Proper laws, not unjust punishment

According to a recent study conducted by the National Centre for Human Rights, 49.5 per cent of all women in Jordanian jails are in “administrative” detention, kept there to protect them from family members who may pose a threat to them for allegedly having engaged in immoral behaviour.

By way of illustration, the NCHR says that 233 out of 476 women detainees held at the Jweideh Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre, for example, are “administrative” detainees purportedly kept behind bars for their own protection.

Administrative detention violates basic human rights.

These women are in jail without having been charged with the commission of any offence and without having been sentenced in a court of law.

Instead of putting women behind bars to “protect” them, authorities need to find better ways than this loss of liberty and basic human rights.

The places of detention where these unfortunate women are held lack sufficient staff, and therefore lack inadequate care.

Issuing and applying appropriate laws dealing with the families of such women, including appropriate punishment for the so-called crimes of honour, would deter wilful commission of crime by family members.

Instead of “punishing” the innocent, the concerned authorities should punish the members of their families who often falsely accuse their female relatives of illicit sexual behaviour to justify their crimes.

Raising awareness about the plight of these women is important.

At the same time, treating women on equal footing with men would not only go a long way towards making their lives easier, it would also be the civilised, proper way to treat citizens.

Women are not chattels. They are half of the country’s population, mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, fully functional intelligent beings who should be treated as such, and not according to some feudal laws that do no honour to any society.