JORDAN: Towards a Jordanian National Action Plan on Women's Rights

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) held a conference entitled “Towards a National Action Plan on Women's Rights: Implementation of Women's rights in the European Neighborhood Policy's Action Plan and the Istanbul–Marrakech Process” on March 14-15, 2011 in Amman. EMHRN's Director of the Women's Rights and Gender Equality Project Mrs. Lina Al-Qurah and ACHRS Director Dr. Nizam Assaf presented the conference objectives. The aim of the conference was to discuss how to utilize the Euro-Mediterranean relations and the EU-Jordan partnership mechanisms, particularly the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and the Marrakesh Conclusions, in promoting women's rights and participation, public freedoms and social justice. The event also aimed at reflecting upon women's rights in view of the current political transformations and to assess Jordan's implementation of its commitments to women's rights nationally, regionally and internationally, especially its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Ministry of Political Development Secretary General Dr. Malek Twal reiterated that the conference represented the onset of a true partnership between the government and civil society organizations to work on the ENP action plan and the Marrakech Conclusions. He made reference to Jordan's achievements in the field of women's rights and stressed the need to localize and utilize the outcomes of the Istanbul/Marrakech Process in enhancing gender equality and eliminating discrimination and violence against women.

Swedish Ambassador to Jordan Charlotta Sparre emphasized gender equality, a priority for Sweden as the Marrakech Conference was held during the Swedish Presidency of the European Union. She said the realization of women's rights is crucial to achieving a comprehensive economic and democratic development and that such development would not materialize if the potentials of women, half of the population, remained unutilized.
Three sessions were held on the first day of the event. The first session addressed women's human rights in view of the current political developments in the region. Panel speakers MP Abla Abu Olbeh, activist Lamia Jabareen from the Palestinian Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, and activist Halima Jouni from the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women discussed the extent to which women's rights are addressed and put on the agendas of these political transformations. They tackled the main challenges and obstacles women face in this regard. MP Abu Olbeh explained the significance of and the role of women in the emerging transformations in the Arab region, saying those transformations saw the emergence of new powers which replaced the old powers that prevailed in eras where political and social developments were absent. New powers emphasize the values of equality, freedom and social justice which the Arab public is demanding. The speakers said it was necessary to improve feminist discourse in terms of substance and mechanisms in order to adapt to the ongoing developments and to accentuate the need to include the rights of women as full citizens in the agendas of social movements and make women's issues part of reform efforts in the Arab region.

In the second session, Al-Qurah presented the conclusions of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society, known as the Marrakech Conclusions, and the role of civil society organizations in pushing for the implementation of commitments to women's rights. The head of the EU Delegation to Jordan's Politics, Press and Information Section, Jaromir Levicek, talked about partnership mechanisms and institutions and the available opportunities for civil society participation. Second Counselor at the French embassy in Amman, Anne Boillon, presented the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) efforts in following up on the implementation of the Marrakech Conclusions. Levicek and Boillon answered questions from participants concerning the EU and France's positions on the current political transformations.

The third session was dedicated to a critical assessment of the achievements of Jordanian women during the period 2005-2010, such as the major amendments made to important laws and legislations including the Personal Status Law, and the enactment of laws that reduce violence against women such as the Law for Protection from Domestic Violence. Dr. Nizam Assaf said it was necessary for women to claim their rights and that rights should be taken rather than granted. Arab Women Organization Director of Projects Mrs. Laila Hamarneh reviewed the concluding observations of the CEDAW Committee on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Jordan and particularly on the reservations on CEDAW's article (9) concerning Jordanian women's right to pass on nationality to husband and children and article (16) on taking all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations. Hamarneh reiterated the need to lift the reservations on articles 9 and 16, endorse a 30% quota for women in elected assemblies, amend the Societies Law and the Elections Law and repeal the Public Meetings Law. Dr. Assaf reviewed the recommendations concerning women in the Universal Periodic Review of human rights in Jordan of February 2009. Of the recommendations issued by the Human Rights Council, Jordan approved 41 recommendations, 8 of which concern women's rights, promised to study 15 recommendations, 4 of which concern women's rights, and rejected 10 recommendations, 4 of which are related to women's rights including recommendations to reconsider the Nationality Law, lift the reservations on CEDAW and abolish discriminatory provisions from the Personal Status Law, the Penal Code and the Nationality Law.

Representative of the Karama Organization in Jordan Mrs. Amna Al-Helwa called for addressing women's rights as a central national matter and viewing women as fundamental partners rather than a minority.

On the second day of the conference, the participating 45 human rights activists and representatives of civil society organizations and women's associations from different governorates discussed several structural issues relating to the women's rights in working groups. They concluded with priorities for a National Action Plan to implement the Marrakech Conclusions in relation to combating discrimination and violence against women, gender mainstreaming of public institutions and civil society organizations, and realizing the public freedom and human rights of women. Recommendations for a Jordanian National Action Plan will be devised in order to implement the Marrakech Conclusions to which Jordan committed and which were set forth in the ENP Action Plan. These recommendations will be submitted to the Ministry of Political Development, which is responsible for implementing the political part of the ENP action plan, and the Jordanian National Commission for Women. The recommendations for such a National Action Plan will also be forwarded to the concerned civil society organizations to follow up on its implementation.