WUNRN
|
||
|
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN - Women activists on Saturday said the government had promised to work on amending all laws that discriminate against women within the next two years.
“We received positive assurances from Jordanian government officials in New York City last week that they will amend discriminatory laws affecting Jordanian women’s lives and also draft a special law to address domestic violence,” Arab Women Organisation (AWO) programme director Layla Naffa announced yesterday.
Naffa was part of a delegation of local NGOs that went to the US last week to deliver the first-ever “shadow report” for Jordan at the 39th session of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) committee meetings.
The Kingdom signed the convention in July 1992 and submitted an initial report covering the year following the convention’s entry into force in the country.
But the government made three reservations on the convention, which are related to clauses in the Personal Status Law, citizenship, housing and women’s mobility.
At the session, the government presented its report on compliance with CEDAW, Naffa told a press conference at AWO headquarters, and officials pledged to examine the possibility of increasing Lower House seats for women.
The “shadow report”, which detailed the government’s areas of noncompliance, recommends policies to improve protection of women’s legal rights and safety from violence.
The prevalence of violence against women represents one of the greatest challenges to the government today and that is why the report focused on this aspect, according to Afaf Jabiri, Karama Network coordinator in Jordan.
Fatima Dabbas, head of the women’s committee at the Arab Human Rights Organisation and lawyer Nour Emam, a member of the Arab Women Media Centre, also helped to compile the report.
Emam said the “shadow report” called on the government to lift the reservations it made on CEDAW.
The report recognised the government’s endorsement of CEDAW and its publication in the Official Gazette, saying “it will make it legally binding for the government to abide by CEDAW,” she said
It urged the government to lift the remaining reservations to CEDAW articles, and ensure women’s equality under the law to enable them to pass their nationality to their spouses and children, as men are currently entitled to do.
The group also said the government should work to enforce legislation that prohibits sexual assault in the workplace and gender-based discrimination at all levels of employment and benefits.
The report also called for amending Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution, which indicates that all Jordanians are equal before the law and there is no discrimination between them, to specify equality according to “sex” alongside “language,” “religion,” and “race”.
“The women’s movement in Jordan will not stop here and we will continue to urge the government to lift its reservations on CEDAW,” Naffa said.
================================================================
To leave the list, send your request by email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com.
Thank you.