Local

AMMAN — Minister of Social Development Hala Lattouf on Sunday discussed with 35 local community leaders means of enhancing ties between family members to avoid domestic violence, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Lattouf said that the ministry’s plans, especially with children and women, require “advanced” levels of conflict resolution skills, especially regarding minor issues to protect them from falling to crime. The minister listened to the views of leaders, who stressed the importance of social development action, particularly the preventive side, which would enhance the social stability.

AMMAN — The Ministry of Agriculture through the Aqaba port, has rejected the entry of 12 rice containers of Indian origin after finding pesticide residues in the sample examined at the Royal Scientific Society and the Ministry of Agriculture laboratories, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.

According to the ministry's report, pesticide residues have a serious impact on human health. The containers contain about 270 tonnes of rice distributed over several companies.

Importers were given the choice of returning the containers to the country of origin or destroying the products at their own expense.

AMMAN — Jordan’s Ambassador to Kuwait Saqer Abu Shattal on Sunday opened the first Jordanian Education Fair in Kuwait, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The expo, which saw the participation of 11 Jordanian universities, aims to acquaint high school students in Kuwait with the education programmes offered by Jordanian universities.

The event, which is the first of its kind to be held outside the Kingdom, is an opportunity to market Jordanian public and private universities, Petra said. More fairs are scheduled to be held in other Arab and foreign countries such as Tunisia, Oman, China and India, the agency added. 

AMMAN — The 24th LG Dead Sea Ultra Marathon, one of the most popular running events in the Kingdom, will kick off on April 13th under the theme “Run at the Lowest Point on Earth”, with thousands of local and international runners expected to take part in the event.

Held under the patronage of HRH Prince Firas, chairman of the Board of Run Jordan, the event will witness several changes to the route, which will be a more challenging and family-oriented running event.

During a press conference held on Sunday, Prince Firas encouraged families to take part in this event and thanked LG Electronics for renewing its partnership with Run Jordan and committing to sponsor the marathon until 2021. The prince also highlighted the effort of the Greater Amman Municipality in assisting in the organisation of the event.

Managing Director of LG Electronics Levant Hong Ju Jeon said that “Run Jordan is one of the outstanding organisations that encourages the running sport, and we would like to thank HRH Prince Firas for his constant support, as we [have been] proud to partner with Run Jordan for the past 20 years. Stemming from CSR activities, this partnership with Run Jordan, we aim to create passion for sports and support physical activities, and we are looking forward to work closely with Run Jordan to create another successful LG Dead Sea Ultra Marathon event.”

Meanwhile, Lina Kurd, general director of Run Jordan, tackled the route and changes to the event.

“Run Jordan, in cooperation with the concerned parties, made some changes to the race track that better suit the path, as we reduced the number of road curves the runners used to take and focused on running on straight roads instead to ensure the convenience of runners as they advance towards the finish line. Plus, we’ve took into considerations that the Dead Sea is a tourists area, so we want people to spend and enjoy their vacation there without worrying about road closures and the sheer number of participants.”

According to Kurd, the 50km Ultra Marathon will start at 6am opposite the Amman Tourism Beach. The route will go up towards the service road and the hotel area, and will turn left onto the Skydive access road. Runners will then make a U-turn in the Skydive area and return to the service road, where they will then take a left turn towards the Baptism Site intersection. 

Runners will take the road towards the Baptism Site and then take the right-hand fork along the secondary road leading to the King Hussein Bridge, going through the farm area. Participants will then make a U-turn then double back towards the baptism site intersection, going down to the service road. They will turn left to enter the Skydive area, make a U-turn towards the service road, and reach the finish line, which is also the starting point, at the Amman Tourism Beach.

“The 21km half marathon will also start at 6am and is located approximately 1km north of the security checkpoint on the main road. Runners will take the second entrance on the left into the service road, and at this point, they will turn left into the Skydive area. Runners will make a U-turn in the Skydive area and go back to the service road, where they will take a right turn to run back towards the finish line at the Amman Tourism Beach,” Kurd said.

“Meanwhile the 10km race will start at 9am, 2km south of the Baptism Site intersection. Runners will go downhill along main road to the hotel area and then onto the finish line at the Amman Tourism Beach,” she continued.

The Children’s race will start at 9am on April 6th from King Hussein Park in Amman opposite to the five-a-side football field. Runners will take the road towards the King Hussein Mosque, then turn towards the Children’s Museum, move on towards The Royal Automobile Museum, and finally return to the entrance gate and the finish line at the five-a-side football field.

Kurd highlighted the spirit of Jordanians and international runners who join the race, saying that their effort towards a healthy life and promoting tourism are always appreciated.

Last year, the marathon ended with Jordanian runners winning top spots headed by 

Ahmed Muhsen, who clocked 3h 05m 31s to win the 50km ultra marathon (men)

Followed by Yousef Hassan 3:09:29 and veteran runner Mithqal Abbadi 3:10:03.

AMMAN — The Jordan Labour Watch (JLW) has said that the decrease in the number of labour protests staged across the country during 2017 is not an indicator of improvement in work conditions but was the result of pressure exercised by government and employers. 

 In a report it released on Wednesday, JLW said the country saw a decrease by 20.4 per cent in the number of protests organised in 2017 compared to the previous year. 

Issued in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), the report said that the decrease in protest numbers cannot be considered as an indicator of improvement in the working conditions in Jordan, explaining that the drop is rather linked to “a feeling of neglect experienced by most of the workers over the lack of response to their demands, in addition to the pressure exerted by many employers and various government institutions to prevent groups from carrying out labour protests”.

The study attributed the continuation of labour protests in the country to the “weak” dialogue between the government, employers and workers, as well as the “obvious” absence of trade unions and the workers’ “limited” negotiation skills. 

The report indicated that 72 per cent of the protests were carried out by groups of workers without any official representation, while trade unions staged only 6.5 per cent of the protests. 

Regarding the fields within which the protests were organised, the transport sector accounted for 27.1 per cent of the total demonstrations, followed by the industrial sector (19.2 per cent), the services sector (16.6 per cent), the health sector (7 per cent) and the agricultural sector (3.9 per cent).

Demands for the increase of wages and allowances, more employment opportunities, improving the benefits and incentives for workers, and objections to arbitrary dismissals were the main reasons behind the protests staged over the year 2017, according to the study. 

Considering the findings, the report called for “the principles and standards of decent labour and the fundamental rights of workers to be applied to all employees in Jordan, along with a review of the wage policies in the private and public sector so that the salaries match the cost of living in the Kingdom”.

The JLW has continuously called for the Jordanian government’s compliance with the provisions of international labour standards, highlighting how work conditions in the Kingdom are “still weak” despite the country’s agreement to implement decent work conditions. 

“The low salaries and the lack of social security coverage are the main issues to address,” JLW Director Ahmad Awad told The Jordan Times in a recent interview, adding that “the government should start a social dialogue in order to evaluate the real impact of these problems”.

For her part, programme manager at FES Amal Abu Jiries noted that “even though Jordan was the first Arab country to sign an International Labour Organisation (ILO) agreement, we cannot reach decent working conditions in Jordan as long as the law itself keeps on contradicting the agreement”, adding that “we need to improve the legislation in order to enforce social protection”.

In addition, the study stressed the need to amend the Labour Law, especially the provisions on the formation of trade unions, calling for “the abolition of the monopoly formed by the existing unions, which fail to follow the most basic democratic rules by preventing the renewal of their leaders”.

“All relevant rulings prevent workers from establishing unions freely, thus depriving them from their right to bargain in the event of a work dispute”, Awad said, adding that “this distorts the relations between workers and employers turning them against the interests of employees”.

The expert also noted that Article 98 of The Labour Law “doesn’t allow a group of employees to form a trade union without the permission of the tripartite formed by the government, the employers and other trade unions”, noting that “this has prevented the formation of new labour unions in the past 40 years”.

“Empowering workers to organise themselves is the key to effective social dialogue. Otherwise, the government will not be able to build sustainable social stability based on decent working conditions.”

 The Ministry of Labour did not respond to requests for a comment on the demands of the JLW and FES, despite several attempts by The Jordan Times.

AMMAN — The government’s economic team, in charge of implementing the Economic Growth Plan (EGP), has implemented 14 out of 18 tasks pledged to be accomplished during March 2018, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

In the field of Labour, some 550 people were trained on entrepreneurship and life skills as part of a project to increase turnout on vocational training (VT) during 2018, Petra reported.

The second task in the same field was supporting the industrial sector to operate five workshops/ institutes for VT in Amman as part of the public-private sectors partnership (PPP). The tourism sector started operating three VT institutes in Madaba and Zarqa.

The fourth task was supporting textile sector to administer VT institute in Ramtha. 

As per the fifth task in the labour sector, a total of 5,000 young men and women will be recruited under agreements between the Vocational Training Corporation, the private sector and the civil society organisations by setting up productivity enterprises in poverty pockets with a focus on woman.

In agriculture, a Royal Decree was issued approving a by-law to restructure the Agriculture Ministry and the National Centre for Agricultural Research and Extension, which will improve services provided to farmers, in addition to establishing a directorate for rural development and woman empowerment to encourage family businesses as well as establishing an investment directorate.

In the field of competitiveness, the team accomplished the final draft of the bankruptcy and insolvency law.

For the energy sector, the final report on Madouna land port/the logistic centre has been accredited. The port project will be a venue for transport and clearance companies as well as cargo handlers, Petra reported.

In tourism, a team was formed for the restoration and maintenance of Um Al Jimal archaeological site in Mafraq, some 80km northeast of Amman, including the Umayyad House, which will be used as a visitors centre and venue for showcasing products of the local community.

Also in tourism, a similar team was formed for Iraq Al Amir site, where it will conduct restoration works, install a security system to protect the site, and develop a trail for visitors that passes by all monuments and facilities of the tourist attraction. 

As for the energy sector, the agreements to be signed with distributing companies to replace light bulbs with new energy-saving ones have been drafted.

Memoranda of understanding with qualified companies to implement the energy-storing project through batteries to strengthen the national electricity grid have been inked.

In education and human resources development, a draft bylaw related to foreign students in Jordanian universities has been referred to the Cabinet for review and endorsement, according to Petra.

The second educational task was preparing a draft by-law regulating the selection public university presidents which aims at enhancing the concept of governance and providing higher education institutions with qualified leadership.

AMMAN — A Jordanian economic delegation on Saturday started a visit to Brazil to participate in the Arab-Brazilian Economic Forum held in Sao Paulo, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

A Jordanian economic day is being organised on the sidelines of the forum, to present investment opportunities available in Jordan such as pharmacy, infrastructure, construction, information technology, e-learning and agriculture.

The visit was organised by the Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC) and Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC).

JCC President Nael Kabariti said that the forum will include bilateral meetings between Jordan and its Brazil to establish partnerships and joint investments between the two countries.

ACC President Issa Murad said Jordan’s participation in the forum will open horizons for cooperation between the two countries, and create potentials for developing trade exchange and expanding the base of exported goods to Brazil. 

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) has seized 2,027 palm-sized sheets of hashish weighing about 400 kilogrammes, and arrested nine suspects involved in the case during a raid in Northern Badia, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

According to an AND statement, a tip-off was received about huge amounts of hashish being stored at a house in Northern Badia, in preparation to sell it. The statement added that a special team was formed to locate the narcotics and identify the suspects involved.

A firearm was also seized in the operation, the statement added, noting that the investigations are still ongoing.

AMMAN — The Jordan Media Institute (JMI) on Saturday started receiving applications for the master’s programme in journalism and modern media for the academic year 2018-2019, which is provided by JMI in cooperation with the University of Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Institution this year is offering 40 scholarships. Any Arab or Jordanian student accepted to the programme is eligible to apply for a full or partial scholarship, Petra said.

JMI Dean Basim Tweissi said that the institute has adopted distinctive academic programmes that balance between the theoretical and practical aspects, and the integration of communication technology and modern digital applications, making it a destination for anyone seeking excellence in performance and professionalism.

He pointed out that the master’s programme aims to graduate specialised journalists and professionals with advanced skills, especially in digital journalism. Students interested can apply via www.jmi.edu.jo until July 6 2018.

AMMAN — Water supply in the northern governorates of Jerash and Ajloun is expected to increase this summer, as the National Water Carrier project joins the country’s water resources network, a government official said on Saturday.

Construction on the project has been completed last year, an official at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation said, indicating that the ministry is now pressure-cleaning the carrier on multiple phases in preparation for providing water to the north via the carrier this summer.

The national carrier consists of water systems in the south and centre of the country. It connects water projects in the south of the Kingdom to projects in the central and northern regions, in order to better supply water-distressed areas, especially in the north, via an expansive network of 600 kilometres of pipelines, according to the ministry.

“The ministry started last week pressure cleaning the part of the carrier that extends on 70 kilometres from Abu Alanda reservoir in east Amman, passing through Khaw pumping station in Zarqa and Zaatari pumping station in Mafraq to Jerash and Ajloun,” the official source told The Jordan Times.

He underlined that the carrier is designed to supply Ajloun and Jerash with 10 million cubic metres of water annually.

“The carrier will join the national water network of resources once the need during summer arises,” the official said.

The national carrier is one of the ten projects listed under the ministry’s water supply strategy for the northern governorates, launched in December 2015.

The strategy entails implementing projects worth $308 million to provide Irbid, Jerash, Ajloun and Mafraq governorates with freshwater, in addition to renovating water networks in Irbid, Jerash and Ajloun.

“The carrier will ease part of the water problem in the north, as water share per capita dropped drastically with the start of the Syrian crisis, as the north host the majority of Syrian refugees in Jordan,” the official noted.

The northern governorates suffer from an acute water shortage caused by limited resources, violations against main water lines and deteriorating networks, while the water situation has worsened due to the arrival of Syrian refugees, according to ministry officials.

As the conflict in Syria enters its eighth year, Jordan continues to host 1.4 million Syrians. Water demand in the northern region, which hosts the majority of the refugee population, rose by 40 per cent, while per capita share of water dropped drastically, according to the ministry.

Official figures indicate that up to 90 per cent of Syrian refugees in Jordan live among host communities, while the rest is accommodated in refugee camps.