Setting it right

The campaign to achieve full justice for the children of Jordanian women married to foreigners will continue, a group of women activists vowed, until the demands are met.

After campaigning for the right to pass on to children the Jordanian nationality since 2009, the group obtained, in 2014, the government promise to ensure the proper application of some “privileges”, including obtaining residence permits, applying for driving licences and real estate ownership, and enjoying educational, health, labour and investment benefits.

The children affected do not need “privileges”, but full rights as guaranteed in the Constitution.

True, Article 6 of the Constitution fails to mention the word “gender” when it comes to equality, an omission that might not be that innocent.

Once the article is clearly defined by the Constitutional Court, the activists know whether they have the basis on which to request equal rights.

There can be no gender-based discrimination of any sort in a progressive Constitution. Yet, while Jordanian men married to foreigners can pass on to their children their nationality, Jordanian women are denied that right.

Successive governments have been ignoring, or outright rejected granting, this right, hoping the issue will just fade away.

Some government figures claim that granting children of Jordanian women married to Palestinians — mostly Gazans — citizenship undermines the Palestinians’ right of return to their homeland.

That makes no sense. The right of return, prescribed in international law, cannot be precluded by the right to citizenship and everything that derives from that right.

It is high time the government caught the bull by its horns and tackled the issue rationally and humanely.

Jordan is bound by international human rights bodies to act without discrimination.

The government need not wait for parliament to take the initiative and correct this injustice. But for that, it must show determination and political will.