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Status Report Status Report Of Human Rights

05 ashemite Kingdom of Jordan The H

Acronyms and Abbreviations

AG * Attorney General CEDAW * Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CoC * Court of Cassation CRC *Convention on the Rights of the Child HCC * High Criminal Court HCJ * High Court of Justice HD * House of Deputies HR * Human Rights ICCPR * International Convention on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR * International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights JC * Judicial Council MOC * Ministry of Culture MOE * Ministry of Education MOH * Ministry of Health MOI * Ministry of the Interior MOL * Ministry of Labor MOSD * Ministry of Social Development NCFA * National Council for Family Affairs NCHR * National Center for Human Rights RRC * Reform and Rehabilitation Center UDHR * Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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Table of Contents

Introduction I. Civil and Political Rights Page Number (A) Civil Rights 5

1. Right to life and physical safety 5 2. Right to freedom and personal safety 9 3. Human rights and establishing justice 16 4. Right to assume public office 20 5. Right to a nationality, residence and asylum 21

(B) Political Rights 23

1. Right to elect and be elected 23 2. Right to freedom of opinion and expression 25 3. Right to establish and join labor and professional unions 27 4. Right to establish political parties 28 5. Right to associate and be member of associations 31

II. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 33

1 Right to work 33 2 Right to education 39 3 Right to social insurance 41 4 Right to health 42 5 Right to the environment 45 6 Right to housing 48 7 Right to a suitable standard of living 49 8 Women’s rights 49 9 Children’s rights 52

10 Rights of the disabled 56

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Introduction

This report — the second by Jordan’s National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) — covers the period from January 1, 2005 until December 31, 2005. It was compiled on the basis of international human rights (HR) criteria and concepts, as well as the Jordanian Constitution and other national legislation. Together, these documents constitute a basis for monitoring the state of man’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. In the preparation process, developments in legislation, policies, and decisions were monitored and their impact, positively or negatively, on HR was assessed. In addition, field visits were paid to different types of work places in order to compare NCHR information with factual findings. Before going into the details of the state of HR during the past year, two matters related to the obstacles and attitudes that have faced the Center, must be noted: 1. The NCHR is still facing some difficulties and hindrances, mainly stemming from the way in which the NCHR Law was handled by the Parliament, especially the Senate. The 2003 law establishing the NCHR continues to be provisional, due to protracted disagreements between the House of Deputies (HD) and the Senate on certain modifications, deemed necessary to guarantee NHCR freedom of action and activate and protect its role in monitoring the state of HR in the Kingdom against violations. Furthermore, these modifications are requirements that the law should embrace in view of their linkage to international criteria, espoused by the Paris Principles regulating the work of national HR institutions. This state of affairs, where the NCHR Law continues to be kept undecided by the Parliament, would have lasting negative effects on the Center’s legal stability, as well as its relations with similar HR organizations around the World. It would also impede the Center’s quest for full membership in the relevant regional and international groupings and stand as an obstacle in the way of recognition by the Geneva-based United Nations International Certification Committee (ICC). This would deprive the NCHR of moral and financial privileges that are necessary for its work and, consequently, impact Jordan’s credibility and its attitudes vis-à-vis HR issues in general. 2. In view of the importance of the Government’s position vis-à-vis NCHR reports on the state of HR in the Kingdom, its initial reaction to the 2004 report was generally positive. However, the ministerial committee formed to study the report and consider its recommendations was selective in dealing with many of the recommendations. The Government’s official response failed to mention several of the important recommendations. It did not even state any positive or negative viewpoints on these recommendations. In addition, responses related to certain pieces of legislation, relevant to the right to associate and the freedom of expression, were negative. The Center hopes that this second report and its recommendations are seriously scrutinized in a manner that befits the NCHR mandate, as well as the nature of the required positive developments in HR and democracy in Jordan.

Civil and Political Rights

During 2005 three consecutive governments were formed. The ambiguity and evident contradiction in the positions of the different governments on political reform programs and public freedom issues negatively impacted the development of HR and the democratization process in the Kingdom.

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In this regard, the Center recalls that, before submitting its resignation and just one day prior to the convening of Parliament’s 8th regular session, the previous government tabled four drafts for provisional laws (on customs, agriculture, income tax and State lands). None of these draft laws could be described in any way whatsoever as “urgent,” as the Constitution requires in such cases. Nor did any of the four draft laws necessitate the adoption of urgent arrangements or warrant spending urgent expenses that could not be postponed. Indeed, the Government rushed these draft laws to the Parliament, thus definitely committing a flagrant Constitutional violation. Generally speaking, no substantial change or positive development in legislation or procedures related to civil and political rights took place during 2005, with the exception of some reforms that were applied to Reform and Rehabilitation Centers (RRCs), which will be discussed elsewhere in this report. Laws governing these rights are still valid, without any change or amendment. In 2005, there were attempts at imposing more restraints on political freedoms and the work of political parties and professional unions and associations. On 6 March 2005, the Government submitted the draft “Professional Associations Law,” for HD deliberation. In addition, a series of administrative restrictions, which culminated in confrontation, were imposed on the activities of political parties and the exercise by the professional associations of their functions. As it monitors the positive and negative developments in HR and democracy in Jordan, the NCHR reiterates its conviction that the genuine turning point towards reforming legislation and policies and rationalizing decision-making in this context, lies only in establishing the sovereignty of law, conducting free and impartial parliamentary elections without any intervention, developing civil society organizations, including political parties, labor unions and professional associations independent of governmental control, adopting a comprehensive security policy that responds to the requirements of HR and democracy, and arriving at a national consensus at all levels on the need to all forms of corruption.

(A) Civil Rights 1. The Right to Life and Personal Safety Despite the administration’s keenness on safeguarding the right to life generally and the judiciary’s commitment to implementing the provisions of the law without leniency towards any criminal act that entails depriving citizens of their right to life or negatively infringes upon their personal safety, there still are factors that cannot be overlooked, which are detrimental to personal safety and conducive to deprivation of the right to life. The following are some of these factors: 1. Harsh punishment: Capital punishment is the harshest verdict in the Jordanian penal code. Laws stipulate the competence of courts to inflict capital punishment on the perpetrators in more than 30 genres of criminal acts, varying in gravity from crimes committed against individuals to those that infringe upon the security of the State and those that pose a general danger to the society. Notes on capital punishment in Jordan: • No legislative amendments were reported during 2005 that put an end to, or curb capital punishment

in the Kingdom.

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• During 2005, the High Criminal Court (HCC) passed capital punishment verdicts against 10 persons,

while the State Security Court sentenced two individuals to death, but the verdicts were commuted to hard labor. Ten individuals were executed in 2005, while 19 others are still on death row awaiting execution. Two of those awaiting execution were sentenced by the Military Court on 18 September 1976 and 26 June 1976, respectively, for spying.

• Many crimes are listed in Jordan’s penal laws as punishable by execution. In this regards, the NCHR

is convinced that this punishment is “extirpatory” and should be resorted to only exceptionally and in cases of dire necessity. Hence, the Center recommends that the execution punishment be carefully reviewed and the necessary amendments adopted in such a manner that does not sanction imposing capital punishment except in the gravest and most dangerous crimes, such as perpetrated murder. This review should be undertaken within the following controls:

A. The punishment may not be imposed merely because the culprit has committed a crime punishable by execution. Instead, the courts should ascertain whether the culprit is dangerous to the society and whether hope has been lost of his reform and a great potential still exists for his return to perpetrating such crimes, if he has not been up-rooted from the society. B. The courts should also specifically ascertain whether the incriminating evidence against the culprit is strong enough and whether the possibility of his innocence is almost non-existent. Should the court fail to ascertain this, the court should resort, as a pretext, to mitigating circumstances in order to avoid passing an execution sentence. C. Regular and special criminal courts should not pass execution verdicts except by the unanimous decision of all the judges. D. Execution verdicts should be entitled to all forms of contestation in courts of appeal and cassation, irrespective of the type of court that passes the verdict. 2. Torture and harsh, inhuman and degrading punishment: During the year 2005, the NCHR received 54 complaints touching on the right to personal safety. The Center investigated all these complaints and addressed the relevant authorities in each complaint, which proved to have a logical and legal basis for follow-up. On many of these complaints, the Center received responses indicating that the competent security authorities had investigated the cases and imposed penal or disciplinary punishments against the perpetrators of these violations. Responses from the Public Security Department (PSD) indicated that specific measures had been adopted in 74% of the beating complaints. • On 27 December 2005, the Center sent a memorandum to His Excellency the Prime Minister

demanding the adoption of a series of legislative and procedural arrangements to combat torture. The center resorted to this action because it realized that valid Jordanian penal laws were inadequate and did not meet international standards.

In the light of the complaints, which the Center received during 2005, as well as decisions passed by the Court of Appeal and the Police Court, the NCHR recommends the following amendments to the relevant penal laws:

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First: Amendment of Article 208 of the Penal Code, which stipulates the same punishment for anyone who commits an act of torture, irrespective of whether he is a public servant or an ordinary individual. Furthermore, the punishment stipulated in the law is not commensurate, in the first place, with the gravity of the torture offense. This is not the case in the bodies of law in most of the Arab countries, where laws set aside a provision related to public servants and impose on perpetrators of acts of torture hard labor sentences ranging between 3 and 10 years. The NCHR proposed amendment should read as follows: 1. Any employee who orders the torture of an accused or undertakes that act himself in order to force him/her to confess to a crime or give information thereon shall be punished by hard labor from three to 10 years. 2. If the victim dies in the process, the perpetrator shall be punished by the same punishment prescribed for perpetrated murder. Second: Investigation and trial procedures related to acts of torture should be solely vested with the Judiciary. Third: The laws should provide for the right of torture victims to direct compensation by the State when a public employee commits the act of torture. Crimes of torture should not be lost by limitations, nor should they be included in general amnesties. 3. Narcotics: Narcotics pose a grave threat to the right to physical safety, as excessive doses may lead to deprivation of the right to life. In addition, using narcotics is conducive to psychological effects — such as depression, schizophrenia and suicide. Comparison of official statistics for the years 2004 and 2005, published by the Anti-Narcotics Department, reveal significant increases in the numbers of both traffickers and abusers, as shown in the following tables: Cases uncovered by the anti-Narcotics Department are distributed as follows:

Number of Cases Trafficking Possession and Use Farming Unknown2004 1,691 339 1,317 6 29 2005 2,041 344 1,639 11 47

Persons arrested are distributed as follows:

Number of Persons Trafficking Possession and Use Farming 2004 2,514 349 2,158 7 2005 4,792 746 4,027 19

Despite the protection, prevention and therapeutic efforts exerted by the Anti-Narcotics Directorate, the increasing numbers of both trafficking and abuse cases in 2005 and the subsequent detrimental effects on the right to life and physical, mental and psychological health, warrant adoption of a sound national strategy that pools all official and non-official efforts. Here, information plays an effective role in fighting this pestilence.

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4. Traffic accidents: Traffic Department statistics reveal that, during 2005, there were 83,129 traffic accidents, resulting in 790 deaths and 17,579 injuries. These accidents were caused mainly by the drivers, who violated and did not abide by the provisions of the Traffic Law, as well as the bylaws and regulations associated therewith. Despite the adoption and implementation of many traffic-safety awareness programs, with a view to reducing traffic accidents during the period 2004–2007, these accidents are increasing continuously. They pose a grave threat to life and physical safety. The nature of traffic violations indicates that the drivers’ non-abidance by traffic laws is one of the most important causes of accidents. Since the current programs have not succeeded in reducing traffic accidents, it is obvious that responsibility for these casualties cannot be laid on the shoulders of the drivers alone. Instead, a national program is needed to assess the reasons behind the violations and, consequently, organize the flow of traffic, as well as parking and pedestrian places, intersections and crowded residential areas. The program requires the participation of several agencies, e.g., the Greater Amman Mayoralty, the various municipalities, the Ministry of Public Works and the PSD in order to equip roads with traffic signs and issue licenses for work sites on highways and monitor these sites in order to address the sites on which grave accidents occur. It is also incumbent on a number of ministries, such those of Education and Culture, as well as the different media of mass communication, to implement a sustained education-information campaign in order to raise the citizens’ awareness of the gravity of traffic accidents and the human and material losses, as well as the social problems they leave. 5. Industrial accidents and occupational diseases: Social Security Corporation (SSC) statistics indicate that there were 16,885 industrial injuries during 2005, resulting in 702 deaths and 511 cases of varying degrees of disablement. Compared to 2004 figures, statistics show a significant increase in the number of industrial accidents, as well as deaths resulting from these accidents. 6. Crime: Crimes targeting persons specifically threaten personal safety. Official statistics reveal that, during 2005, a total of 34 premeditated murders, 33 deliberate murders, 536 intentional injuries, 78 rapes and 4 crimes resulting in permanent disability. When compared with figures for 2004, these statistics indicate a significant decrease in the number of murders and rape crimes. 7. Diseases and malnutrition: Ministry of Health (MOH) statistics for the years 2004 and 2005 indicate a decrease in the number of reported cases of some contagious diseases as shown in the following table:

Disease Number of Cases in 2004 Number of cases in 2005Measles 14,483 8,355 Mumps 5,768 5.375

German Measles 7,647 13,879 Meningitis 762 747 Hepatitis ٢٦٦ ٣٤٢

Statistics also indicate that the prevalence of mumps is highest in Zarqa Governorate and the Northern Desert regions, while the German measles prevalence is highest in Amman and that of hepatitis is highest in Maan, Ajloun and the Northern Ghor regions. 8. Culpa, negligence and breach of duty: There are still reports of substantial violations of the right to life and personal safety (including cases of medical malpractice), which have been inflicted against citizens and

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others. In this regard, it should be borne in mind that legal provisions on responsibility for medical malpractice are limited. This applies to both the Penal Code, as well as the Jordanian Medical Association Law. Furthermore, the methods used to determine the type and size of the errors and responsibility for these errors are inadequate. Yet, despite the dire need for a law that guarantees the enhancement of the protection of the right to life and personal safety, no legislation has so far been enacted to address responsibility for medical mistakes. MOH statistics indicate that 209 complaints, including 86 of medical malpractice or negligence by MOH employees, were reported. 2. Right to Personal Freedom and Safety

A. Suppression of freedom at temporary detention facilities (lock-ups); B. Situation of RRC prisoners; C. Excessive use of force and exaggerated raids and detentions; D. Medical trials and vending human organs.

A. Suppression of freedoms and temporary detention facilities (lock-ups) International instruments guarantee the right to freedom and personal safety. Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) stipulates, “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention … except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.” The Jordanian Constitution states that, “No person may be detained or imprisoned except in accordance with the provisions of the law.” The Jordanian Law of Penal Procedures lists the cases in which law officers may arrest and suppress the freedom of suspects. These include felonies, cases of flagrante delicto in misdemeanors punishable by more than a six-month prison term, as well as cases of theft, usurpation, severe assaults, pandering and violation of public ethics. Article 100 of the same law imposes formal controls and restraints that officers have to observe during the detention process; otherwise, the detention will be invalidated. The restraints include organizing a written report of the arrest procedure, which the accused has to sign, stating his name, date and place of detention, and time of placement in the detention center. They also call for hearing the affidavit of the accused immediately after the arrest, and referring him within 24 hours, together with the minutes, to the competent Attorney General (AG). Yet, there have been reports of violations by law officers while arresting suspects, most notably the following: 1. Non-observance of the period of detention as stipulated in Article 100 of the Law of Penal Procedures: There have been reports of detaining suspects for more than 24 hours, sometimes as long as several weeks, on the pretext of the Crime Prevention Law (administrative detention). There have also been cases of detention without basing the action on the provisions of this law. 2. The law officers’ non-observance of the authority the law grants them, which provides that they have to “hear the affidavit of the person.” Instead, there have been reports of excess of power and subjecting the suspects to “interrogation and defiance.” The fact that this authority is inclusively vested in the AG implies a substantial violation of the Law of Penal Procedures, which entails the nullity of the investigations. The Court of Cassation (CoC) affirmed this provision in several decisions.

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3. There have been reports of security officers suppressing individuals’ freedom after their release or the termination of their punishment on the pretext of security consideration. The NCHR received several complaints from persons, released by the Judiciary, but sent back to prison by virtue of an administrative detention order on the pretext that leaving them free endangered public safety. Doubtless, this procedure contravenes international covenants and national laws, because it means that a person is punished twice for the same offence, once by the Judiciary and again by administrative officers at the recommendation of security agencies. In this regard, statistics show that, during 2005, 513 persons were detained administratively in RRCs. * The NCHR believes that the Crime Prevention Law includes provisions that infringe upon personal freedom by granting authority to administrative officers to detain any person, if they believe that he might commit an offense or that his freedom might endanger public safety. Hence, the Center addressed the Ministry of Interior (MOI) on 14 September 2005 demanding revision of administrative detentions implemented by virtue of the Crime Prevention Law, as well as the violations of the Crime Prevention Law prompted by the excessive use of administrative detention. The Center stresses that such acts constitute flagrant HR violation. In this regards, the NCHR proposed the formation of a committee to study the various applications of the Crime Prevention Law and submit suitable recommendations aiming at repealing or amending this law in such a manner as to cope with Jordan’s current public stand of HR promotion and protection of personal freedoms. On 3 July 2005, the Prime Minister formed a committee to study NCHR recommendations. The committee is chaired by the Minister of Justice and includes the Interior Minister, the PSD Director General and the Governor of Amman as members. This committee, however, never met, but, following the formation of the new Government, the committee was re-formed by adding a NCHR representative and AG delegate. To date, this committee has not met. In view of the importance of this subject, the NCHR sees the urgency of convening this committee as soon as possible to embark on its mandate and to give credibility to Jordan’s position in this direction. Detention centers: During 2005, the NCHR made several visits to temporary PSD detention centers, as well as those run by the General Intelligence and Military Security departments. * PSD temporary detention centers: During 2005, visits were made to PSD temporary detention locations (lock-ups at the various police departments and security centers, as well as temporary detention facilities at the Directorate of Preventive Security, the Criminal Investigation Department, the Anti-Narcotics Department, and the family Protection Directorate.) These visits revealed the following:

• Most of these places are small in space, located in the basements of PSD buildings, and lack good

ventilation, lighting and adequate health conditions. • Several detention centers at these police departments lack special places for detaining women. • Only lunch is served to the detainees, who have to pay for the other meals. Beds and covers are not

provided to the detainees in some detention centers (especially in Amman’s Criminal Investigation

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lock-up), on the pretext that the detainees could use the beds and covers to hurt themselves or commit suicide. This is a violation of Article 10-1 of the ICCPR.

* Places of temporary detention at the Directorate of General Intelligence: A delegation representing the NCHR paid two visits to detention facilities run by the Directorate of General Intelligence. At the time of the first visit, on 6 August 2005, the number of detainees was 13. The second visit was carried out on 12 December 2005, when the number of detainees was 84, all detained at the request of the State Security Court’s attorney. The second visit was made just following the bomb attacks in a number of hotels in the capital Amman. During both visits, several detainees were interviewed and asked about their conditions and the treatment they were receiving. One detainee reported that he had been beaten. Two others stated that they were exposed to torture. During the second visit, the delegation met with the Iraqi national who had participated in the suicide attacks in one of the hotels. Members of the committee also inspected the detention facilities, acquainted themselves with the services provided to the detainees, and inquired about their complaints. The detainees’ complained pertained to cases of maximum-security confinement. They also demanded more books to read. * RRCs and Armed Forces detention facilities: On 28 September 2005, an NCHR delegation visited for the first time the Reform and Rehabilitation (Military) Center run by the Armed Forces. The findings of the visit revealed that the center hosted 265 inmates, of whom 120 were judicially detained and 145 had judicial verdicts passed against them. The cases included 44 cases of desertion from military service, 18 cases of thefts and attempted thefts, 17 cases of murder and attempted murder, 11 cases of adultery and sodomy, and 154 other miscellaneous cases. The NCHR delegation met the detainees and inquired about their conditions and the treatment they were receiving. No complaints, written or oral, were submitted during the visit. The team also visited a detention center run by the Directorate of Military Security (the Military Intelligence office in Salt) on 22 September 2005. During the visit, no detainees were met because the facility had no detainees. National penal legislation related to depression of freedom: * There are many remarks on national legislation that constitute infringement on personal freedom. The most importance of these remarks may be highlighted in the following: 1. Article 7-1 of the State Security Court gives the Judicial Police authority to arrest and keep persons in custody for a period of seven days, when necessary, before referring them to the AG in cases suspicion of any of the crimes under the jurisdiction of the State Security Court. Assigning this authority to the Judicial Police violates the general principle defined by the Law of Penal Procedures, i.e., detention for a period of only 24 hours. It also infringes upon personal freedom and is viewed as an unjustified expansion of the provisions of the law, because Judicial Police officers are authorized to arrest and detain persons for 24 hours in murder crimes and criminal thefts and for seven days in crimes under the jurisdiction of the State Security

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Court. This is even weightier in view of the fact that many misdemeanors are under the jurisdiction of this court. 2. The criminal protection prescribed in the Jordanian Penal Code is weak in cases of suppression of freedom (unlawful arrest). Unlike most of the legislations in the other Arab countries, in which such acts are punishable, the Jordanian Penal Code does not single out any provisions to punish Judicial Police officers if they unlawfully arrest persons. Article 346 of Jordan’s Penal Code equates public employees with ordinary persons in punishment for unlawful arrests. It inflicts a slight punishment on perpetrators of such crimes, i.e., a prison term of 1 week to one year, or a fine not exceeding 50 Jordanian dinars. This punishment is not commensurate with the gravity of the crime, thus prompting the need for a special punishment on a public employee who unlawfully arrests any person. It is to be noted that Article 180 of the Jordanian Penal Code inflicts more severe punishments for violating the sanctity of homes if a public employee commits the offence than it does in cases where the perpetrator is an ordinary person. * In the light of the above-mentioned facts, the NCHR recommends the addition of a second paragraph to Article 346 of the Penal Code as follows: Article 346-2: Punishment shall not be less than imprisonment for a year if the perpetrator of such acts is a public employee.” 3. The right to complaint against suppression of freedom: Article 107 of the Penal Procedures Law guarantees the right of any person to complain against the depression of his freedom. It stipulates that “each detainee or prisoner shall have the right to submit to the prison warden at any time a written or verbal complaint and demand communicating the complaint to the AG office; the warden shall accept the complaint and immediately communicate it after recording its in a register especially prepared for that purpose.” Yet, this provision is not practiced in fact, in view of the complete secrecy surrounding investigations by the security agencies and the fact that staff members of these agencies prevent complainants from submitting such complaints. 4. The right of detainees to seek legal advice: Article 14/3/D states that, “everyone shall be entitled to … to defend himself in person or through legal assistance …” But, Jordanian penal laws do not grant this right to persons arrested during investigations by the security agencies (preliminary investigation). Furthermore, Article 63 of the Penal Procedures Law permits the AG, during the preliminary investigation in cases of the need to expedite procedures for fear of losing evidence, to ask a suspect whether he is guilty of the charge before calling the attorney to attend the investigation. * The NCHR recommends the necessity of granting any arrested person the right to appoint an attorney, especially during investigations by the security agencies. It also recommends subjecting any person, detained for more than 24 hours, to a medical examination and keeping the results in the suspect’s file. B. The situation of RRC inmates: * During 2005, the NCHR observed tangible improvement in conditions in some PSD-operated RRCs, equally in terms of treatment of inmates, level of the services provided to detainees, or resolving a number of problems, from which these centers suffered and were indicated in the first NCHR report.

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In addition, the PSD embarked on the unprecedented measure of opening the RRC doors to journalists and civil society organizations in order to acquaint themselves with the situation in these centers in general. The measure allowed journalists to visit the men’s quarters at the PSD facility at Juweida on 5 June 2005. It also allowed members of the Bar Association’s Freedoms Committee, as well as representatives of several civil society organizations to visit other centers. A visitors’ lounge, as well as a lawyer’s room and a courtroom were opened at the men’s quarters at the Juweida facility to try inmates. – Selecting new, more capable bodies to manage RRCs led to a large decrease in the number of the inmates’ mistreatment or torture complaints. During 2005, the NCHR received 70 complaints, compared with 250 in 2004. – In an attempt to reduce overcrowding in prisons, especially at Juweida, the PSD established the Muwaqqar RRC, the construction of which began during 2005. – Amendements were also made on the valid registration and records system pertaining to RRC inmates. Information are now computerizedinsome prisons, despite their lack of the inmates’ social record. – On 29 December 2005, an SSC-PSD agreement was signed with the view of including 170 inmates, who work at RRC workshops, in SSC records. While the NCHR values this step, it calls for expanding its base to cover more beneficiaries. * By contrast, the year 2005 witnessed several hunger strikes that started at the Qafqafa RRC on 2 June 2005. The strike started at the so-called “Political Organizations Organization” and spread to the reform and rehabilitations centers at Juweida and Suwaqa for reasons related to the protracted judicial procedures for some prisoners, who have been undergoing trial for several years by the State Security Court. Other causes pertained to the inmates’ solidarity with each other vis-à-vis the arbitrary placement of an inmate in solitary confinement. Despite PSD efforts aiming at improving RRC conditions, some of these facilities still suffer from certain problems, mainly: 1. Absence of judicial following of conditions in prisons and detention facilities 2. Inadequate legal assistance provided to prisoners because of poverty or ignorance of the importance of such assistance 3. Administrative detention and the rise of the number of administrative detainees to about 513, an increase of 56 over the figure reported in the second NCHR periodical report on RRC conditions, published on 6 February 2005. 4. A rise in the rate of returning to the same crime (recurrent crimes): No accurate statistics are available on the rates of recurrent crimes, types of crimes, age groups of perpetrators, geographical locations and the reasons that prompt return to the crime. 5. An evident lack of some forms of health care (monitoring, preventive and therapeutic), a shortage in the number of medical staff, and unavailability of certain medicines and treatments

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6. Inadequate psychological care and lack of such care in four RRCs (Karak, Maan, Aqaba, and Jafr), despite the presence of a number of psychological patients within the centers 7. Unavailability of social welfare services in some centers and absence of follow-up care programs aiming at preparing inmates for the post-release stage and guaranteeing their re-integration into the society and non-return to crime 8. Prevalence of illiteracy among inmates 9. Prevalence of intoxicating pills and violence among inmates 10. No informed criteria have been adopted to identify the centers’ capacity that take into consideration the overall area of the center and the area allocated to each inmate for sleeping, as well as other factors that enable the implementation of international standards in building and managing prisons. 11. Lack of a scheme for classifying inmates and absence of genuine criteria in this regard to determine the degree of criminal threat and identify the needs of each inmate. In view of its importance, this point was recorded in the previous NCHR report. 12. Inadequate programs for reforming and rehabilitating inmates 13. Staff members working in reform and rehabilitation facilities are not stable in their jobs. The NCHR has repeatedly demanded the authorities to address this issue. It now urges the PSD to take the necessary measures in the regard, in view of the positive effects this will have on the RRC administration. It also recommends the institution of material and moral incentives for the cadres of these centers. * In the light of the actual situation in these centers, the NCHR recommends the urgency of activating the role of the Higher Committee on Reform and Rehabilitation, headed by the Interior Minister, by including in its membership representatives of the various ministries that hold stakes to reforming the centers and rehabilitating the inmates. C. Excessive use of force and beating Information made available to the NCHR by the PSD indicates that during 2005 no person was killed by PSD officers during their performance of their duty. On the other hand, a total of 81 PSD officers were injured while performing their official duties. Statistics indicate that 38 complaints were received by the PSD Complaints and Human Rights Office alleging that the complainants were subjected to beating. Of these 14 complaints were left on file, while rulings were passed to abort the trial in 12 other cases. Only one case was referred to the Police Court, while three were tried before the unit commander. In order to enforce the law, achieve justice and be in harmony with PSD public policies, the NCHR recommends the adoption of stricter measures against perpetrators of these violations of citizens’ rights.

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In addition, there were recurrences during 2005 of situations of collision and use of force against citizens. In this regard, the Government banned professional associations from staging activities and oratorical rallies inside the building housing the associations and forbade citizens and members of the professional associations from reaching the site, sometimes using force. During rallies organized on January 25 2005 and February 15 2005, the clashes resulted in the injury of a number of citizens and members of the associations on the pretext that such meetings were illegal. D. Medical experiments and trafficking in human organs: Provisional Law No. 67 (2001) for Pharmaceutical Studies authorizes the General Food and Drug Organization to monitor pharmaceutical studies related to conducting medical experiments. On this basis, conducting medical experiments on humans without the free consent of the subject and selling human organs are among the most flagrant violations of the right to life and the right to physical safety, both of which are guaranteed by international covenants. Article 7 of the ICCPR stipulates, “no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.” In addition, Article 9 of the 2004 Arab Human Rights Charter stipulates, “no person shall be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation or to the exploitation of his organs without his free consent.” In the light of the above, the NCHR recommends the following legislative amendments to Law No. 72 (2001) on Conducting Pharmaceutical Experiments with the view of harmonizing this law with valid international laws governing this type of studies and guaranteeing the protection and safety of volunteers: 1. Amending Article 1 of the law to include medicinal herbs, as monitoring medications manufactured from medicinal herbs is not stipulated in the law. 2. Amending Article 7 (A) in such a manner as to include a physician in the institutional committee, because this article does not stipulate that the committee should have a physician as one of its members; 3. Amending Article 5 (A) to read: “No pharmaceutical experiment shall be conducted on a human being without securing his prior written approval and notifying his relatives.” The aim of this amendment is that should any repercussions occur to the subject of the medical experiment, at a time when he is outside the direct supervision of the specialized physician, the donor’s family will have knowledge of the fact and will be able to notify the supervising physician. 4. Amending Article 15 in such a manner as to grant the Drugs Directorate in the Organization the authority to monitor any excesses of power by the various centers and hospitals conducting studies without obtaining the necessary licenses from the institutional committee; otherwise, there will be HR violations. The General Organization of Food and Drugs should be intent on being transparent and should have an annual report that includes the various aspects of pharmaceutical studies. Trafficking in human organs: National laws guarantee the required protection for the right to physical safety. Article 35 of the Jordanian Penal Code and its Amendment Number 16 (1960) stipulate that, “if an action leads to severing, excising, amputating or maiming a limb, or incapacitates one of the senses, or causes grave distortion or any other

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permanent or seemingly-permanent handicap, the perpetrator shall be punished by temporary hard labor for a period not exceeding 10 years.” MOH medical sources stress that all the organ transplants carried out in Jordan have been from donors, mostly relatives of the patients, as stipulated in Law Number 23 (1977) on Unilizing Organs of the Human Body and its amendments. This law guarantees donor’s right to life and physical safety, even if the donation is carried out at his free consent. Article 4 (A-1) of this law prohibts the transplantation of vital-for-life organs, “if the transplantation endangers the donor’s life, even with his free consent.” The law also punishes anyone who violates its provisions, which, in turn, guarantee man’s right to physical safety. Article 10 stipualtes that “without prejudice to any punishment stipulated in any other legislation, anyone who violates the provisions of this law shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of not less than one year or a fine of not less than ten thousand dinars, or both of these punishments.” This punishment has an upper limit of three years, which does not harmonize with the gravity of the offence. This necessitates a legislative amendment by virtuye of which the upper limit of this punishment shall be raised in such a manner as to be commensurate with its gravity. In May 2005, PSD officers arrested members of a network, who trafficked in human organs (kidneys) and exported them to a neighboring country. There was also an official record at the AG office of a case of intervention to excise a human organ in which a human organ was transplanted outside Jordan against the will of the donor in exchange for a financial compensation. During 2005, the ministries of interior in Jordan and Syria signed a cooperation agreement, by virtue of which both sides commit themselves to cooperation in the area of combating organized crime through exchanging information on the different patterns of organized crime, especially in trafficking in persons and human organs. The NCHR recommends the conclusion of similar agreements with other neighboring countries in order to curb and stop the spread of these violations, even if carried out outside Jordan. 3. Human Rights and Establishing Justice: Findings of a public opinion poll, conducted by the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan on “The Situation of the Judiciary in Jordan,” indicate that the judiciary system and the verdicts passed by regular courts enjoy the confidence of 74% of all Jordanians. Yet, the findings reveal an evident weakness in the judiciary inspection system, which 75% of the respondents describe as “ineffective.” As far as the Judicial Institute, judges and lawyers believe that an urgent need does exist for developing study materials and upgrading the teaching staff. On 19 December 2005, the Judicial Council (JC) approved the Judicial Conduct Code, which addresses matters related to independence of the judiciary and obligates judges not to allow litigants, lawyers or any other person to interfere in, or influence their judgments. Any judge exposed to domination of, or influence on his rulings is required to inform the JC President thereof. The Code also addresses litigation guarantees and the conduct of judges. Most importantly, it calls for speedy settlement of cases, equality between litigants and conducting trials in public. It obligates judges to perform their judicial duties without preferences, partiality, prejudice, bias or predisposition. Instead, judges should carryout their duties in such a way as to enhance confidence in the performance and integrity of the judiciary system.

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It also includes important specifications related to competence and capability. For example, it obligates judges to be fully acquainted with all the valid laws and ordinances in the Kingdom, as well as their amendments and juristic elucidations. Judges also have to observe every judicial discretionary interpretation issued by higher courts on controversial issues. Impediments and restraints facing the right to litigate: 1. Slow litigation procedures: Even though efforts are being exerted to address this phenomenon, yet the problem still exists. It even prompts some people to avoid resorting to the judiciary because they feel that achieving justice can only be achieved at a high price, including litigation and lawyers fees, delays in settling cases, and the frequent appearances they have to make at the courts. 2. As of 1 October 2005, there were a total of 80,926 active cases, 7% of which were being tried for more than three years. * The NCHR reiterates its position, stated in the 2004 report, that the norms of litigation should be amended. This includes procedures for the filing and rebuttal of cases, submission of evidence, imposing a maximum period for settling cases and holding the judge disciplinarily accountable for non-adherence thereto, activating the judicial inspection system and increasing the number of inspectors, and paying more attention to quality. * The NCHR would like to draw attention specifically to the worsening situation vis-à-vis the phenomenon of interference by higher judicial bodies in the processing of cases, as well as the verdicts issued by some courts, which on its own constitutes a crime and causes prompts the litigating parties to lose their confidence in the integrity of the judiciary. 3. Absence of a constitutional court: A constitutional court is among the most important guarantees for achieving justice and protecting HR. While the High Court of Justice (HCJ) is empowered to suspend provisional laws, it is not authorized, however, to look into the constitutionality of ordinary laws promulgated by the Legislative Branch. This underlines the necessity of a constitutional court, whose jurisdiction includes the issuance of decisions to annul laws or certain provisions that contravene the Constitution or do not agree with a certain stipulation therein. While the NCHR stresses the urgency of creating a constitutional court in Jordan, it would also like to recall that the 1990 National Charter considers the establishment of this court necessary for the reinforcing the main pillars of a law-based State. The Charter outlines this court’s competence as: • Interpretation of the provisions of the Jordanian Constitution in matters referred to it by the Council

of Ministers; • Settling any constitutional complications in cases referred to it by the relevant courts; • Settling controversies and appeals related to the constitutionality of laws and bylaws that govern the

suits filed by the stakeholders in these courts.

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The verdicts of this court, whose competence should be limited to stating the constitutional ruling, should be final and binding to all the State’s authorities and to the public. The National Agenda, published in 2005, referred to this subject without presenting a decisive opinion thereon. The High Court of Justice: When the HCJ Law Number 12 was issued in 1992, it stressed the independence of this court, expanded its authorities and precluded the immunity of administrative decisions. It also gave the HCJ the right to stop provisional laws that contravene the constitution or any legislation that is in breach of the law or the Constitution and to rule that the annulled decisions are compensated for. This court is seen as a fortress for protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals, on the one hand, and an honest advisor to the Administration on the other hand. * In order to enable the HCJ to achieve its aspired-for objective, the NCHR recommends amending the law establishing this law in such a manner as to include the following points: 1. Assigning general competence to the High Count of Justice in administrative disputes; 2. Making litigation before the administrative judiciary in at least two stages in order to give the litigating parties the right to appeal rulings of courts of the first degree. Thus, we secure protection for individuals’ rights and provide advice and guidance to the administration. 3. Preparing judicial staff members who are specialized in administrative law and adequately qualified in terms of their knowledge of the nature of public law and administrative disputes, as well as the philosophy behind the relation between the individual and the authorities and the ways and means of striking a balance between the two sides; 4. Extending the competence or jurisdiction of the High Count of Justice to include disciplining, in addition to annulment and compensation. The following is a table indicating the number and result of cases filed at the HCJ between 1 January and 30 October 2005:

Number of

cases Decided Pending Dismissed Annulled Withdrawn All but decided (withdrawal of decision)

517 443 38 406 101 19 10

* Violations and obstacles preventing the existence of criteria for just trials: A. Articles 9 and 14 of the ICCPR contain the most important criteria for fair trials. Yet, there still are violations that stand in the way of these criteria, notably: 1. Security agencies still arrest and detain suspects for as long as several weeks in detention centers operated by these agencies (lock-ups). These arrests and detentions are sometimes made possible by the elaborate authorities the law has granted to administrative officers. Suspects are detained in lockups by virtue of administrative decisions that lack legitimacy, relevance and accuracy. The NCHR has received a number of complaints regarding the administrative detention of several persons in Criminal Investigation lock-ups,

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where they were subjected to intensive interrogations. These persons were released after one or two weeks without being referred to any judicial agency. Between 1 January and 27 September 2005, 700 persons were administratively detained for intensive interrogation by the Amman Criminal Investigation department alone. 2. The treatment of detainees is not proper. Because administrative detentions are usually long, some security investigators resort to torture in order to coerce suspects to admit to crimes, which they might or might not have committed. These officers are encouraged to resort to this method by the fact that suspects arte referred to the relevant court only after the scars of torture have disappeared. There have been many CoC decisions about these violations. 3. After having been referred to the court, some persons are placed under police supervision (house arrest) for as long as one year by virtue of decisions issued by administrative officers at the recommendation of security agencies. This has negative effects on these persons’ life and prevents them from exercising their daily tasks, which constitute the source of their and their children’s livelihood and infringe upon their right to move freely. * (The NCHR received complaints from persons, who were placed under police supervision after having been acquitted by the courts. The Center addressed the relevant authority and secured the lifting of house arrest on some of the complainants. The Center is of the view that placing persons under police supervision (house arrest) should be under the jurisdiction of the judiciary, but after the issuance of a final ruling in specific crimes and in cases of repetition of these crimes, following the pattern of most of the legislations). 4. There is an absence of effective judicial supervision of centers of administrative detention (lock-ups). These places have not been visited by any judiciary agency. They must be subjected to judicial supervision AG inspection. 5. Torture: Even though Jordan has ratified the 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Kingdom has not implemented its provisions, nor has it translated into tangible fact in the national penal legislation the commitments this convention imposes on the signatories. This enables workers in some security agencies to exercise torture against suspects in order to coerce them to confess to crimes, which they might or might not have committed. B. The range of legal protection of the individual’s right to physical safety (when being accused) is frail, as evidenced by the following facts: 1. Unlike most other constitutions, the Jordanian Constitution does not stipulate the constitutional principle that prohibits inflicting material and psychological harm upon the accused. It also does not address the victims’ right to direct fair compensation by the State. Nor does it list torture crimes among offenses that are not lost by limitations. 2. The Penal Procedures Code attaches legal value to confessions made before security officers. Article 159 considers such confessions as legal evidence, sufficient for passing a death penalty if the AG builds his case on the circumstances of the confessions and the court is convinced that the confession was made voluntarily and willingly.

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* The NCHR received a complaint, in which the complainant claimed that the HCC sentenced his brother to death in 1999 in Case No. 325/99 on murder charges and that the death penalty was subsequently executed. In 2005, however, the same court sentenced another person to death in Case No. 44/2005 for murdering the same victim. The complainant added that his brother’s confession had been abstracted by coercion and that his brother had told the court thereof, but the court, notwithstanding, inflicted the death penalty on his brother. 3. According to Jordanian legislation, offenders working in security agencies are tried before special courts that lack international standards for fair trials as stipulated in Article 14 of the ICCPR. Some rulings by these courts are not subject to regular ways of appeal, but rather to ratification by the director of the security agency. * The NCHR is of the opinion that investigating and examining torture charges should be vested in an independent and impartial judicial agency and that this can be achieved only if it is undertaken by regular courts and the AG. 4. CoC Supervision of torture offences is not efficient. Article 159 of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures prevents effective supervision, especially if the subject Court is convinced of the confession made by the suspect in front of security agencies, because the CoC has no supervision power over the convictions of the subject court. 5. Article 208 of the Penal Code stipulates punishing anyone who perpetrates acts of torture. It does not differentiate between public servants and others. This contravenes the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which inflicts sever punishments on employees, who undertake the torture. The afore-mentioned article views acts of torture as misdemeanors and stipulates punishments accordingly (imprisonment for 3 months–3 years), even though most legislations consider such acts as crimes and stipulate that they should be punished accordingly (hard labor for 3–10 years). 4. Right to Hold Public Office: A. The right to be appointed to public offices is a basic citizenship right guaranteed by the Jordanian Constitution by virtue of Article 22 (i). Similarly, Article 22 (ii) states “Appointment to any government office or to any establishment attached to the Government, or to any municipal office, whether such appointment is permanent or temporary, shall be made based on merit and qualifications.” * Despite the measures adopted by the Government and the projects, programs and future plans formulated with the aim of developing the public sector, upgrading public office standards and achieving utmost equality among citizens, yet these measures are not activated. Activation may be achieved through on-the-ground implementation of these schemes in order to curb excesses and practices that still hinder the achievement of the aspired-for objectives. These obstacles include appointments without adherence to the roles of candidates, appointments by virtue of project-based contracts, and appointments at the wish of the minister or the person in charge. * By the end of 2005, the NCHR noticed that appointment to leadership positions was still made without reliance on genuine clear criteria for the assumption of these positions. Appointments are still based on

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personal considerations and deference to influential individuals and the interests of powerful groups. Furthermore, the appointment of advisors at the various Governmental ministries is also based on the same considerations. Indeed, fresh graduates are sometimes appointed at very large salaries and with extensive privileges. * A 2005 study by the Civil Service Bureau, entitled “The Situation of Human Forces and Administrative Organization in the Jordanian Civil Service,” indicates that the number of employees occupying positions in the “Higher Category” rose from 103 in 1995 to 139 in 2005, even though no new establishments or leadership positions were created. This indicates that such appointments are used for the service and benefit of certain individuals in order to improve their positions and pension status and/or as a result of the lack of an institutional approach to appointing the right persons in leadership positions (secretary general, director general). These appointees are usually replaced with each cabinet reshuffle, where outgoing employees are retained as advisors at the Prime Minister’s office or appointed as MOI governors. * It is also to be noted that women’s share of positions in the “Higher Category,” is low. In 2005, women occupied only two of the 113 leadership positions (i.e., less than 2%) in the “Higher Category.” It is also to be noted that women’s share of governmental positions in the “First Category” is low as well (only 6% of the total). On the other hand, however, women’s share of positions in the Second and Third categories is noticeably high (43% and 53% respectively). B. Jordan also ratified the 2004 United Nations Convention Against Corruption and on 12 July 2005, the Council of Minister approved a draft law establishing a national anti-corruption commission and referred it to the HD for discussion and enactment into a valid piece of Jordanian legislation. Article 4 of the draft anti-corruption law specifies the proposed Commission’s objectives as “exposing and investigating cases of corruption, including financial and administrative corruption, fighting wasta (good mediation offices) and favoritism, providing justice, fairness and equal opportunities in the distribution of the fruits of development, and combating the character assassination.” This law, however, has not been promulgated until now. * The NCHR recommends adoption of the law establishing the anti-corruption commission because the existence of such a piece of legislation is vitally important for the achievement of the objectives inherent in the public sector reform program, as well as all other future national projects. 5. Right to a Nationality, Residence and Asylum: Most of the complaints, which the Center received during 2005, dealt with procedures for withdrawing nationality documents and identity cards by virtue of the Disengagement Decision and the instructions issued therewith. MOI responses in this regard did not change from last year. The HCJ also dismissed eight nationality cases related to the Disengagement Decision and the instructions issued therewith. On this occasion, the NCHR reiterates its position vis-à-vis this issue, which it expressed in last year’s Report on the Situation of HR in Jordan. It emphasizes once again that granting and withdrawing nationality should be done only in accordance with the law because Article 5 of the Jordanian Constitution stipulates, “Jordanian Nationality shall be defined by law.”

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On the other hand, Jordan still has reservations regarding Article 9/2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which states “State Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children.” The Jordanian Nationality Law No. 6 (1954) and its amendments do not include provisions that entitle women to this right. Article 3 stipulates, “A Jordanian is any person born to a father who enjoys Jordanian nationality.” * In the light of the above, the NCHR recommends certain relevant amendments in the Jordanian Nationality Law. It also recommends cancellation of Jordan’s reservation on Article 9 of CEDAW in such a manner as to grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children, especially in the light of the increasing numbers of Jordanian women marrying foreigners. The right to residence: Arab and foreign residents in Jordan are governed by the Residence and Foreigners Law No. 24 (1973) and its amendments. The prevalent situation in Iraq has had a significant effect on the arrival of large numbers of Iraqis to Jordan I search of security and decent living. In addition, many Arab and foreign nationals arrived in Jordan for work, tourism and residence. It is possible to make the following remarks on the situation of residence in Jordan: 1. Article 18 of Jordan’s Residence and Foreigners Law obligates any foreigner residing, or wishing to stay in the country, to obtain a residence permit in accordance with the provisions of this law. He has to leave the Kingdom’s territory upon expiry of the residence permit unless he has renewed it. The law grants the MOI the right to accept or reject a foreigner’s application for a residence permit and to revoke his residence permit and ask him/her to leave the country without substantiating its decision. * The MOI's absolute power authority to deport foreigners without substantiating its actions has had negative effects on a number of Jordanian families. Foreigners of both sexes, who are married to Jordanians, have been deported without substantiation or trial. This has been reflected on their children and families, resulting in separation of members of the same family, where a parent is in Jordan, while the other is outside Jordan, and causing severe psychological suffering to all member of the family. The Center also received complaints from citizens, who are married to foreign women, claiming that the MOI refused to grant their wives annual residence permits. Such complaints are still continuously being made. Security agencies also deport foreigners, even those married to Jordanian women, in case a judicial ruling is passed against any of them, irrespective of the type of offence. * Several injured parties submitted grievances against these administrative measures by appealing the decisions at the HCJ. In view of the MOI’s absolute authority to deport any person without substantiating its action, HCJ rulings only upheld the Ministry’s decisions. 2. The number of foreigners deported by the Public Security Department has risen to 23,961 this year. It is to be noted that deportation procedures are very slow and depict themselves in legislative and administrative

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restrictions. A fine must be levied from foreigners who exceed the term of their residence permit and the deportation order will be executed only after this fee has been paid or the MOI issues an order approving exempting the violators of payment. Otherwise, they are detained administratively by the administrative officers until the exemption decision has been issued. This process sometimes takes as long as several months, which constitutes a flagrant infringement upon their personal liberty. The NCHR repeatedly addressed the MOI about the frequent deportation of foreigners married to Jordanian women, but the reply was that the deportation was carried out for security reasons and is to be taken as an act of sovereignty. * In turn, the NCHR recommends amending the Residence Law so that the deportation of husbands of Jordanian women is stopped in order to safeguard family stability and the livelihoods of Jordanians married to foreigners. Asylum: During the year 2005, no change occurred in relation to the right to, and circumstances surrounding asylum, or in the number of refugees at the Ruweished Camp or the number of persons registered at the MOI and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as reported in the NCHR report for 2004. The MOI also rejected a UNHCR proposal to look into applications by Iraqi nationals for asylum and settlement in Jordan. The Ministry still stands by its previous position, expressing the Government’s dissatisfaction with the system of temporary protection.

(B) Political Rights 1. Right to Elect and Be Elected: There were no parliamentary or municipal elections in the year 2005. The Election Law No. 24 (2001) was still valid without any amendment or change. Nor has the National Agenda, formulated during 2005, achieve a unified definitive opinion regarding the election method. Two viewpoints dominated the opinions, the first demanding adoption of a representative election system that mixes election on individual basis with election based on representative slates. Here, an elector casts two votes, one to elect his favorite candidate in his own constituency and the other to vote for the slate of his own choice. The other viewpoint demanded adoption an election system whereby deputies are elected on the basis of the political parties to which they belong, as well as their programs through an integrative package of procedures and legislation that include the implementation of the one-vote, one-constituency and one deputy system. * The NCHR is of the opinion that the time has come to devise a democratic elections system that would really represent all the strata and groups on the Jordanian society, as well as the prevailing trends of thinking. Such a system would contribute to strengthening the national fabric and produce deputies who really represent the Jordanian people and devote themselves to enacting rational legislation that enhance the country’s democratic approach and strike a balance among the various legitimate social interests and legislative values. Hence, the NCHR recommends the following:

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1. That each elector cast two votes, one to a candidate in his own constituency as defined in the valid constituency system, while the other vote is cast in favor of another candidate in the wider constituency at the Governorate level. 2. That the judiciary has complete supervision over all the stages of the elections process; * General remarks on the performance of the Legislative and Executive powers: The Jordanian Constitution vests executive power in the Senate and the HD, even though there are differences between the two houses in terms of number of members, they way they are appointed and the terms and conditions for membership. The following general remarks may be made on the performance of the Legislative Power during the year 2005: 1. Many draft and provisional laws have been stalled for a long period of time at the Senate. Some have been released only recently. For example, Provisional Law No. 75 (2003), establishing and regulating the National Center for Human Rights, stayed at the Senate for more than eight months and was submitted to the Legal Committee only on 26 March 2006, bearing in mind that the HD referred this law to the Senate on 8 July 2994. * While the NCHR respects the discretion of the Senate and its legal committee in their recommendations and decisions regarding any legislation, it nevertheless draws attention to the fact that the way the Senate dealt with the NCHR Law from the very beginning reflected the state of convulsion that characterized the relation between the two houses of Parliament. Yet, NCHR intervention during the last discussion of the draft by the HD legal committee succeeded in curtailing the differences between the two Houses on some articles. Accordingly, the HD referred the draft to the Senate on 8 July 2005. In this regard, the NCHR would like to state that keeping the draft law from the Senate Legal Committee for more than eight months meant that the legislation continued to be viewed as provisional until further notice. This inflicted more damage and delay on the NCHR efforts to seek accreditation from the Geneva-based UNHCR Accreditation Committee as one of the national HR institutions. Denying such accreditation of the Center meant depriving the NCHR from much-needed privileges and moral and financial advantages. 2. During 2005, the HD refused to pass a Jordanian-American agreement on the extradition of American or non-American citizens working for the American Government to the International Criminal Court. However, at the beginning of the year 2006, the House recanted its position and adopted the agreement, bearing in mind that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was among the States that participated in the formulation of the International Criminal Court’s Articles of Association. It also was among the first States to sign and ratify the Rome Agreement on establishment of the Court. 3. Unlike all expectations, the Government’s decision to raise the prices of petrol products in the year 2005 was approved by the majority of HD members. 4. Some HR-infringing laws are still valid and no movement has taken place at the HD to review, amend or replace these laws, including the Crime Prevention Law, the Public Meetings Law and the Political Parties Law.

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5. Regarding international HR-related agreements, the NCHR addressed both the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office on 16 January 2006 on the measures that need to be adopted in order to implement the agreements that Jordan had signed and ratified. The Center’s action was prompted by the provision of Article 33 (ii) of the Constitution, which stipulate, “Treaties and agreements which involve financial commitments to the Treasury or affect the public or private rights of Jordanians shall not be valid unless approved by the National Assembly.” As this Article does not apply to the afore-mentioned HR instruments, His Excellency the Prime Minister asked the Foreign Ministry to take stock of these agreements in preparation for publication in the Official Gazette and, consequently, promulgation as effective. The NCHR has learnt that the Foreign Ministry is working on recommending the publication of the six main agreements in the Official Gazette. * In support of this attitude, the NCHR recommends that the provisions of these agreements become incorporated into the relevant national legislation. These instruments include the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, CEDAW, CRC, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the ICCPR and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). 2. Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression Freedom of opinion and expression is the key to all freedoms. It is one of the most important means for exposing violations of all other freedoms. Exercising freedom of opinion and expression is closely linked to democracy, as well as all HR aspects. In the same token, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines freedom of the press as a “collective extension of every citizen’s freedom of expression” and stresses that deprivation of this freedom disparages all freedoms combined. The 1952 Jordanian Constitution guarantees this freedom, as stipulated in Article 15: “(i) 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. “(ii) Freedom of the press and publications shall be ensured within the limits of the law. “(iii) Newspapers shall not be suspended from publication nor shall their permits be revoked except in accordance with the provisions of the law.”

International HR instruments also guarantee freedom of opinion and expression. For example, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression,” while Article 19 (1) of the ICCPR stresses that “Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.” The year 2005 also witnessed a relatively positive development in the area of freedom of the press, the most important manifestations of which is freedom of opinion and expression. On 19 April 2005, His Majesty the King issued directives prohibiting the arrest and detention of journalists. The Prime Minister also issued a circular on 14 June 2005 lifting censorship of the press and presented to the HD a draft amendment to the

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Press and Publications Law that includes revocation of the imprisonment and detention punishments from press and publications crimes. * The NCHR is of the opinion that this draft amendment represents a significant positive development at the level of national legislation governing the freedom of the press in Jordan. It, therefore, recommends adoption of this draft law. In October 2005, the Council of Ministers also referred to the HD the draft Access to Information Law, which will regulate the steady increase in using information and the technological developments in the area of the mass media. The Center recommends adoption of the draft law as soon as possible. Furthermore, the year 2005 witnessed the introduction of the press freedoms index in Jordan. This development revealed that press freedom in Jordan is relative. Measurement of press freedom relied on the inverse relation between the total number of weighted points and the degree of press freedom, whereby an increase in the number of weighted points indicated an increase in violations of freedom of the press. The resultant percentage was computed by adding the points obtained by each indicator and calculating the percentages for all indicators put together on the basis that the minimum score for freedom of the press is 189 points. It also relied on several indicators related to journalists and to the media themselves. The results were as follows:

Indicator Frequency Percentage Difficulty in accessing information 221 33.84 Interference in the work of journalists 86 13.16 Unofficial threats 72 11.02 Summon by security agencies 60 9.18 Prevention from attending public events 55 8.42 Official threats 52 7.96 Arraignment 23 3.52 Temporary suspension from work 23 3.52 Arbitrary transfer 18 2.75 Detention 15 2.29 Bodily harm 12 1.83 Prevention from practicing work 8 1.22 Complete dismissal from work 8 1.22 Expulsion of foreign reporters from the country 0 0 Denying foreign reporters entry into the country 0 0 Total 653 99.93

The Jordan Press Association (JPA) rejected a recommendation by the National Agenda Committee to revoke the proviso that obligates journalists to be JPA members. The association justified its rejection by asserting that the measure would create chaos and confusion in the Jordanian press. The JPA also expressed its position of rejecting the recommendation by staging a sit-in in front of the Prime Ministry on 4 October 2005.

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* Despite the positive developments related to freedom of opinion and expression that took place in Jordan during the year 2005, certain restrictions were imposed at the beginning of the year on some aspects of this freedom. The professional associations were prevented by force form expressing their opinion regarding a draft law that would govern the work of these associations. The associations were banned from organizing certain seminars and rallies that dealt with public affairs or political matters. Figures published by the Press and Publications Department for the year 2005 indicate that the Department had banned the distribution of 73 books, written by varied authors in terms of their political orientations. The ban also included the distribution and printing of certain honors Master’s and Doctorate dissertations submitted by to Jordanian universities, as well as other books that won the State Prize of Appreciation and printed at the expense of the State. 3. Right to Establish and Join Labor and Professional Unions No professional syndicate or labor union was established during the year 2005. The professional associations have a total membership of around 150,000 persons distributed among a number of groupings representing the various professions. Membership in these associations is mandatory for all those engaged in the particular professions. Jordan’s 17 labor unions have an aggregate membership of around 100,000 persons, but membership is not mandatory, unlike the professional associations. Labor unions are significant in view of their contribution to the economic and developmental processes. Yet, the labor movement in Jordan has suffered from many difficulties, mainly the deteriorating work conditions, lack of vocational stability, fierce competition from guest workers, rising prices, and irregularity in paying subscription fees or inability of the workers for financial reasons to pay the fees. This prompted a large number of workers to abstain from taking part in the last election of union leaders. Indeed, both the president and deputy president of the Federation of Labor Unions were re-elected by acclamation. The presidents of all but six of the 17 labor unions were elected unopposed for the term 2006-2001. * Association in a trade union or professional association is still denied to teachers, who constitute around 50% of all public sector employees. By the end of 2005, Jordan had not acceded to the International Labor Organization’s Convention Concerning Protection of the Right to Organize and Procedures for Determining Conditions of Employment in the Public Service, Number 151 (178). This convention, known as the Labor Relations in the Public Service, provides for the right of public servants to establish their own organizations, which shall be completely independent from official authorities. In this regards, the NCHR would like to reiterate its recommendation of last year regarding the urgency of reconsidering this position and allowing the establishment of a professional association for teachers. Regarding women’s representation in the leadership councils of professional associations, only four women have been elected to the councils of the 11 professional associations in Jordan. Three of these women sit on the Nurses and Registered Midwives Syndicate and one on the Jordan Press Association Council, even though around 31,000 women are registered as members in the afore-mentioned 11 associations.

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Even though women constituted around 23% of the combined membership of Jordan’s professional associations, yet not a single woman was included in any of the lists of candidates for the nine elections held during the year 2005. The early days of 2005 witnessed sharp confrontations between the professional associations and the Government. At the center of these confrontations was the Public Meetings Law and to what extent should it be implemented. The associations insisted on the right to meet and the freedom of opinion and expression. The dispute reached its peak when the Council of Association Presidents called for a meeting, which the Government banned by force. The confrontation escalated when the Government submitted to the HD its draft for a new Professional Associations Law. Article 4 of the draft legislation restricts the subjects which association councils are entitled to discuss, permitting professional matters and banning any other subject outside the professional range. This was taken by the professional associations as contravening the freedom of opinion and expression, which the Constitution guarantees for citizens. The heated confrontation continued beyond the formation of the new government, which pledged not to pursue the enactment of the controversial draft law at the HD without consulting the stakeholders, thus abating the confrontation. The year 2005 also witnessed a dispute between the Jordan Press Association and the Government when the National Agenda Committee recommended, in the report it submitted to His Majesty the King, exempting those wishing to work as journalists from the obligation of membership in the Association. This led to a fierce media campaign waged by the Association, which considered that the proposal as a violation of the JPA law and an attempt to weaken its position, while the Government said it relied on the principle of freedom of opinion and expression. * In the light of these developments, the NCHR issued a statement in which it explained its position that members of professional associations were entitled to have their own opinion regarding public affairs and that the use of force against the protesters violated the law. The Center stressed that the benchmark against which the relation between the government and professional associations is decided should be the Constitution, the Law and the country’s supreme interest. The statement pointed out that the exchange of accusations and the deployment of security forces around the premises of the associations implies that the country is passing through difficult security conditions. Furthermore, the NCHR said that the shrinking political life in the country in general and the weakness of political parties for historic and subjective have led to a confused situation that necessitates a serious and honest revision of the methodology of the entire political action. The NCHR statement said that the professional associations, as well as all other civil society organizations, play a fundamental and natural role in all aspects of national development and that this role must be recognized if we want to expand the participation base. 4. Right to Establish Political Parties The number of political parties registered at the Interior Ministyr still stands at 34. The year 2005 witnessed only one attempt at registering a new party, Al-Qirsh, whose philosophy is stands on a social class basis to represent the poor and the middle class. Politicl arguments have been going on for several years no on possibilities for merging or incorporating political parties in order to give the new formations more political weight and empower them to play their role in public life. Yet, the year 2005 did not witness any attempts at merging parties or forming alliances. On the contrary, the year saw a split in the “Jordanian National

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Movement,” thus providing yet another proof that alliances are not based on common political programs or shared visions among the constituent parties. Only four months had passed on proclamation of the National Movement, which groups 11 centrist political parties, when diffirences flared to the point of the final withdrawal of Al-Ahad party from the movement and the deision by one party — Al-Risala — to suspend its membership. Despite the existence of “coordination committees” among political parties, many observers stressed that these committees have no real role to play in rising up to developments, especially those in the political arena. The absence of mechanisms to organize their work and the lack of specific methodologies are perhaps the most important obstacles that stand in the way of political parties. The political parties regarded as auspicious the Government’s attitude toward political development, announced in 2005. Actual practice, however, indicates otherwise. During the year, the Government rejected several applications filed by political parties to organize rallies and sit-ins denouncing the Government’s successive decisions to raise prices, or to express solidarity with the Iraqi people against foreign occupation, or to defend public freedoms, which have dramatically regressed recently. Also in 2005, several members of political parties were summoned by security agencies and administrative officers on charges of distributing statements in which they criticized the Government’s economic policy. Reaction to the Draft Political Parties Law: Argument is still raging among political parties about the currently valid Political Parties Law. Some parties hold the view that this law does not offer a wide-enough margin of freedom, or provide financial support to the parties, or help in creating political pluralism. At the same time, other parties are of the view that there is no need to amend the current legislation because it is adequate and does not hinder political activity. These parties claim that what the country needs, instead, is activation of the present law. They also expressed their apprehension that the proposed law would be less democratic than the current one. In front of this contradiction of views, the Ministry of Political Development announced, at a press conference on 21 March 2005 a draft for a new political parties law, which, it claimed, would meet demands by the parties for a new law that provides political groupings Governmental support on the basis of subjective and transparent criteria, such as the number of a political party’s members, its popular support, the size of women’s participation in it, its organizational structure, … etc. As soon as the draft law was revealed, reactions by political parties poured in — ranging between conservative, apprehensive, worried about restricting political activity and outright rejecting the draft. The Higher Coordination Committee of Opposition Political Parties (representing 15 parties) announced its position opposing the draft law and did that within the specified period of one month after announcing the draft law, during which parties could submit their opinions and viewpoints in writing. The Committee stressed that the objective of the Government’s haste in introducing this draft law was quite far from the political development slogan, which the government had promoted over a period of more than one year. The Committee said that the draft law aimed at converting political parties into committees or structures, which were void of content and attached to the Ministry of Political Development, instead of being national institutions whose activities are governed by the Constitution. The political parties saw that the draft law negates the principles of political party pluralism, counteracts class discrimination, gives the Government the

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right to interfere openly in their activities, programs and internal statutes and isolates them form their Arab, Islamic and humanitarian spheres. At the same time, other political parties were of the view that the draft law violates the Constitution and is explicitly and implicitly conducive to the disablement of the Constitutional right to establish new political parties. They said it infringes upon the Constitutional and legal rights acquired by political parties by virtue of the current law, which is based on Article 16 of the Constitution. In particular, the parties objected to, or had reservations on the provision that no political party could be established if it was based on the members’ social class, sect, race, group or geographic location. They also objected to provisions related to convening the parties’ annual conferences and the proviso that a representative of the Ministry should be present at such meetings. The parties also objected to the provision related to electing a party’s secretary general for a maximum of two terms of three years each and the stipulation that political parties are prohibited from interfering in the affairs of other States or non-Jordanian agencies. In addition, they were not satisfied with the scheme for the provision of financial support to political parties. * The NCHR is of the viewpoint that the afore-mentioned draft Political Parties Law contains many restrictions and conditions, which are stated in high-sounding expressions that bear a high degree of interpretation. By virtue of Articles 3, 6 and 20 of the proposed legislation, violation of any these conditions is a crime punishable by imprisonment. The many possible interpretations of the draft put political parties under continuous threat and enable Governmental agencies to accuse any party of violating the law. This is tantamount to breaching Constitutional fundamentals, expending uselessly the Jordanians’ Constitutional right to establish political parties and engage in political party activity. * The position of Jordanian political parties vis-à-vis public issues: Political parties, especially those in the opposition, attribute the deteriorating economic situation to the consecutive governments’ wrong economic policies, neglect of the economic crises facing the country, failure in addressing corruption and the squandering of public funds, and inability to address the country’s indebtedness. The parties have repeatedly demanded and stressed the following: 1. Keeping such large service sectors as education and health from privatization and investing privatization revenues in the framework of creating a national, productive economy free of dependence on, and subordination to other economies; 2. On the other hand, opposition parties rejected the Government’s intention to raise the prices of petroleum products because such measure that would lead to hikes in the prices of most of the goods and services and accused the successive governments of trying to place their financial predicaments on the people’s shoulders. 3. They also criticized the Government’s intention to raise the prices of water and deprive those included in the public sector’s health insurance plans form treatment at the hospitals’ emergency departments after 3 p.m. * In this context, the NCHR is of the opinion that the political parties have expressed to a large extent the opinion of the great majority of the citizens. Political participation:

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The citizens’ view of political parties lost ground during the year 2005. Findings of a public opinion poll, conducted by the University of Jordan’s Center for Strategic Studies, indicate that existing political parties epitomize only 6% of the citizens’ political, social and economic aspirations, compared to 9.8% in last year’s survey. This indicates that more than 90% of the respondents do not consider that the existing parties represent the people’s aspirations. On the other hand, one third of the respondents reported that they were not concerned whether the parties had succeeded or failed in their political activities. Jordan’s public opinion still believes that political parties suffer from great difficulties in their bid to reach the average person. Regarding lack of the society’s confidence in political parties, 53.5% of the respondents reported that the parties only serve the interests of their leaders; while 13.8% said the parties serve the people’s interests. Political participation of the youth: * Factors that still restrain youth participation in political party activities include fear of the future, as well as the negative societal culture towards political parties that cautions the young against joining political organizations. At the same time, laws governing political life are still in need of radical development. Also, the parties’ weakness, multiplicity and vague programs create a state of confusion for the citizens, while the prevalent dissatisfaction with the parties’ usefulness and capability to reach leadership positions in the State have created a state of indifference to political parties in the ranks of the youth. The nature of the relations between the HD and political parties: Existing political parties suffer from weak representation at the HD. It seems that the parties’ inability to reach citizens has been unfavorable to their relations with the HD. This is evidenced in the consensus among of partisan activists that dialogue between the two sides is non-existent, that the relationship between them still falls short of establishing a genuine partnership in the service of the aspired-for democratization process, and that this has created what the activists call a “crisis of lost trust” between the two sides. Another Center for Strategic Studies survey, conducted in 2005, reveals that the Islamic Action Front is still the political party that represents the citizens’ political, social and economic aspirations more than any other Jordanian grouping. This view was reported by 4% of all respondents, compared to 6.6% in the 2004 survey and 14.7% in the 2003 poll. In second place was the National Constitutional Party with 0.6%, which was the same percentage in 2004, compared to 1% in the 2003. None of the scores of the other parties exceeded 0.2%. 5. Right to Associate and Join Associations By the end of 2005, a total of 982 associations were registered at the Ministry of Social Development (MOSD). Of these, 80 were registered in 2005. At the same time, nine associations were dissolved because they did not adhere to the objectives for which they were established or because their statutes violated the Associations and Social Organizations Law No 22 (1966), according to MOSD sources. The number of cultural organizations registered at the Ministry of Culture (MOC) by the end of 2005 was 271, of which 23 were registered in 2005. During the same year, two organizations were dissolved because their administrative boards ceased to function. Applications for licensing three organizations were rejected because the requests were outside MOC jurisdiction.

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MOI-registered associations totaled 225 by the end of 2005, of which 43 were registered during 2005. Licensing four associations was denied because their founding bodies did not obtain approval from security agencies and/or because of MOI refusal to endorse the articles of association of these organizations. Obstacles facing social bodies: 1. Several executive authorities are responsible for registering social associations and organizations and there are different patterns of official monitoring and supervision. 2. The proviso that establishing an association requires security clearance still constitutes a major obstacle that hinders the exercise of this right. Yet, the security clearance should be understood within the framework of the discretionary authorities vested in the concerned minister. The legal text includes nothing that makes security clearance a pre-condition for establishing a social association. Yet, such clearance has become necessary and is prompted by both the concerned minister’s desire to verify whether the conditions and requirements for registration have been met and the excuse that addressing security agencies is necessary. 3. The financial capabilities of the associations are limited and sufficient and sustainable official support is lacking. This has prompted everyone to plunge into the debate regarding the advantages and shortcomings of foreign financing of these associations. Article 20 of the UDHR states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.” Article 16 (ii) of the Jordanian Constitution states: “Jordanians are entitled to establish societies and political parties provided that the objects of such societies and parties are lawful, their methods peaceful, and their by-laws not contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.” Whatever the case, stipulating that approval of any agency whatsoever is a pre-requisite to registering an association, infringes upon the right to establish and join societies. Because the Social Societies and Associations Law No. 33 (1966) is old and has sustained only slight amendments, the MOSD formulated a draft law during 2005 to regulate social, developmental and charitable organizations. The concerned societies, however, viewed the draft law as an abandonment of democracy, equity and justice and levied several criticisms against it, mainly: 1. The draft law raised the number of founders from 7 to 25, which some societies considered as an obstacle to the work of newly-established societies because some of them did not have this many volunteers, especially in the remote areas. 2. Article 7 (d) of the draft law entitled the minister to reject applications for establishment of new societies without giving the societies the right to appeal the minister’s decision. This constitutes arbitrariness in decision-making. 3. The draft law bars the establishment of more than one women’s union in Jordan, which utterly contradicts the trend towards democracy and pluralism.

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4. Some provisions of the proposed law are tantamount to infringement on the jurisdiction of the judiciary and the courts because these provisions vest in the Minister of Social Development the authorities of the judicial police, as well as the authority to pass judgments and execute punishments, which contravenes Constitutional fundamentals. 5. The draft law does not include any incentives or mechanisms to support active and effective societies, even though MOSD sources indicate that the Ministry provides JD 750,000 in support to a number of societies by virtue of agreements concluded between the recipients and the Ministry. 6. The draft law restricts the societies’ freedom of nomination and election, whereby members of the administrative boards of the societies may not nominate themselves for more than two terms and no member may be president of more than one society. * The NCHR recommends making substantial amendments to this draft law or coming up with a new draft that adheres to the Constitutional principles and international criteria defining the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights When the international community ratified the ICESCR, it did not establish a mechanism to monitor implementation by the signatory parties of their commitments. The reason was to give developing countries a space of time to build their institutions and devise their developmental programs. However, the deterioration of HR in the economic, social and cultural areas, coupled with a fallback in meeting the signatories’ commitments after more than a quarter century of ratifying the covenant, prompted the Social and Economic Council and the International Human Rights Committee to action. They formed a working committee in order to create a mechanism to monitor these rights, along the same lines of the mechanism stipulated in the ICCPR, in view of the linkages of the rights stipulated in both covenants. A seminar convened by the Human Rights Committee in New Delhi in 2005 urged national HR institutions to monitor the governments’ implementation of their commitments stipulated in the international covenant and to take HR in consideration when planning development programs. On 30 June 1972, Jordan signed the ICESCR. At a later date, it signed the International Covenant on Eliminating Violence Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), but most of these agreements were not published in the Official Gazette or presented for HD ratification. 1. Right to Work According to ILO standards, suitable work is defined as “productive work, wherein rights are protected, which generates sufficient income and provides adequate social protection.” * Article 23 of the 1952 Jordanian Constitution guarantees the right of citizens to work. In many aspects, the Jordanian constitutional text harmonizes with international criteria on the right to work, mainly: 1. Every individual is entitled to equal wages without discrimination; 2. Every individual is entitled to work for fair wages that guarantees a decent life for his and his family;

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3. Every person is entitled to form and join a trade union that protects his interests; 4. Every person shall be given days of paid rest and the number of hours of work per week shall be reasonably defined. The valid Jordanian Labor Law No. 8 (1996) was promulgated in order to organize and define the bases of the relation between workers and employers as follows: * It views the labor rights stipulated therein as representing the minimum that may not be disparaged and considers null and void any contract in which a worker compromises any of these rights. * It entrusts the task of monitoring implementation of the provisions of the law to Labor Inspectors, upon whom it bestows judicial police capacities as they perform their tasks. * It entrusts the Ministry of Labor (MOL) with the tasks of organizing the labor market, creating job opportunities for Jordanians, and licensing offices specialized in employing and organizing the work of non-Jordanian workers. * It authorizes a special mixed workers-employers committee, under MOL supervision, to determine the minimum wage that guarantees an adequate standard of living for the worker. It also organizes worker-employer contractual relations; regulates conditions for drawing up contracts and specifies cases where contracts are terminated; specifies daily and weekly working hours and obligates employers to pay extra wages to workers who work overtime or during official and religious holidays; entitles workers to various leaves of absences and, finally, regulates conditions for employing women and juveniles. Yet, the law excludes the following categories from its provisions” 1. Public municipal employees, whose work conditions are regulated by special legislation; 2. Members of the employer’s family, whose work in family businesses is unpaid; 3. Agricultural workers, whose work is regulated by special laws; 4. The various categories of domestic workers, such as servants, cooks and gardeners. * MOL statistics indicate that the size of the Jordanian labor force stood at 1,227,300 male and female workers. The Ministry estimates that 80% of expatriates working in Jordan, totaling around 350,000, are of Arab origins. A total of 261,000 (around 74%) of the expatriate workers have valid work permits; i.e., around 90,000 foreign male and female workers are not registered in the Labor Ministry’s records and work without permit. * Jordan has so far ratified 24 of the 180 agreements related to labor. In the light of the above information, the NCHR recommends the following:

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1. Incorporating the UDHR, ICESCR, CEDAW, CRC, and international agreements regulating women’s work, all of which have been signed by the Jordanian Government, as part and parcel of the body of national legislation on labor and workers’ rights; 2. Ratifying all international instruments related to labor (as urged in last year’s NCHR report), including ILO Convention No. 87 (1948) on “Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize” and ILO Convention No 154 (1981) on “Collective Bargaining.” 3. Extending provisions of the Labor Law to cover agricultural and domestic workers; 4. Providing protection against sexual harassment to working women by introducing a legal text that punishes perpetrators of such offences; 5. Introducing an explicit text in the law stipulating gender equality in work, wages and promotion; amending Article 23 of the Labor Law, which restricts freedom of association and contravenes international conventions; and liberating Article 28 of its restrictions on the worker’s right to strike. 6. Amending Article 31 related to arbitrary dismissal in such a manner as to give workers more guarantees. Situation of workers in Qualified Industrial Zones The NCHR conducted a survey of the situation of workers in Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs), covering Al-Hassan Industrial City in Irbed Governorate, as well as the different industrial complexes in Amman. The survey covered a sample of 300 workers, of whom 83% were aged 19–34 years; 71% were females, 87.7% were single, and 85% did not finish their secondary education. The findings indicated the following: – Wages and promotion: 70% of the sample reported that they receive the minimum monthly wage of 95 dinars and 94% said they are covered by social security. Around 61% reported that they had not had an annual raise in their wages. While 67% of the sample reported that they receive their salaries and wages on time, 59% indicated that the salaries of persons with the same competence and qualifications are not equal. – Conditions of work: 83% of the sample stressed that they are not covered by health insurance, while 56% were of the opinion that health insurance services are not adequate. Around 77% reported that they were granted sick leaves of absence, while the great majority of the respondents reported that they access first aid services when they are become involved in work accidents. Around 58% reported that they are not issued with special protective clothes and equipment, while 67.7% said that adequate sanitary facilities are available for both sexes. Around 55.4% said that the work place does not contain any health-hazardous substances, while 63% said the employer treat workers properly, as against 33%, who said that the employer treats them improperly and that the treatment is characterized by shouting, verbal abuse, beating, warning, deductions from wages and arbitrary dismissal. * The conclusion is that conditions of work at the QIZs are generally below acceptable standards in terms of health services, the safety of workers, the social work environment and fair wages.

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– Work contracts (awareness of the workers of their rights): 90% of the respondents stressed that they signed contracts with their employers and 88% reported that they are in possession of a copy of the contract. Around 71.4% said that they were not forced to undertake any tasks other than those specified in their contracts. While 54% of the sample reported that punishments are graduated, 66% said that they were not allowed to defend themselves before being punished. In addition, 54% of the sample reported that they were acquainted with the Labor Law, while 74% said they were acquainted with instructions related to work at the factory. – Training: 58.4% of the sample reported that they underwent a practical training period of a maximum of 3 months, while 61.5% said they did not receive any remuneration whatsoever during the training period, as against 18.5% who said they received remuneration equivalent to their basic salary. Around 80% said there was no written contract that addresses practical training, while 64.2% reported that the factory did not organize on-the-job training courses that aim to improving the workers’ professional competence. On the other hand, 73.7% said that there were no educational programs on workers’ rights, which indicates an evident discrepancy among factory managements in their view of the importance of training and incentives. – Married workingwomen: 85% of the female respondents stressed that, when they gave birth to a baby, they got a 10-week maternity leave at full page. Minimum wages: During 2005, the Wages Committee decided to raise the minimum monthly wage from 85 dinars to 95 dinars. However, raising this minimum did not come based on an informed criterion as a result of increases in the cost of living and their effects on providing the citizen with a decent life. * The NCHR is of the opinion that the following points should be taken into consideration when reviewing the matter of determining wages: * The minimum wage is far below the poverty line, which, according to an International Monetary Fund report, is 150 dinars a month. * Organizations in the private sector are not committed to the minimum wage. * Employers use the need to encourage investment as a pretext for opposing demands calling for raising minimum wages. * The negative effects of low wages, manifested in increases in child labor and begging, are widening. * In the light of the above, the NCHR recommends the following: 1. Linking minimum wages with the rising cost of living; 2. Activating Article 53 of the Labor Law in order to monitor the extent to which minimum wages are applied in the various establishments, activating the role of labor inspectors, and adopting stern measures against violators.

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3. Activating the role of labor unions and civil society organizations to enable them to go ahead with the tasks and duties that their statutes stipulate in order to protect workers and their rights in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Law; Child Labor: Jordan ratified several international and Arab instruments related to child labor, including ILO Convention 138 (Minimum Age Convention), ILO Convention 182 (Worst Forms of Child Labor), and the Arab Labor Convention No. 1 for the year 1966. * During the year 2005, no measures were taken regarding increases in the ratio of working children in the Kingdom. Information indicates that their numbers are as high as around 50,000, more than half of whom work in the capital Amman, earn less than the minimum wage, and are exposed more than others to work accidents. * In view of the aggravation of poverty and unemployment, there has been an increase in the number of children working in the unorganized business and vocational sector. Available research stresses that 40% of the working children are employed in vocational workshops (mechanical repair, carpentry and blacksmithing shops). In addition, they work long hours and earn low wages, entailing exposure to health and psychological hazards. MOL estimates indicate that the number of working children in Jordan is around 45,000, but, on the other hand, this same source stresses that available data are not reliable because both the children’s families and the employers elude registration. * During 2005, the ILO office in Amman waged a campaign called “International Program to Eliminate Child Labor” and formed a task force to monitor child labor and adopt the protective measures that would curb its prevalence. This campaign, however, did not achieve the aspired-for results because of the deteriorating economic and social conditions of the families of most of these children, as well as the general rise in prices. Unemployment: Unemployment and poverty are interlinked; many see them as two sides of the same coin. They are among the main handicaps to national development. Unemployment and poverty are continually increasing, but some analyst’s link unemployment to the “shame” culture, the unwillingness of Jordanians to accept work in certain vocations, and their aspiration for only governmental jobs. It seems that these claims are not always correct, as evidenced by the fact that unemployment rates are higher among the youth who do not possess the required educational qualifications and in poor families. This raises questions regarding the relation and effects of expatriate labor on the availability of job opportunities for young Jordanians. It must also be noted that employers and investors, especially in qualified industrial zones, tend to employ expatriates, rather than recruiting and training local workers — a tendency, which leads to higher unemployment rates among citizens. Domestic Servants: Domestic servants of the different nationalities, especially Filipinos, Indonesians and Sri Lankans, constitute a large share of expatriate workers in Jordan. Nevertheless, available statistics indicate large discrepancies

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between MOL records and those kept by the Residence and Borders Department, indicating a lack of accurate statistics about the numbers of domestic servants of the different nationalities. This category of workers faces various violations of their rights, which vary in gravity, but sometimes reach violating the right to live. The following are the most important among the problems these workers face: * Ill-treatment by the agent or guarantor; * Delays in paying salaries or not paying at all; * Unavailability of basic needs, such as suitable residence and food and the required health care; * Violence of different forms, including verbal and physical violence, which may result in death or permanent disabilities, as well as sexual harassment and rape; * Forcing maids to work in more than one house, thus violating the conditions of the standard work contract adopted by the Labor Ministry the embassies of the workers’ countries; * Involvement of some offices in importing maids without being licensed for such activity by the MOL and, as a result of lack of supervision, the violations committed by these offices of the rights of the maids; * Failure to obtain work and residence permits for the maids, which in many cases leads to deporting the maid; * Accommodating large numbers of maids, by the employment office or the respective embassy, in places that lack the minimum standards for living; keeping a large number of maids under detention by public security departments until their deportation; the maids’ inability to pay the fines for exceeding the residence permit, as the maids cannot be deported until they have paid the fines or an MOI exemption decision, which takes a long period of time; * Deporting some maids by order of the administrative officer on the claim by their employers that they are engaged in immoral practices or commit such crimes as theft; At the time of preparing his report, 95 offices were registered at the MOL as agencies for importing and employing domestic workers. According to MOL sources, four offices were closed based on several complaints against them and their failure in rectifying their situation to conform to valid laws and regulations. Yet, several offices, registered at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, are involved in bringing in maids under the cover of their licenses as commercial services offices, which enables them to evade the provisions of the afore-mentioned law. Upon comparing information obtained from embassies on the numbers of maids with MOL statistics, the role of these offices in bringing in female workers illegally becomes evident, as large numbers of maids, especially Indonesian nationals, are brought in by virtue of falsified passports. Inmost cases, the passport states that the maid is older than 20 years, while in fact she is 15 years of age, and even younger. Services provided to this category:

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Some embassies have offices or mechanisms for receiving complaints from maids, while others do not. Caritas’ Social Office, established in 2002, receives complaints from maids. PSD centers also receive complaints and refer them to the competent authorities according to the nature of the complaint. Some embassies act as intermediaries between the maid and the person against whom the complaint is lodged in an attempt to solve the problem peacefully and provide temporary accommodation to the maids. Such accommodation services, however, lack the requirements for minimum standards of human living. In addition, some embassies have resident physicians who provide medical examination services to maids who allege that they have been subjected to physical harm. Yet, reports issued by these physicians are often ignored, because they are private doctors. This means that the accident is not covered by social security and the reports are not accepted in cases where complaints are officially filed. The Family Protection Directorate is keen on addressing cases of sexual harassment and rape of maids and provides medical examination and investigation services without any discrimination. In the light of the above, the NCHR recommends the following: 1. Activating the role of labor inspectors in supervising the work of offices that bring in maids in order to curb the violations they commit; 2. Emphasizing that only MOL-registered offices are licensed to bring in maids and barring commercial services offices, not subject to the Ministry’s valid laws, from bringing in expatriate workers; 3. Organizing campaigns to raise citizens’ awareness of the rights of this category of workers and of necessity of allowing them to enjoy an adequate standard of treatment; 4. The necessity of conducting capacity-building courses for embassy employees about mechanisms for receiving and addressing complaints and how to deal with the complaining maids, especially those who have been victims of violence. 5. Establishing close cooperation between the Labor Ministry and the PSD’s Department of Residence and Foreigners for the purpose of controlling expatriate workers’ records and curbing the exploitation of foreign workers by employment offices or some employers. 6. In the light of preliminary information, available at the NCHR, about cases of exploiting expatriate maids in sexual trafficking, the Center would like to call upon the competent authorities to tighten controls, adopt most severe measures against anyone involved in such trafficking, and prevent the spread of this phenomenon in the Jordanian society. 2. Right to Education Schooling: Education in Jordan is available to all. Basic education (first 10 grades) is compulsory; it is also free of charge, even though annual nominal “school contributions,” from which poor students are exempted, are levied regularly.

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At the level of HR education in schools, the Ministry of Education (MOE) responded to a NCHR initiative and put in place a joint three-year (2005–2008) plan of action that revolves around four main themes: 1. Integrating HR concepts into school curricula: This involves devising a national HR benchmark by developing the HR matrix, which the Ministry prepared several years ago and presented to all sectors in the Jordanian society in order to gain their support; 2. Building the capacities of Ministry workers in HR education. Twenty employees of the Ministry’s Curricula, Training and Educational Supervision Directorate underwent a seven-day training in February 2006 on the techniques of incorporating HR concepts into school curricula. It is hoped that the second part of this main theme (conducting two training of trainers HR education courses), will be implemented in the near future. 3. Enhancing extra-curricular activities in the schools by establishing HR clubs, conducting annual HR competitions, distributing HR posters and leaflets, and celebrating HR occasions at both the international and national levels; 4. Enhancing the role of communication, by supplying the media with information on the Center’s and Ministry’s activities in the area of HR education and publishing a special edition of each of the Center’s Al-Risalah newsletter and the Ministry’s Risalet Al-Mu’allem magazine. Regarding dropping out of school, the Ministry, in cooperation with several international organizations, is undertaking a series of programs, such as the “Drop-outs Popular Education Program,” with the aim of curbing this phenomenon. However, it is more beneficial to conduct a survey of this matter, the results of which will guide the approach to confronting it. In relation to illiteracy eradication programs, the Ministry raised the remuneration of instructors. It is worth mentioning that, while illiteracy rates have dropped to as low as 9%, there is a necessity for enhancing illiteracy centers through, inter alia, financial support or incentives to encourage teachers, as the number of these centers — which does not exceed 400 — in the Kingdom is still small in relation to the size of the targeted group. * The MOE also prohibited the use of beating and inflicting harm on students as disciplinary punishments and installed a direct hot telephone line to the Ministry to receive complaints or reports of abuse, which specialized teams investigate and adopt the necessary measures thereon. * The NCHR reiterates the conclusion of its first report that official decisions still stand in the way of establishing a teachers’ labor union, which contravenes the right to associate. The Center would like to stress once again that, if the profession is to be upgraded and the interests of teachers protected, then a syndicate of teachers has to be created. Higher education: The issue of the grounds on which acceptance in official universities is based is still controversial. Exemptions from competition still constitute the largest proportion (62%) of accepted students, which

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obstructs the achievement of equality among students and negatively impacts the Jordanian citizen’s enjoyment of the right to education. Furthermore, the rise and lack of equality in university tuition fees is still an obstacle to the enjoyment of the right to education, as the university fees, which Jordanian students have to pay, are high when measured against income levels in the Kingdom. In addition, the “Parallel Study” scheme and other plan, where tuition fees are not equal to those collected based on the number of credit hours, are tantamount to discrimination and infringement of the right to education. In such schemes, students pay higher tuition fees for being allowed to pursue a specialization, whose pre-requisites include higher point averages than theirs. This necessitates a review of university tuition fees to make them commensurate with incomes in Jordan and cancellation of the fees that tend to discriminate among students. * At the level of HR education at universities, the NCHR recommends action on integrating HR concepts and principles in the curricula of the Law, Political Science and Shari’ah (Islamic Law). 3. Right to Social Insurance Article 22 of the UDHR stipulates this right, while Article 9 of the ICESCR states that States Parties “recognize the right of everyone to social security, including social insurance.” (General Comment No. 5 for the Year 1994). The right to social services is also stipulated in Articles 27 and 28 of CRC, as well as Articles 11 and 14 of CEDAW. * Generally speaking, implementing the right to social security will create the necessary material conditions for achieving the required adequate standard of living. The right to equality, stipulated in international HR instruments, also applies to social security assistance. From a legal perspective, the basic elements that social security systems should embrace include inclusiveness, benefitability, adequacy and relevance, respect of equality and respect of procedural guarantees. * The Jordanian body of laws guarantees the right to social insurance. Several national pieces of legislation are in place to identify the various standards and systems linked to general social insurances, as well as those pertaining to certain groups. These include Social Security Law No. 19 for the Year 2001, Ordinance on Family Protection Establishments No. 48 for the Year 2004, and Instructions for Licensing Elderly Homes No. 2 for the Year 2001.) There is also a set of plans and strategies related to social insurances and services, including the Social Security Corporation’s Strategic Plan (2005–2007), Family Strategic Plan, the MOSD strategic plan, and plans for the National Aid Fund (NAF) and the Zakat Fund. 1. Social security The SSC recently issued its Strategic Plan for the year 2005–2007. The most important objectives of this plan include the provision of excellent insurance services that meet efficiency requirements and standards and guarantee justice in distributing income among the same generation, as well as successive generations. * Recent SSC statistics indicate that more than half a million active male and female subscribers in around 10,000 establishments have been insured. The statistics also indicate that social security covers 31.8% of all the Jordanian labor force and around 36.5% of all workers.

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During the period 1999–2004, social insurance in Jordan covered 11% of the entire population. In other words, Jordan has not yet risen to the world coverage level of 20%. Hence, the SSC has set for itself the goal of raising the coverage ratio of all workers to 60% by the end of 2007. The year 2005 saw the introduction of a new draft social security law that specifies the highest deductible wage, which will allow the identification of a maximum for any retirement pension. However, the provisions of Social Security Law No. 19 (2001) still exclude such groups as workers employed in agriculture and forestry, shepherds, sailors, fishermen, and domestic servants. The NCHR sees the necessity of including these groups in the Social Security Law in order to achieve justice. 2. National Aid fund The NAF is an institution whose budget is independent of the Treasury. NAF programs include the Recurrent Cash Program, the Aid to the Disabled Program, the Emergency Aid Program, the Vocational Training Program, the Physical Rehabilitation Program, and the Free Health Insurance Program (implemented through the MOH.) Official statistics indicate that 14.2% of the total population are poor, while other independent statistics indicate that the poverty rate ranges between 23% and 24% of the total population. During 2005, the NAF provided assistance totaling around JD 56 million, compared to JD 55.5 million during 2004 and JD 24 during 2000. 3. Ministry of Awqaf’s Zakat Fund The Zakat fund provides recurrent and other aid totaling JD 11,200,000, of which JD 4 million are in the form of salaries and assistance to around 13,000 poor families. The amount of the aid varies between JD 10 and JD 35 a month. Emergency aid payments totaled JD 3 million, ranging between JD 10 and JD 100 a month. The Zakat Fund also provided in-kind assistance, usually food, totaling JD 200,000 to the needy. Orphan Kafalas (wardships) totaled JD 4 million, distributed among 17,000 orphans in the form of salaries of JD 30 a month. On the basis of the above information, the NCHR recommends the following: A. Establishment of a comprehensive database on poverty and the poor in Jordan: The flow, movement and exchange of information are extremely important and contribute to removing certain obstacles and solving certain problems. It also forestalls new or recurrent mistakes or the duplication and recurrence of benefits. B. Reconsideration of the methodology of how aid funds function in addressing poverty so as to provide aid only to the poor who are unable to work, while targeting other programs to finance projects that create job opportunities for the poor and, ultimately lift them above the poverty line. 4. Right to Health: The Jordanian constitution is void of any hints related to the right to health. National legislations are also void of any text referring to the State’s responsibility to secure objective conditions for practicing this right

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as specified by the criteria mentioned in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, which assert the right of “everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”. The Public Health Law and its amendments No. 54 of the year 2002 included articles emphasizing the responsibility of the State to offer various forms of health care including medical and treatment services, combating contagious diseases, promoting awareness in addition to mother and infant care. Despite this, the law concentrated on physical health and the treatment of diseases without giving similar concern to psychological health care. * Among positive developments in the field of health during 2005 was the initiation of the Scholastic Nutrition Program in needy areas. The NCHR recommends that this program should be continued and even expanded. It also recommends the increase of the ratio of beneficiaries and the possibility of its expansion to include other areas. * It has been noticed that there is a decline in the number of complaints submitted to the Physicians’ Association concerning fees. These complaints reached 24 in 2005 compared to 29 complaints in 2004. * The pre-marriage medical check-up regulation represented a distinctive positive development in the scope of protection from the thalassemia disease. The pre-marriage medical check-up regulation No. 57 of the year 2004 specifies, “Parties involved in the marriage contract should, prior to the conclusion of the marriage contract, undergo a medical check-up at any of the accredited medical centers (Article 4 A). This development is considered positive in the scope of preventive health services, especially as this checkup is conducted free of charge. Statistics show that involvement in carrying out this checkup when it was voluntary did not exceed 6% but it has been noticed that this article has certain limitations as the result of this examination is not compulsory and the legislator only recommended that the two parties involved should be informed of the risks of completing this marriage by signing a form indicating their receipt of this notification as specified in Paragraph B of the same article. (The Center recommends that the services of hereditary guidance should be made available in every Governorate before and after marriage). * Among other positive developments was the issuance in August 2005 of the Information strategy for health communications and mass media which aims at bringing about a Jordanian society enjoying efficient health where the mass media would be entrusted with providing individuals, families, communities and institutions with the required knowledge, skills and resources that would work together towards achieving a sustainable health improvement. * Despite positive developments in the field of health, there are still some observations and challenges including: 1. An increase in the dissemination of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, in addition to problems related to health life styles such as anemia and addiction to alcohol as well as cigarettes. 2. An increase in complaints related to medical errors which reached in 2005 (119) complaints, 56 of which were ignored while 60 others are under investigation. Three of these complaints were referred to the Disciplinary Board.

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3. Shortage of drugs in hospitals and medical centers as well as smuggling drugs causing damage to the health of citizens and the national economy. 4. The inexistence of active control over the sale of aphrodisiacs carrying commercial names as well as herb medicine. 5. The inexistence of a mechanism linking hospitals and medical centers. 6. A shortage in nursing staff, particularly males, in some of the medical centers. In the light of this, the NCHR recommends the Following: * Approval of international criteria specified by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as the main source for defining the quality of the medical services that should be provided to all citizens. * Technical and material rehabilitation of government and non-governmental institutions providing medical services, which are commensurate with the quantitative and geographical responsibilities of these institutions. * Emphasizing the fair distribution of medical centers, hospitals and medical staff among various areas within the Kingdom. * Enhancing the services of psychological health and creating psychological Health services for children under the age of 18 as such services are currently unavailable except through civil community institutions and private clinics. * Enhancing and developing the quality of available medical services as well as enhancing physical and rehabilitation treatment of patients in special educational centers through devising and implementing criteria suitable for this purpose. * Approving a suitable transfer system between medical centers and hospitals and appointing liaison officers in hospitals and medical centers. * Increasing financial allocations for primary and secondary medical care, as these constitute only 6% of the MOH budget. * Working on creating an electronic system linking the MOH with Medical services as well as university and private hospitals. * Despite MOH measures to increase the number of persons covered by the health security umbrella, these measures are still short of achieving a comprehensive social security system. * Prohibiting the importation of food from countries suffering from problems emanating from nuclear contamination or contagious diseases or food, which contains colors, flavors or preservatives, which are hazardous to health.

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* Taking the necessary measures to secure adequate protection for physicians while on duty. 5. Right to the Environment: A) Solid Waste: Jordan produces huge quantities of household solid waste compared to its population. The average of the waste generated by each individual is about 0.9 kg per day. Therefore the problem of solid and hazardous waste receives high priority among environmental problems suffered by Jordanian citizens as it represents a daily problem touching their life especially in areas where waste disposal units exist outside the capital. Despite the fact that waste collection is carried out with high efficiency, the problem lies in the processing operations which are not technically specialized and which depend mainly on sanitary burial which in most cases take place haphazardly without consideration of health and architectural conditions for this method, (with the exception of Ghabawi waste unit set up lately by the Government.). Waste units usually contaminate the atmosphere of surrounding areas and the act by the authorities concerned in spraying these units with insecticides during summer causes the contamination of the environment consisting of land, air and water. * The Akeder Waste Unit at Ramtha poses a large environmental problem as the quantities of waste disposed there daily exceeds the capacity of the unit by about 800 tons of solid waste and 1000 square meters of industrial wastewater coming from Al-Hassan Industrial City. This necessitated the issuance of the Solid Waste Management Regulation Number 27 of the Year 2005 under which solid waste is being managed in a way that would realize the protection of the environment and public health through a set of procedures specified within the regulation such as laying down plans and studies relating to the management of solid waste, providing qualified staff and implementing public safety methods for citizens. This regulation was put into effect on 31st March 2005. B) Medical Waste: Medical waste includes medical garbage such as needles, syringes, cotton, gauze and the remnants of samples polluted by liquids, blood of patients and pharmaceutical and chemical materials, which sometimes include radioactive substances, and the remnants of surgeries such as human limbs, which constitute about 20%. What remains is general waste and garbage of food remnants, containers and tissue paper. The Jordanian MOH gets rid of this garbage by burning it. It forces hospitals and clinics to sign contracts with specialized institutions on disposing with such waste but some hospitals are reluctant to do so under the pretext of high costs giving no attention to the fact that they often include bacteria, viruses and fungi that could cause diseases. Burning them in open air would disseminate their harmful contents. * The regulation on the management of harmful and hazardous materials, their transport and circulation Number 24 of 2005 was issued and included a set of provisions aimed at reducing environmental effects resulting from disposal of hazardous waste, which include medical waste. This regulation went into effect on 31st March 2005. C) Water Contamination:

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Khirbet Al-Samra Station in Zarqa is considered as one of the major sources of water contamination in Jordan. This station was built in the early 1980s over subterranean water basins. The increase in the flow of wastewater which exceeded the capacity of the station, led to the pollution of the subterranean water under the station, which flow to Zarqa Stream and then to King Talal Dam. In May 2004, the Government started implementing a project for the development of this station. Work on this project is expected to be completed by the end of 2006. D) Air Pollution: Hashimiyyah Area in Zarqa Governorate is considered as a focus of environmental pollution as it contains three sources of pollution, namely (Al-Hussein Thermal Station, the Oil Refinery and Khirbet Al-Samra Station). It discharges more than 35 tons of poisonous gases in the sky daily, and was thus classified by some as being one of the environmental hot areas worldwide as pollution in it exceeded all local and international criteria. Zarqa City suffers from a high pollution ratio, due to the discharge of sulfur oxides, hydrogen sulfides and carbon oxides by a number of industries in general and from steel factories in particular in addition to the dust of quarries and stone-crushers. Russaifah District also suffers from the decomposition of waste buried in closed waste sites as this leads to the dissemination of harmful fumes and gases. This applies to Hallabat in Zarqa area. As for the residents of Fuhais city, they still suffer from the emission of harmful gases from the Cement Factory despite efforts exerted by the Factory to reduce the quantity of these gases through using bag filters instead of the pebbly filters, which reduced emission to a great extent. This also applies to Qadissyeh and Dana towns in Tafileh Governorate where the people and their farms suffer from the emission of dust from Rashadiyyeh Cement as well as the emission of harmful gases from the factory despite efforts made by the Factory management to reduce such emissions. There are other environmental problems in Central Ghor area, which present a health hazard including the Wastewater Purification Station in Southern Twal Area and Sanitary pits there. E) Iraqi Scrap: Iraqi scrap imported by Jordan constitutes one of the sources of environmental contamination. Such scrap includes equipment and vehicles of the Iraqi Army, which were destroyed by American Forces during its war against Iraq. Such scrap contains a high ratio of radioactivity as specialized professors had indicated stressing that these vehicles had been destroyed by missiles and bombs containing Uranium. They also said that Muwaqqar area, where Iraqi scrap had been stored, is a source of hazardous threat to Jordan’s environment and population in adjacent areas due to its contents of high radioactivity. This made the Jordanian Government proclaim the area out of bounds for Iraqi scrap after verifying the existence of radioactivity there. The government decided to establish a Free Zone on the Iraqi-Jordanian border to store Iraqi scrap under the supervision of the Jordanian Army.

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Muwaqqar area experienced new diseases that were unknown before. People there imputed these diseases to Iraqi scrap containing contaminated radioactive materials. Bad odors causing severe allergy symptoms are emitted from the scrap warehouse there. The non-existence of a scientific study and laboratory tests that could prove or disprove the environmental and health damages of the Iraqi scrap especially what had been brought into the Jordanian market without pre-tests, would keep citizens in a state of permanent anxiety particularly those living in areas surrounding the sites of gathering such garbage as result of news reports about the dissemination of strange diseases in these areas. F) Mobile Telephone Pylons: Mobile telephones spread out widely in Jordan while transmission towers and high voltage pylons also spread in residential quarters. According to many studies carried out on the effects of these vibrations and transmissions and their relation to cancer it must be noticed that the installation of mobile telephone towers on top of residential houses as well as electricity pylons without prior studies on evaluating environmental effects and without the participation of people and local communities would bring in more health risks to the Kingdom. A Special Regulation on Evaluating Environmental Effects Number 37 of the Year 2005 has been issued and is aimed at measuring the environmental effects of the stages of setting up any agricultural, industrial, commercial or housing project and the necessity to obtain prior approval before setting up any of the aforementioned projects, What is now required is to activate this regulation. In this respect the NCHR recommends the following: * The necessity to expedite the issuance of regulations and instructions required to activate the Environment Protection Law including the renewal of the mechanisms that ensure active control over factories operating beyond the specified working hours in order to avoid any violations that could occur during these hours. * Activating the regulation of Environmental Effect Number 37 of the Year 2005. * Presenting a mechanism to eliminate the contradictions existing between the tasks of the Ministry of Environment and other institutions dealing with the protection of the environment. * Rehabilitating and training judges on dealing with environmental issues and their environmental and legislative aspects. * Adding a text to the Environment Protection Law ensuring the right to a safe environment for all citizens. * Specifying the principle of preference, namely giving preference to projects, which are tenuous to the environment over projects expected to have greater or more serious effects on environment. * Bringing in a text specifying the principle of compensation against the contamination of the environment, namely forcing the person who caused the contamination to eliminate the damages incurred.

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* Guaranteeing the right to be informed and obtain information as well as to participate. This principle includes the right of every citizen to obtain information on the status of the environment from the authorities concerned. This includes information on projects and various activities including industrial activities. * Offering incentives to factories using clean technologies mild to the environment such as grants, easy loans as well as customs and tax exemptions. * Laying down a national strategy for environmental education. 6. Right to Housing: This right includes a number of covenants, which were ratified by Jordan. Article 25 of the UDHR stresses that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care as well as necessary social services…” Article 11/1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICECR) stated that “the States Parties to the present Covenant recognize 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.” Housing is considered as one of the basic needs in addition to being a material capital for the Jordanian family. Housing should provide psychological satisfaction and a feeling of security for all members of the family. Latest figures published by the Department of Statistics show that about 68% of Jordanian families own their housing while 23% rent a place to live in. These ratios vary between rural and urban areas. An MOSD survey shows that 13260 families are in need for housing and cannot even submit an application to obtain a loan to build a house. Figures also show that the ratio of persons from the new generation who are renting their houses has increased compared to the previous generation. As for the services available in houses, statistics show that 97% of the houses are linked to the public water network, 99.5 percent linked to the power public network while 60 percent are linked to the drainage network system. According to Article (2) of the Housing Regulation Number 26 of the Year 1970, a family of limited income is defined as being “the family whose total annual income does not exceed 150 Dinars.” The year 2005 had witnessed an official trend towards fostering the role of the government in implementing housing projects targeting families of limited income. A sum of JD 10-million had been allocated to embark on housing projects in various governorates. Based on official statements to this effect, the criteria for setting priority to projects is the population needs in governorates, the level of income, and the prospects of linking them with the services of the infra structure .in addition to giving special priority to families supported by women and families which have handicapped cases. The NCHR recommends the necessity to pay attention to the creation of new housing projects through the activation of the role of the Public Institution for Housing, thus giving priority to State officials and other citizens of limited and low income in various governorates of the Kingdom. It further recommends the linkage of more populated areas to the sanitary drainage network.

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7. Right to A Suitable Standard Of Living: It may be stated generally that the year 2005 had witnessed setbacks, which resulted from consecutive hikes in prices without discrimination. It has also been noticed that the continuation of privatization processes without taking their passive social effects into consideration had contributed to the creation of further difficulties suffered by citizens and by those of limited income in particular. The year 2005 had witnessed developments that had passive and direct effects on the capability of Jordanian families to endure basic living expenditures, most important of which is the right to housing. Figures released by the Association of Investors in the Housing Sector indicate that prices of real estate and land have considerably increased in various parts of the capital and to a much lesser degree in other areas of the Kingdom. During the first seven months of the year 2005 only, the volume of investment in the real-estate market reached 1.5 billion dinars while real-estate sales to non-Jordanians reached JD 12 million during June alone. The authentic beneficiary from these developments is the investor while citizens of limited income faced by a hike in the prices of land and apartments found themselves completely helpless in coping with the market trend. * There is a strong correlation between housing, its sanitary utilities, other services and the appropriate standard of living. Despite the achievements realized by Jordan in the fields of health and education the poverty-stricken class and other needy classes in general are still unable to utilize the opportunities available or enjoy their basic rights to food, clothing, nutrition and medicine. A poor family is most often deprived of appropriate housing options, medical services, potable water and adequate and sound nutrition. This means that such family is deprived of the right to enjoy an appropriate standard of living, which is considered as the essence of social rights. * The year 2005 witnessed developments that increased material pressure on Jordanian families most important of which is the increase in prices of basic commodities including fuel and what accompanied this rise, which led to a similar rise in the prices of all goods and services. During this year, fuel prices were increased twice the first in April and the second in September. The prices of diesel and kerosene increased by 33.3% while the price of benzene was raised by 10.6% which in turn led to an increase in the prices of several basic commodities such as water, electricity and food as well as services and communications. This directly affected the standard of living of people with limited income. 8. Women’s Rights: Jordan signed the CIDAW convention on 3rd December 1980 and ratified it in July 1992. Jordan however announced its reservation on Article 9/2, which granted women equal rights to men with respect to the nationality of their children. It also proclaimed reservation with regard to Article 15/4 granting men and women the same rights with regard to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and domicile. Jordan also maintained reservation concerning paragraphs c, d and g of article 16 related to marriage and family relations. On the other hand, the Government has not until this date published CEDAW in the Official Gazette or presented it to the HD for ratification. The Government in its 3rd and 4th reports to the United Nations on 27th October 2005 justified the non-completion of the ratification procedures of the Convention and the delay of

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its publication in the Official Gazette as being merely a matter of priorities with regard to debating provisional laws in Parliament. A) Political Participation: Political participation by women is still limited despite the fact that the official attitude encourages such participation. In 2005, Jordanian women filled some positions for the first time when the MOI appointed on 28th February 2005 a woman to the post of Administrative Governor and another to the post of mayor. A woman also won a leading post at the Association of Physicians for the first time late 2005 while the Directorate of Public Security appointed a woman for the first time in the Directorate to fill the post of Attorney General at the Directorate of Police at the capital late in 2004. The number of women working as judges in the judicial branch increased from 19 in 2004 to 25 in 2005. Some non-governmental organizations set up working shops calling for setting a "women’s quota" in municipal councils. These workshops submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office calling for allocating 20% of the municipal seats to women. Despite all this, women have not reached the minimum limit required for their participation in political life, due to economic conditions, social legacies and heavy burdens, particularly working women, in addition to the non-availability of social facilities that should be provided by the society and the women’s inadequate awareness of their rights. B) National Legislations And The Woman: Article 6 of the Jordanian Constitution states that “Jordanians shall be equal before the law. There shall be no discrimination between them as regards to their rights and duties on grounds of race, language or religion.” This Article laid down the principle of equality between men and women alike. This is concordant with other articles of the constitution with the exception of Article 23, which was positively biased in favor of women as it stipulated the necessity of specifying the conditions related to the work of women and minors, all of which was turned into a tangible fact in the Jordanian Labor Law. Some legislations should however be amended as they contain transgressions of the principle of equality between men and women most important of which are: – Personal Status Law: The Provisional Amended Personal Status Law No 82 of the year 2001 was issued but is still provisional as the HD decided to return the Law which included an article related to khulu’ (divorce by the wife for consideration, which she pays) after debate. The Law was passed to the Senate, which approved it twice pending a joint session of both Houses as specified by the Constitution. Despite these amendments, the Personal Status Law still contains some legal shortcomings, which require treatment. These include child nursing and raising the nursing age to cope with CRC provisions, which define a child as being an individual less than 18 years of age. This also applies to the nafaqa (adequate financial support of the daughter), which should not be discontinued if the daughter refuses to join her father. Divorce should also be carried out in

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accordance with specific controls. The judge should be authorized to prevent divorce and should take into consideration the rights of the children upon divorce. – Penal Law: During the year 2005, no amendments enhancing the status of women and protecting them in the penal legislation were introduced to the law, but efforts in favor of women were made in 2005 most important of which are: 1.The Department of the Chief Justice carried out consultations with the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) and the MOJ to set up family offices in Canonical Courts in various parts of the Kingdom in order to solve family disputes before resorting to courts and to consider family differences before one body that has experience and is conversant with legal and judicial affairs. Such offices are capable of realizing reconciliation among members of the family before resorting to courts which will in turn facilitate, reduce and simplify court procedures in a way that would cope with the nature of Personal status and family issues, such as considering the divorce case and other issues including the wife’s adequate financial support NAFAQAH, belated dowry, the children’s adequate financial support and child nursing once for all thus enabling the wife to avoid separate cases in Canonical Courts and spare her the trouble of going and resorting to courts. This will also enable the woman to avoid psychological pain and financial costs resulting thereof. 2.Non-Governmental Organizations have received many complaints from Jordanian women married to non-Jordanians with regard to depriving them from their right to grant their children their nationality parallel to men. There are pressures campaigns carried out by these organizations and other bodies to amend the Nationality Law and lift the reservation on Article 9/2 of CEDAW. 3. The Association of Engineers has approved the proposed amendments with regard to the Pension Plan and has thus reduced the pension age for male engineers from 65 years to 60 and for female engineers from 60 years to 55. Violence Against Woman: The Department of Family Protection pertaining to the Directorate of Public Security had been entrusted with dealing with cases of rape of males and females of various age groups, as well as cases of family violence for males and females under the age of 18, within a mechanism that would take into consideration the confidentiality and privacy of these cases, as well as the requirements of human rights. This Department started operating in the Capital on 12th November 1999, but had later expanded its operations to include other areas in the Kingdom, namely Irbed, Zarqa, Aqaba and Balqa. On 17th February 2005, new sections in the Department were created in Madaba and Karak Governorates. Cases dealt with by Karak Section reached 28 cases. Since the establishment of this Department, recorded cases have been continuously increasing. Cases dealt with by the Department reached in the year 2004 (1423) cases including 396 involving attacks against females as shown in the statistics of the same year. As for 2005, the number of cases reached 1796 cases including 439 attacks against females.

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* The reason behind the increase in the number of cases recorded is imputed to growing awareness among citizens as regards cases of violence and the increase of cases reported upon occurrence in addition to the spread of branches of the Family Protection Department in various parts of the Kingdom and the easy access to them. It may be said that the increase in the number of workshops and seminars dealing with various forms of violence had contributed to an increase in awareness among citizens. As for the role of protecting the family, whose regulation Number 48 of 2004 was approved, the Guest House of Abused Women pertaining to the Jordanian Women’s Union is still receiving such women. In 2005, the House received about 127 abused women. It must be noticed that this number has exceeded the number recorded last year 2004, which was 104. During 2005, new working programs were incepted and these included the rehabilitation and training abused women in the House in order to enable them acquire practical skills that would help them fill a job upon discharge. * The prevailing social patterns are considered as the most prominent impediments hindering women from practicing their rights on equal footing with men. The Jordanian society is still a male society where the woman practices a secondary role in comparison to man, whether at the family or society level in general. A recent NCHR study of three Jordanian universities, conducted in 2005 on the awareness of students regarding women’s rights and violence against women, had monitored some positive changes in the attitudes and views of male and female youths towards women’s issues. Despite the limitations of the method of the study as the study sample was not fully representative due to its smallness on the one hand and the fact that it was directed towards university students on the other, it however gave some very important indicators calling for a quick follow-up. 85.7% of the sample agreed that “women have the same rights as men”. While 52.5% said that “women have the same capabilities as men in the scope of work.”, 93.2 percent opposed the fact that “women have no role other than taking care of their household and children”, 88.8% opposed that “education is more important for males than females.”, 91.9% also opposed the statement that “men have the right to beat their wives”, Again 89.8 percent opposed the statement that “ violence within a family is a private matter and that no party has the right to interfere.” This shows the need to make people aware of the rights of women, particularly university youths. 9. Children Rights: Jordan ratified the CRC on 24 May 1991, but maintained reservation on Article 14 related to the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It also expressed reservation on Articles 20 and 21 relating to adoption. . Jordan presented its first report on its CRC commitments and undertakings in 1993, i.e., two years after ratification of the Convention. It presented its second report in 1998. The Jordanian Government is in the process of presenting its third periodical report for the period between 1998 and 2005 to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in accordance with Article 44 of the CRC. The report contains information related to all arrangements and measures taken by the Government, including amendments introduced to national legislations, policies, programs and the strategies introduced in implementation of the Convention. It also contains answers to the final notes approved by the Committee with regard to the former periodical report. It is noteworthy that the CRC has not been published in the Official Gazette. It had not been presented to the HD and had not been ratified to become valid as specified in Article 33 of the Constitution under the pretext that the House has other priorities.

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A) National Legislation and Arrangements: Nothing new has taken place as regards the Law on the Rights of the Child since it was referred to the Parliament for discussion and approval in its final form. This also applies to the Provisional Personal Status Law with regard to amending the age of marriage to become 18 years for both spouses, as it is still a provisional law. (On the basis of NCHR contacts with the HD Speaker on 14 March 2006, it was agreed to present the draft law on the Rights of the Child to the forthcoming extraordinary session, which will be held by the House next June.). As for strategic planning, several strategies and national plans related to the rights of the child had been approved including approval of the Youths National Strategic Draft Plan (2005 to 2009). B) General Principles Ensuring the Protection of the Rights of the Child: 1. Non-discrimination: Non-discrimination was mentioned as an obligatory general principle in the Jordanian Constitution as specified in Article 6 of the Constitution, but there are some breaches which are considered as violations of the principle of equality stated in the Constitution including depriving the children of a Jordanian woman married to a non-Jordanian from obtaining the nationality in accordance with the Jordanian Nationality Law and its amendments Number 6 of the year 1954. Necessity requires that the nationality of the Jordanian mother should be granted to her minor children to enable her raise them up, educate them and provide them with medical care in case of the death of her non-Jordanian husband or in case of his immigration to an unknown destination or if the wife was divorced thus forcing her to carry the burden of raising up the children by herself without the participation of the spouse. This also applies to the Personal Status Law, which discriminated between males and females thus giving the male child the right to choose between his father and mother while the girl is forced to join her guardian. It also discriminated between the male and female as regards expenses of adequate support, which is maintained by the male even if he does not join his guardian and stopped for the female if she refused to join her guardian. 2. The Child’s Best Interests: No direct text in the Jordanian Constitution specifying the child’s best interests exists due to the fact that the Constitution merely defines general principles under which laws and regulations are enacted, but the Draft Law on the rights of the Child of the year 2004 included such principle and gave priority to the child’s best interests when a decision concerning the child is taken. Article (9-b) also states that it is imperative to “take into consideration the child’s best interests upon taking a measure against any of his parents.” 3.The child’s right to life, survival and development: Death rates of infants and children below the age of five have dropped while all Jordanian children under the age of six years have been included in the free MOH medical insurance scheme and treatment at MOH

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hospitals and clinics. The Ministry also approved a program to compensate children against shortage of some necessary nutrition elements such as vitamins and minerals. The MOE began providing children under the age of five in various parts of the Kingdom and students of the first three elementary classes in some areas with vitamin (A) tablets to treat them from problems resulting from deficiency of such a vitamin. Figures released by the Department of Statistics indicate a drop in death rates among infants reaching 22 cases of every thousand infants born alive while death rates among children below five years of age reached 27 of every thousand children born alive. The MOE, with NCFA and UNICEF cooperation, approved cohesive development criteria which constitute a scientific groundwork for observing the development of children through a project that includes several axes namely the axis of language development, literacy, the axis of social and emotional development and building up relations, the axis of logic, thinking and ability to establish relations among things, events and persons and the axis of the methods followed in learning. These five axes are interlinked in the process of developing childhood. 4.Respect of the Child’s views and Right to Participate: No explicit text in laws granting the child the right to take his own decisions or express his views exist, but the Jordanian Constitution ensured the freedom of opinion for all Jordanians without discrimination and within law, as prescribed in Article (3 d) of the draft law on the rights of he child which emphasizes “the right of every child to express his opinion and his right to participate in all matters of concern to him.” However, there has been an increase in programs and activities carried out by schools and institutions of the civil community to enhance the participation of children in development schemes. The NCHR implemented the project of “Young Voices, Big Thoughts” to make children aware of their rights in accordance with CRC provisions. The project covered six schools in three governorates. C) Violence Against Children: An increase in the awareness of the Jordanian community towards violence against children has been noticed probably due to condensed lectures and training courses held by official institutions and non-governmental organizations. In the year 2004, the number of rape cases against children according to the statistics released by the Department of Family Protection reached 107 cases while physical attacks against male and female children reached during the same year 107. In the year 2005, the number of rapes against children reached 292 while physical attacks against children (Body harm) reached 97 cases. In 2005, the T.V Connecting network related to the testimonies of children was approved thus enabling minor witnesses to offer their testimonies in a closed chamber connected with the court. This gives the child more confidence and easiness while giving his testimony and will also keep the child aloof from facing or mingling with culprits and suspects. Article 158 of the Law of Penal Procedures had been amended to permit

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the introduction of this technology and to protect witnesses under 18 years of age while presenting their testimonies, which will be treated as acceptable evidence in the case. D) Children in Conflict with Law: NCHR teams made field visits to sites where juvenile delinquents are detained. These tours amounted to 12 during 2005 and were aimed at verifying their conditions and at making sure that their rights are preserved in MOSD social protection institutions, as well as ensuring the provision of the minimum limit of international criteria. The National Center has received 57 complaints during 2005 on detained juveniles most of which centered on the long period of court procedures, long stay in custody, non-availability of legal representation for juveniles during their trial and maltreatment. During the same period, the Center received 30 petitions from juveniles seeking help, most of which centered on the juveniles’ wish to meet their families and relatives. Reports on these visits were prepared and the authorities were informed about the conditions of these centers and the juveniles detained there. Replies by the authorities were in general positive. The JC ordered the distribution of the report among all courts and departments of public prosecutors. Despite this, it must be stated that dealing with this group of the society is still confined to penalizing the juvenile in conflict with law. There are no general policies for straightening the juvenile within the community through alternative penalties, which are not freedom restrictive under the Juvenile Reformative Justice System, which aims at taking the necessary precautions to prevent juvenile crimes and/or their repetition. Notes On Following Up The Conditions Of Children In Conflict With The Law: * Within the framework of a MOSD-PSD joint action mechanism, two pilot security centers were established to carry out preliminary investigations in juvenile cases in the Amman area (Quwaismeh Security Center, which received 170 juveniles, and Zahran Security Center, which received 74 juveniles during the period from 3 July up to 31 December 2005). However, there is still dire need for increasing these centers. The Directorate of Public Security began training special police and conduct controllers to enable them deal with juvenile cases, thus stressing the importance of a specialized juvenile judiciary during all stages of the trial. * The Center recommends giving direct concern to the requirements of female juveniles as it had been noticed during field visits that there exists apparent discrimination in care and preventive services in favor of male juveniles, * The problem of juvenile escape from detention centers still exists. Repeated escapes according to an investigation carried out by the Center with regard to one case of collective escape is imputed to negligence, non-efficiency of supervisors and officials on duty working during evening shifts, .the lack of preventive measures such as searching women before visits on the one hand and the failure to follow up the psychological aspect of the detained juveniles on the other. E) Begging:

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The findings of an MOSD survey on begging reveals that 70% of beggars consider begging a profession that is more profitable than work. The study also indicated that family incoherence in all forms, bad company and dropping out of school, in addition to poverty and unemployment, are among the main reasons leading to begging. The MOSD, with PSD cooperation, launched more than 2,000 campaigns, similar to those carried out in 2005, in various cities. Statistics show that the number of detained beggars is continuously increasing reaching 1228 in the year 2003. This number increased to 1270 in 2004 and to 2095 in 2005. * The National Center believes that the begging phenomenon is no more a temporary means of begging but is developing towards becoming an organized sustainable phenomenon partly managed by individuals who recruit children, distribute and train them on methods of begging and utilize them in collecting money through instigating emotions within the society. The Center recommends the initiation of national mass media campaigns to make people aware of this phenomenon. It also recommends that public policies should be directed towards providing appropriate working opportunities and combating unemployment. 10. Rights of the Disabled: The legitimacy of the rights of the disabled emanates from principles mentioned in international covenants, conventions, declarations and other HR instruments in general. Despite the fact that governments and international organizations had neglected for quite a long time the rights of the disabled, they recently placed the issue of disability on the list of priorities of member states in the United Nations where it was agreed to lay down a draft international convention on the rights of the disabled. Arab countries, including Jordan, took part in these meetings and the convention is expected to be approved next August. The Jordanian Constitution did not specifically tackle the rights of the disabled, but stressed in Article 6 that “all Jordanians shall be equal before the law.” The Jordanian National Charter however tackled the rights of the disabled in the social sphere (Paragraph 8) stating that” disabled individuals within the Jordanian Society have the right to receive special care, education, training rehabilitation and employment to enable them overcome their difficulties and enjoy life in their capacity as a participating and producing category within the society.” In the year 1993, the Law on the Care of the Disabled Number 12 of the year 1993 and its amendments was passed following the first Arab agreement on rehabilitating and recruiting the disabled, which was approved in the Jordanian capital Amman the same year. The legislator granted disabled individuals rights equal to those of healthy persons. Some of these rights are general such as the right to participate, the right to medical care and the right to education. Other rights are special and are confined to the disabled such as the right to integration, the right to rehabilitation, the right to an appropriate environment, the right to customs exemptions, the right to sports and recreation and the right to vocational rehabilitation. In the light of the texts mentioned within the above-mentioned law, the National Center feels that these texts are mostly flowery and are nearer to human principles rather than rights to be implemented. Article 5/a stressed the exemption of vehicles specially equipped for disabled persons in accordance with the conditions agreed upon between the Customs Department and the Ministry, but was practically construed into complicated instructions and conditions that serve a limited stratum of the disabled. In 2005, only 253

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applications for exempting cars used by the disabled from custom duties were approved out of 1073 applications. The NCHR recommends the amendment of the above-mentioned instructions to make them cope better with the requirements of the disabled. General Notes And Recommendations On The Rights Of The Disabled: 1.Integrative development is considered as one of the most important axes of the draft International Convention on the Disabled. The merger required is that of the broad and comprehensive concept for this category of the society. In the year 1996, the National Register for the Disabled was incepted but it was noticed that this register was short of incorporating all cases of disability actually existing within the Jordanian community, as the criterion taken for classifying disabilities in the National Register differ from that approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) which was the source of defining disabled persons in the Jordanian legislation. 2. There is a need to solve the problem of persons with severe disability through setting up centers distributed over various territories within the Kingdom, particularly persons posing dangers for those surrounding them. There are some cases, which require consolidated efforts and the participation of official and non-official parties in the process of containing, and helping those who need such service as the problem of disabled persons is not confined to the family of the disabled person but exceeds it to become the problem of the entire society. It must be noted that there are only two public sector centers in the Kingdom for sheltering mentally retarded persons, which are not sufficient to absorb the numbers requiring specialized border institutional care. 3. There is dire need to rehabilitate the staff working in the field of mental retardation. 4. Since the Law on the Disabled did not deal with the question of legal protection of the financial rights of the disabled, the NCHR recommends to name or create a body which will be legally authorized—such as the Fund Supervising the Management of the funds of the disabled or another body—Such body should be entrusted with managing the funds and properties of the disabled, particularly those who find it difficult to express their desires.

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