Family protection unit opens in Ajloun to respond to violence against women

AJLOUN — The Public Security Directorate (PSD) on Tuesday inaugurated the first Family Protection Department branch in Ajloun, aiming to improve efficiency in the overall response to cases of violence against women (VAW) and children (VAC) within the governorate. 

Established in 1997 by the PSD to investigate and address all crimes committed against women and children, the Family Protection Department has provided services to over 24,000 women and children across the Kingdom since.

The new branch in Ajloun is the last one to be established of a total of 14 centres across the Kingdom, and the first of its kind in the governorate. Prior to that, violence cases against children and families had to be referred to the nearest centre in Jerash. 

Launched with the support of UNICEF, the inauguration ceremony saw the attendance of several diplomats from donor countries including Canada, Germany, the UK, the EU and the US. 

“The services provided by the family protection departments in Ajloun and across the Kingdom are critical for children and women survivors of violence to recover and continue with their lives,” UNICEF Representative in Jordan Robert Jenkins said at the ceremony, stressing that “a network covering all parts of the country will ensure that women and children have access to gender sensitive and child friendly services that respect their dignity and rights”.

Since its establishment, the Family Protection Department at the PSD has constituted a “major breakthrough” in the approach to combating violence against children and women according to the official, who noted that “this initiative clearly indicates Jordan’s conviction on the need to provide special treatment for the most vulnerable people”.

“However, the work is not done yet and we must strive harder towards improving violence case management by strengthening a multidisciplinary approach,” Jenkins pointed out, noting the importance of operating a family violence tracking system to guarantee proper management and quality support services to survivors of violence.

During Jenkins’ visit to the centre, chief of child protection at UNICEF Maha Homsi highlighted some of the challenges present in Ajloun, explaining “when VAW and VAC cases are reported to the governor, the solution is to make perpetrators sign a pledge not to commit violence again, but in most cases, the attacks continue”.

"What we [UNICEF] are trying to do to tackle this issue is introduce programmes for perpetrators to rehabilitate through anger management courses and similar tools,” Homsi continued.

For his part, Family Protection Department Director Colonel Fakhri Al Qatarneh stressed the challenges related to the culture and the community, explaining that “at the beginning, it was not easy to motivate people to come and report domestic and sexual violence cases due to the idea of shame that revolves around such situations”.

"Every other governorate where we have established a centre has experienced changes in its community towards more openness,” Qatarneh highlighted, expressing hopes to see similar results in Ajloun.