Human rights in Jordan

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.Amnesty International: [http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/jordan/index.do Human Rights Concerns for Jordan] accessed 10-8-2006] However, in recent years, there have been reforms in an attempt to improve the situation.

Treaties

Jordan is a party to many human rights agreements, including [University of Minnesota Human Rights Library: [http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/ratification-jordan.html Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties - Jordan] accessed 10-8-2006]
*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

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. 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. [Reporters Without Borders: [http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554 2005 Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index] accessed 8-8-2006] In May 2006, two journalists involved in reprinting three of the 12 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons were issued a two-month prison sentence. [Reporters without Borders: [http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17864 First prison sentences announced for reprinting Mohammed cartoons] accessed 12-8-2006]

Freedom of religion

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. [Amnesty International: [http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/jordan/document.do?id=ENGUSA20060724001 Systematic Torture of Political Suspects Entrenched in Jordan] accessed 12-8-2006] Additionally, practitioners of "honor killings", that is, the killing of a girl or woman for breaking serious social conventions, goes largely unpunished. Despite the efforts of King Abdullah, punishments for honor killings remain light. [The British Broadcasting Corporation: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3088828.stm 'Honour killings' law blocked] accessed 12-8-2006]

Nationality

Jordan's [http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rsd/rsddocview.html?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=3ae6b4ea13 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:

quotation|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 [cite book
last = Natanyahu
first = Benjamin
authorlink = Benjamin Natanyahu
title = A Durable Peace: Israel and its Place Among the Nations
year = 2000
month = January
publisher = Warner Books
location = London
id = ISBN 0446523062
pages =
chapter =
quote =Jordanian apartheid laws forbidding Jewish residence go unnoticed ] , Alan Dershowitz [cite web
url = http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16892
title = Jimmy Carter Mideast book shows his anti-Israel bias
accessdate = 2007-07-19
last =Dershowitz
first = Alan
authorlink = Alan Dershowitz
date = December 01, 2006
publisher = Jewish Journal
quote = 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.] and Menachem Kellner [cite web
url = http://www.biu.ac.il/academic_freedom/Resisting%20Falsehood%20and%20Protecting%20Integrity%20-%20Menachem%20Kellner.rtf
title = "Resisting Falsehood and Protecting Integrity"
accessdate = 2007-07-23
last = Kellner
first = Menachem
authorlink =
date = January 09, 2007
publisher = Bar Ilan University
quote = 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...] 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. [cite web
url = http://www.factsandlogic.org/flame_hotline_051806-p.html
title = 16 Important Facts About Jews, Arabs and Israel
accessdate = 2007-07-23
last =
first =
authorlink =
date = May 18, 2006
publisher = FLAME
quote = ...it remained silent when Jordan enforced apartheid laws preventing Jews from accessing the Temple Mount and Western Wall.]

ee also

*Gay rights in Jordan
*Amman
*Women in Arab societies

References

External links

* [http://hrw.org/doc/?t=mideast&c=jordan Human Rights Watch: Jordan]
* [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/224/ Censorship in Jordan] - IFEX