Good human rights record

Jordan ranks first among Arab countries and 78th  globally in the Human Freedom Index for this year, according to a report issued by the US-based Cato Institute, Canada’s Fraser Institute and Germany’s Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann  Foundation for Freedom.

This comes as no surprise to all those familiar with the country’s human rights record, which continues to be appreciated  by various international human rights fora, in addition to the UN Human Right Council, which reviews Jordan’s human rights performance on periodic basis.

No less important are the overall assessments issued periodically as well by the 10 UN human rights treaty bodies that review periodic reports on the status of Jordan’s human rights records in various areas and compares them to national and international benchmarks.

It is a performance Jordanians can take pride in.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Jordan scored 5.4 in respect to the rule of law, 7.7 on security and safety matters, 8.3 on free movement, 7.5 on religious freedoms, 5.9 on freedom of expression and information, 5.89 on personal freedoms, 7.8 in economic freedoms, 6.9 in freedom of assembly and civic societies, 7.8 in economic freedoms and 3.8 in the overall democracy index.

The report covered 152 countries and is based on 2012 data, the most recent.

As impressive as the latest figures are, the country should not be satisfied with its human rights achievements until it ranks among the top non-Arab countries.

Admittedly there are still areas where international human rights standards that are legally binding on the country do not apply ad literam, especially when it comes to issues concerning gender equality, personal status, some matters related to rape, minimum age for entering marriage, and grounds for divorce, but Jordan is well on its way to attaining higher recognition as a bona fide human rights defender.

With a little more effort and political will, the Kingdom can be expected to make it among the top countries that promote and protect human rights.