WUNRN
Website Link Includes Call to
Action.
JORDAN - ALLOW WOMEN THE RIGHT
TO PASS ON JORDANIAN NATIONALITY TO THEIR CHILDREN
|
“(My mother is) Jordanian & her nationality is my
right.” |
5 November 2012 - Shireen lives in
LAYLYA's non-national husband moved from job to job, trying to find a decent living. Work permits cost over 400 Jordanian Dinars (about US$600) and employers often refuse to give foreign-born men proper jobs since they can hire them unofficially for jobs with lower wages and longer hours. Anxious about his inability to provide a decent life for his family, Layla’s husband suffered a heart attack. He moved back to his home country in order to regain some dignity.
Three of Layla’s Jordanian-born sons are
working illegally, in constant fear of the police; her 17-year old daughter
cannot afford to go to university because she would be charged higher
“foreigner” fees despite having been born in Jordan to a Jordanian mother. She
is not eligible to apply for government scholarships. If these children had
been born to a Jordanian father, they would be considered Jordanian and not
have to face any of these difficulties.
While MASHA'EL has birth
certificates for her four children proving they were born in Jordan to a
Jordanian mother, their passports show them as nationals of a different
country, which makes her feel very vulnerable and fear their possible
deportation. Her husband works in the beauty salon she owns, but is still
required to renew his work permit annually--something he has not done this year
because of the cost.
He fears deportation if the police discover this, but the family’s priority
is to pay the elevated university “foreigner” fees for their eldest son so that
he can get a decent education. Unable to cope with the restrictions and
hardships associated with being a foreigner in his own country, their son tried
to set himself on fire last year.
Layla,
Masha’el and Shireen’s stories illustrate just some of the hardships
caused by the inability of Jordanian women to pass on their nationality.
Additional restrictions, such as where children from these unions can work or
study, in access to government hospitals and the need to obtain Ministry of the
Interior approval to marry, are all contributing to the increased vulnerability
of these women and their families.
Under Jordanian Law No.6 of 1954 on Nationality, last amended in 1987, with few exceptions, women cannot transmit their nationality to their children or upon marriage to their husbands. To combat this law which does not apply equivalently to Jordanian men and which is negatively impacting the security and livelihood of Jordanian women married to non-nationals, Nima Habashna founded the campaign “My mother is Jordanian, and her nationality is a right for me.” Led by Jordanian women married to non-Jordanians and with the support of the Arab Women Organization, Nima is leading a series of sit-ins in front of the Ministry of the Interior and other government offices calling on the government to amend the nationality law in line with Jordan’s international legal obligations.
Though
Jordanian law allows for the possibility of naturalization of a non-national
husband and their children, it is at the discretion of the Council of Ministers
and applications must be obtained and filed in person with the Ministry of the
Interior based in the capital. Nima, for example, submitted an application as
soon as she was able several years ago. However, despite repeated attempts to
obtain a decision, and even with the assistance of a Parliamentarian who
submitted papers on her behalf, she has never directly received an official
written response. Finally, on 25 April 2012, the Parliamentarian received an
official letter stating that Nima’s application was rejected without giving any
explanation as to why. Other women in the campaign have also tried to have
their children and spouses naturalized but are unable to even obtain an
application from the Ministry.
The Arab Women Organization brought the issue to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in February 2012. In its concluding observations in July 2012, CEDAW urged the government “to enable Jordanian women to pass their nationality to their foreign spouses and their mutual children” within the context of nationality rights. Several other UN treaties and treaty monitoring bodies including the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, have also addressed this issue. All of these committees in their most recent review of Jordan’s implementation of their respective human rights treaties have urged Jordan to amend its nationality law.
When the Ministry agrees to proceed with an application, the Council of Ministries has the authority to either approve or reject it. No woman in the campaign has even managed to have her petition considered. The women have also tried sending letters to the King of Jordan with no success. Although the Jordanian parliament has been dissolved and elections for the new parliament aren’t likely to be held until the end of 2012, a Cabinet is still operating. This Cabinet has the power to pass a temporary law amending the Nationality Law and present it to parliament for approval when it reconvenes.