A Country in Denial
Some times I wish there was a huge creature who could slap Jordan on the face and wake us all up. Apparently, we are offended by a Human Rights Watch report on the situation of liberties and human rights in the country. We even call it baseless and partial and accusatory. Do we really think this state of denial we live in will last for long? Are the people dumb enough to be lulled by a governmental press release in newspapers?
Human rights, liberties protected - gov’tJordan on Sunday rejected as “baseless, contradictory and partial” a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the situation of public freedoms and human rights in the Kingdom.
A government statement made available to The Jordan Times said Jordan “regrets the accusatory language” in the report and the “uncalculated judgements” made against the country.
“Rights and freedoms protection has not declined as claimed by the report, which made groundless judgements,” said the statement.
On the contrary, it added, Jordan has recently witnessed developments, accomplishments and measures that enhanced respect for human rights, noting that the Kingdom has a plan to achieve more in this field, which includes broad socio-economic changes.
The HRW report, “Democracy Charade Undermines Rights”, released late January, included Jordan among countries that allegedly held “dubious elections” in an attempt to pose as real democracies.
…
The New York-based group, which surveys the human rights situation in more than 75 countries, criticised Jordan for alleged violations related to freedom of speech, arrest procedures, the Public Assembly Law, the Political Parties Law, the NGOs Law, Iraqi “refugees” and treatment of foreign labour in industrial estates.
What would it take for a common Jordanian to realize the truth? A trip to a Qualified Industrial Zone, criticism of the royal family, or getting arrested. No amount of press releases will then blind the public.
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February 18th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
They always do like this! Whenever some human rights organisation hits us with a bad report, we act like lunatics instead of apologizing and promising to improve things! When are we going to grow up?!
February 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
You use the right expression when you write "wake up", we are actually a sleepy people.<br />We need somebody to wake us up.</p>
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February 18th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Before you start believing everything you read maybe you should talk to people who actually are "minorities" in <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Jordan</country-region></place> and ask them how they view their human right !!! I don’t the Christians, Armenians, or Cherkess ….etc feel oppressed or have their rights violated. As far as the Iraqi’s, a million Iraqi’s coming to small country like Jordan is like having 60 million coming to the US, the country that HRW judges everybody else by their standards. I doubt very much the <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">US</country-region></place> would allow 60 million refugees any time soon. I happen to be Jordanian Christian living abroad but I sleep well every knowing my mother and sister live in <country-region w:st="on">Jordan</country-region> and nowhere else in the <place w:st="on">Middle east</place>.</span></p>
February 18th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I think it’s not as bad as others, and not as good as others. It needs improvement. </p>
<p>Our officials need to take these reports seriously and act upon them in positive ways. Clarifying the "partial" and fixing the "biased" and work with HRW to pass the next report with flying colors.</p>
<p>It is possible, it’s all possible, it takes few refinements of the civil liberties and few decrees from top.</p>
<p>The interesting part is the the ministers are in a unique position where they can do this and proclaim the victor for their reign, but who’s smart enough to take that up?</p>
<p>And, can people please leave the Iraqi matter out of this. This has nothing to do with anything</p>
February 18th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Imad–your criticisms of the U.S. are valid, but HRW doesn’t judge every other country against the standard of the U.S. It criticizes the U.S. just as much as everyone else, and has published reports in the past calling attention to the very very low number of Iraqi refugees the U.S. has actually bothered to let in.<br /><br />And what is a Qualified Industrial Zone?<br />
February 18th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Didn’t you hear the news?! Jordan is the ONLY perfect country in the whole universe!
February 18th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Imad, the HRW has slammed the US quite a few times and some right wing nuts like O’Reilly often try to underestimate its importance.</p>
<p>I think Jordan is doing very well when it comes to the rights of minorities, but we’re not doing well with the other basic human rights. I’m sure you know what I mean.</p>
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February 18th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hareega, I do not like Bill O’reilly or any right-wing nut but the same time I don’t care for left-wing bleeding heart liberals either…Human right Watch and many so called NGOs have no business interfering in our sovernty. Now they are asking the US government and congress to tie US aid to ‘Human rights"…</p>
<p>…… <em>On December 17, 2007, Human Rights Watch released its report, “</em><a href="http://hrw.org/reports/2007/jordan1207/"><em>Shutting Out the Critics</em></a><em>,” which detailed violations of the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association in Jordan. Since then, the new government of Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi withdrew a dangerous draft law regulating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and promised to amend the law on public gatherings and, with the input of NGOs, draft a new law.</em></p>
<p>Here is as link to the full article…</p>
<p><a href="http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/01/30/jordan17962.htm">http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/01/30/jordan17962.htm</a></p>
<p>My question is when were people prevented from assembly and public gathering? Did they bother counting how many demostrations were out last year? non of those by the way are for "Jordan" cause. or is it becasue you have to have a "Permit" I live in Chicago, the hearl of the USA , the land of the free and you have to get a police permit if you want to demonstrate…</p>
<p>Or this…..</p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2"><em>The Jordanian government in a welcome step has pledged to provide public health care and education to Iraqis living in Jordan regardless of their legal status, but continues to refuse to recognize them as refugees, Human Rights Watch said today.</em></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2">Why is that any othe their business? don’t we have enough ‘refugees’ ? who is paying for their schooling? </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2">or this…..</font></p>
<p><em>Human Rights Watch made recent headlines by criticizing the </em><a title="Jordan" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan"><em>Jordanian government</em></a><em> for arresting elected officials who praised </em><a title="Abu Musab al-Zarqawi" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Musab_al-Zarqawi"><em>Abu Musab al-Zarqawi</em></a><em>, the head of </em><a title="Al-Qaeda in Iraq" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda_in_Iraq"><em>Al-Qaeda in Iraq</em></a><em>, at ceremonies held in response to his death…</em></p>
<p>Did HRW ask the Jordanian people how they feel about this subject?</p>
<p>P.S: sorry for the long response :)</p>
February 19th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Imad,
<p>I might agree with you that not every violation of human rights according to HRW is necessarily a human right violation. However I think we have some problems with human rights in Jordan. It’s not as bad as many people claim it to be, but there’s a problem and we have to address it. A lot of officials are getting away with their corruption and stealing fortunes from the people’s own money and nobofy is questioning them because they’re afraid of imprisonment and harrassment by the government. </p>
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February 19th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Hi Imad,
Why is that any other their business? don’t we have enough ‘refugees’ ? who is paying for their schooling? <br /><br /></font></span></span><span class="commentBody"><span id="comment-39971"><font size="2" face="Arial">I’m not certain but I believe that without recognition of them as refugees, that international aid agenicies are limited in what they can provide. It’s a tough call for Jordan - recognizing them as refugees opens the doors for aid agencies to assist, but it would give them certain rights (as refugees) that they don’t have now. <br /><br />As to why they feel it’s their business… it’s because, that’s what they do. It is "Human Rights Watch", after all :)<br /><br />I personally think HRW and other human righst groups over-step their bounds pretty regularly, which diminishes the value of their reports when they have genuine human rights violations to report, but it is good to have groups like this who don’t have any political affiliations to act as watchdogs.<br /></font></span></span><span class="commentBody" style="font-style: italic;"><span id="comment-39971"><font size="2" face="Arial"><br /></font></span></span><span class="commentBody"><span id="comment-39971"><span style="font-family: Arial;" /></span></span><span class="commentBody" style="font-style: italic;"><span id="comment-39971"><font size="2" face="Arial"><br style="font-style: italic;" /></font></span></span>
February 19th, 2008 at 9:26 am
قبل أسبوعين أجتمعت مع شخص كان يزورالاردن يشتغل سائق علي لموزين في مدينه سان فرانسيسكوا في ولايه كاليفورنيا ومن خلال الحديث تطرق الي رحلات الملك والحاشيه أكد لي بئن مصاريف خدمه الوموزين خلال يومن قدكلفت الشعب الاردني 40 الف دولار…أين هذا الاعلام ألاردني،هل سيغطون مصاريف الحاشيه ؟؟؟؟ والتكلفه التي دفعه هذا الشعب المسكين والمغلوب علي أمره ؟الجواب معروف عند الجميع
February 19th, 2008 at 9:50 am
<p><a href = "http://www.garageband.com/mp3player?|pe1|WdjZPXLrvP2rY1exZG5m">طيب يا عماد خدلك هالمحاضره من توجان فيصل قدمتها في جامعه شيكاخوا ،هذا لفصل الاول</a></p>
<p> <a href = "http://www.garageband.com/mp3player?|pe1|WdjZPXLrvP2rY1exZG5n">وخودلك الفصل الثاني يا عماد،أكبس وسمع</a></p>
February 19th, 2008 at 10:04 am
أصحوا يا عالم ياناس علي المصايب وعلي الفساد ألي ضارب أطنابوا،وبكفي هبل
February 19th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Thanks for the comments everyone.<br /><br />
Sarah, a Qualified Industrial Zone is a location equipped to host factories and
other industrial facilities of companies that outsource their manufacturing
activities to <st1:country-region _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on"><st1:place _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on">Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Most of the people working in QIZs are not Jordanian but from <st1:place _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on">Southeast
Asia</st1:place>, they live in sub-mediocre conditions, are not compensated
well enough, and in general you could say they’re abused in that sense. QIZs in
<st1:country-region _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on"><st1:place _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on">Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region>
offer many facilitations to investors, but more work has to be done to protect
the rights of workers.<br /><br />
Imad, thanks for your comments, don’t worry about the long responses :)<br /><br />
The report did not mention minorities I believe. As the people who read this
blog already know, my mother is Circassian and I know many Circassians, Chechens,
and Christians as my friends. It’s true that they don’t feel any tangible
discrimination in our laws against them, although I can only be sure of this
only to a certain degree.<br /><br />
The right of assembly and demonstrations needs to be worked on. I think in <st1:country-region _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on"><st1:place _moz-userdefined="" w:st="on">Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region> many
obstacles in the name of bureaucracy can and do prevent many demonstrations
from taking place. <br /><br />
And about the refugees, well, it’s simple. Our government cashed in to receive
them, then let them in by the hundred thousands, and now we simply HAVE TO
share our resources with them. In that sense, they should enjoy some rights
that they do not enjoy so far. <br /><br />
About the four representatives who were jailed after attending the
funeral of Zarqawi, I guess if the government did not make a big deal out of it
and let it slide then it would not have amounted to anything. I think the govt
was trying to flex its anti-terror muscles in the media, and score some points
against the Islamic Action Front. It all worked, too. <br /><br style="" /><!–[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]–><!–[endif]–></span><span style="" dir="ltr"><o:p _moz-userdefined="" /></span></p>
February 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Jordan is doing well when it comes to the rights of the minorities, I agree, however with regards to the rights of the majority…now thats a whole different animal alltogether……..
February 20th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
[...] Tololy, from Jordan, is angry her country has rejected a Human Rights Watch report on Jordan as baseless. “Some times I wish there was a huge creature who could slap Jordan on the face and wake us all up,” she writes. time savedwww.globalvoicesonline.org Share This [...]
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I see King Abdullah is having a break today on his motor cycle…with some of his friends…saw the pics in the newspaper