purposes are: “(a) To promote and strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively; (b) To promote, facilitate and support international cooperation and technical assistance in the prevention of and fight against corruption, including in asset recovery; (c) To promote integrity, accountability and proper management of public affairs and public property.” • Figures derived from the Technical Office of Judiciary Council indicate that more than 1,000 corruption cases were followed up during the period 2003–2005 and that more than 350 individuals were consequently referred to the judiciary. However, many of these cases are still pending before the law. • Transparency International's report for 2005 indicates that Jordan ranked in the 37 th place worldwide, but fell back three points in 2006 to 40 th place. The report revealed that corruption cases prevail in both the public and private sectors. • A public opinion survey on corruption in Jordan , conducted by the Good Governance Research Center in March 2006, indicates that governmental ministries and departments generally top the list of corruption-plagued institutions in the Kingdom, followed by municipalities and the Greater Amman Mayoralty. As for the extent to which corruption is practiced according to administration levels, the survey reveals that 54% of the respondents say that top managements are the most corrupt, followed by middle managements. The least corrupt are the lower administrative levels. Regarding the degree to which some factors impact the increasing corrupt practices, 71,6% of the respondents believe that the weak control and accountability are the most effective factors contributing to the rising prevalence of corruption, followed by the weakness of religious and moral deterrents (68%) and the shortcomings of anti-corruption laws (68.2%). • Finally, the adoption of the Anti- Corruption Law and the Law of Declaring Financial Status in 2006 is considered a serious national effort to address the corruption phenomenon. We hope practical application will confirm this approach. The NCHR recommends the following: • Embarking upon amending Laws governing the management of the State and the management of public funds, so that acts of corruption, including crimes of illicit riches and money laundering, are incriminated in accordance of the provisions of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. • upporting the independence and unity of the Judiciary in such as way as to ensure that corruption cases are examined the Judiciary's jurisdiction. • Universalization of transparency to cover the performance of all institutions in the State. • Amending the Accounting Bureau Law and enhancing the independence of this department in such a manner as to completely affiliate it to the House of Deputies Representatives ensure the commitment of the successive governments to dealing with the periodic report of the Accounting Bureau with greater seriousness and transparency. • Unleashing public freedoms, particularly freedom of opinion, expression, access to information, and the press, in such a manner as to ensure that areas of potential corruption are transparently exposed, corrupt officials are secluded and the values of integrity and sovereignty of law are upheld. Interview with the Director of the Civil Health Insurance Directorate – Dr. Mamoun Maghairah, Al Arab Al Yawm Newspaper, dated 27/6/2006. Expansion of the Health Insurance Umbrella to Cover Poverty Pockets in Jordan , Jordan Media Center , October 2005, website: http://www.jordan.jo
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