Human rights in Jordan
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The record of human rights in Jordan continues to be a matter of concern for many international human rights groups. Jordan uses the death penalty, and allegedly, torture and other inhumane practices. So-called "honor killings" are often unpunished by police, and freedom of expression is curtailed in a number of areas.[1] However, in recent years, there have been reforms in an attempt to improve the situation.
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[edit] Treaties
Jordan is a party to many human rights agreements, including[2]
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
- Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts
- Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour
- Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
- Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour
- Equal Remuneration Convention
- Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
- Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
- Employment Policy Convention
- Convention against Discrimination in Education
[edit] Freedom of the press
In the fall of 2001, strict new laws restricted freedom of the press in Jordan, leading to the detention and imprisonment of several journalists and leaders of peaceful associations.[1] In the 2005 Worldwide Press Freedom Index maintained by Reporters Without Borders, Jordan ranked 96th out of 167 countries, putting it third-best in the Middle East, behind only Israel and Kuwait.[3] In May 2006, two journalists involved in reprinting three of the 12 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons were issued a two-month prison sentence.[4]
[edit] Freedom of religion
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[edit] Unrestrained violence
According to a report by Amnesty International, intelligence agents in Jordan frequently use torture to extract confessions from terror suspects. Common tactics include, "beating, sleep deprivation, extended solitary confinement, and physical suspension." Palestinians and suspected Islamists are treated especially harshly. Though Jordan has improved many procedures in this respect, agents at the General Intelligence Department remain largely immune to punishment.[5] Additionally, practitioners of "honor killings", that is, the killing of a girl or woman for breaking serious social conventions, goes largely unpunished.[1] Despite the efforts of King Abdullah, punishments for honor killings remain light.[6]
[edit] Nationality
Jordan's 1954 law on nationality allows Palestinian nationals who were resident in Jordan (or the Jordanian occupied West Bank) from 1949 to 1954 to acquire Jordanian citizenship, unless Jewish:
The following shall be deemed to be Jordanian nationals: ...Any person who, not being Jewish, possessed Palestinian nationality before 15 May 1948 and was a regular resident in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between 20 December 1949 and 16 February 1954.
– Law No. 6 of 1954 on Nationality
Jordan's laws against Jewish citizenship or land ownership have been described by Benjamin Natanyahu[7], Alan Dershowitz[8] and Menachem Kellner[9] as apartheid.
FLAME has accused the UN of ignoring what it calls Jordanian apartheid laws during its rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem which prevented Jews from accessing the Old City of Jerusalem.[10]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Amnesty International: Human Rights Concerns for Jordan accessed 10-8-2006
- ^ University of Minnesota Human Rights Library: Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties - Jordan accessed 10-8-2006
- ^ Reporters Without Borders: 2005 Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index accessed 8-8-2006
- ^ Reporters without Borders: First prison sentences announced for reprinting Mohammed cartoons accessed 12-8-2006
- ^ Amnesty International: Systematic Torture of Political Suspects Entrenched in Jordan accessed 12-8-2006
- ^ The British Broadcasting Corporation: 'Honour killings' law blocked accessed 12-8-2006
- ^ Natanyahu, Benjamin (January 2000). A Durable Peace: Israel and its Place Among the Nations. London: Warner Books. ISBN 0446523062. “Jordanian apartheid laws forbidding Jewish residence go unnoticed”
- ^ Dershowitz, Alan (December 01, 2006). Jimmy Carter Mideast book shows his anti-Israel bias. Jewish Journal. Retrieved on 2007-07-19. “The reality is that other Arab and Muslim nations do in fact practice apartheid. In Jordan, no Jew can be a citizen or own land.”
- ^ Kellner, Menachem (January 09, 2007). "Resisting Falsehood and Protecting Integrity". Bar Ilan University. Retrieved on 2007-07-23. “If I were to look for truly apartheid societies in the world, it is not to Israel that I would look, but to many countries in the Arab world...the fact that not a single Jewish community exists in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan...”
- ^ 16 Important Facts About Jews, Arabs and Israel. FLAME (May 18, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-07-23. “...it remained silent when Jordan enforced apartheid laws preventing Jews from accessing the Temple Mount and Western Wall.”
[edit] External links
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