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AMMAN — The Friendship Association for the Blind on Thursday signed a grant agreement with the Japanese embassy in Amman, under which the embassy will provide educational products worth $78,515 for the blind.

The agreement was signed by association president Ahmad Louzi and Japanese Ambassador to Jordan Hidenao Yanagi in the presence of Minister of Social Development Hala Lattouf, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Japanese ambassador said his country is committed to providing political and economic support to the Kingdom, adding that the total aid that have been provided by Japan to Jordan after the Syrian crisis stood at more than $1 billion.

He voiced hope that the project will help the visually impaired to get job opportunities and achieve self-reliance.

Louzi said the project will help in improving the educational performance of the blind and enable them to progress in the labour market. Lattouf expressed appreciation for the support extended to the association. 

AMMAN — Interior Minister Ghaleb Zu’bi on Thursday attended the inauguration ceremony of the civil defence court. Zu’bi, in the presence of Civil Defence Department (CDD) Director Maj. Gen. Mustafa Bazaiah, said that the court is aimed at coping with the increasing number of CDD personnel, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Brig. Gen. Ahmad Safasfeh, head of the legal affairs department, said that the court will alleviate pressure off the police court that examines cases of the public security, civil defence and gendarmerie departments.

AMMAN — A Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army official said the Northern Military Zone, in coordination with the Anti-Narcotics Department and the Military Security Department, on Wednesday foiled an alleged drug smuggling attempt from Syria to Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The military source added that two people were trying to cross the border to Jordan where the rules of engagement were applied, resulting in the death of one suspect and the other retreating into Syria.

After searching the area, 21,000 Tramadol pills and 240,000 Captagon pills were seized and transferred to the concerned authorities.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday sent a cable to Japanese Emperor Akihito greeting him on his country’s national day, a Royal Court statement said. In the cable, the King wished the emperor and the Japanese people progress and prosperity.

AMMAN — Amani Charity Association, with the support of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation and the General Union of Voluntary Societies, on Thursday distributed 500 coats to Syrian and Jordanian students in Ajloun’s Anjara neighbourhood.

Maysoun Zeidan, head of the association, said that the aid was part of the association’s programmes and its humanitarian role in helping underprivileged families, especially Syrians, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN — “Wish trees” have been flourishing across Amman as an early celebration of the annual Christmas festivities, in the third edition of ATICO Fakhreldin’s winter solidarity campaign.

Following the success witnessed by the initiative in the previous years, the group renewed its partnership with the SOS Children’s Villages, through which they help less fortunate children and adolescents “make their dreams come true”.

Installed at various locations across Amman, the trees are filled with letters handwritten by young boys and girls from the SOS Children’s Villages from Amman, Irbid and Aqaba, with their hopes and wishes for Christmas, according to Hala Awadallah, fund development and communications coordinator at SOS Villages.

Located at Al Qasr Metropole Hotel, Fakhreldin, Ren Chai and Yoshi, the campaign added one more “Wish tree” this year at Wild Jordan Centre in Jabal Amman.

Customers who come across the trees can pick an envelope and donate a certain amount of money to help grant the wish of the child and “make a dream come true”, Awadallah told The Jordan Times. 

“The welfare and happiness of our children is enhanced by all these wonderful partnerships that are very important to us. Their position support gives pleasure to the SOS community,” said Reem Habayeb, SOS Jordan’s chairperson.

Following the campaign, ATICO will organise a day of celebrations, during which a dressed up Santa will deliver the gifts to the children in the villages.

“These wish trees help put a smile on the children’s faces and make their dreams come true thanks to the generous and charitable offerings from our guests,” an ATICO statement said.

“It is of utmost importance that our children are integrated within the community in a proactive way. Initiatives such as this one contribute to reinforcing the sense of belonging to the community and the country for these children,” Habayeb stressed.

SOS Children’s Villages Jordan was first launched in Amman in 1987 and later expanded to the governorates of Irbid and Aqaba. 

A local social development organisation, SOS operates on a family-based model through the support of village mothers, aunts, brothers and sisters who have regular family gatherings, according to its website.

AMMAN — Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh on Wednesday confirmed Jordan’s participation in the 13th session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Member States, which will be held in Iran next month.

Upon receiving an official invitation from Iranian Ambassador in Amman Mahabati Fardosi, Tarawneh said that Jordan, under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah, will continue its support for Palestinians to achieve their goals and establish their state.

During the meeting with the ambassador, the speaker added that the session will be held on Jerusalem upon a request made by Jordan to maintain the momentum of efforts aimed to protect the holy city and promote the Palestinian cause.

He stressed Jordan’s determination to maintain the Hashemite Custodianship of the Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem.

Tarawneh underscored the importance of enhancing cooperation between the Kingdom and Iran, calling on the Islamic Republic to play a role that promotes consensus in the region and support states rather than parties or groups.

For his part, Fardosi stressed his country’s support for Jordan in its stand regarding US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy to the occupied city, describing it as “an honourable stance”.

The diplomat also highlighted Iran’s support for the Hashemite Custodianship of the Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem, calling on the region’s countries to stand together in the face of the Israeli arrogance.

He condemned the Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian lands, reiterating the significance of Jerusalem as a city that lies at the heart of the nation, both Muslims and Christians.

Last week, the Iranian ambassador met with head of Lower House’s Palestine Committee Yahya Saud.

Saud stressed the “deep-rooted” relations between Jordan and Iran and expressed appreciation for Iran’s role and support for Jordan’s stance in refusing Trump’s decision and its understanding of Jordan’s efforts led by His Majesty King Abdullah to support the Palestinian cause.

For his part, the ambassador praised the Jordanian role in protecting the Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem through the Hashemite custodianship, noting that Iran supports Jordan in regard to the US decision, which he described as an utter bias to the occupation.

He stressed his country’s keenness on enhancing Jordanian-Iranian bilateral relations and increasing visits.

AMMAN — Jordan will take part in the Astana talks over the Syrian crisis as an observer, it was announced. 

This is not the first time Jordan partakes in the talks as a direct neighbour of Syria and a main host of Syrian refugees, whose total number has exceeded 1.3 million, including more than 600 million refugees registered with UNHCR. 

Participants were arriving in the Kazakh capital on Wednesday to attend the eighth round of Syria talks, Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.

“Delegations of the guarantor countries of the cessation of hostilities in Syria are arriving in Astana to participate in the next round of talks, which will be held on December 21-22,” the ministry said in a statement, quoted by Anadolu news agency. 

The two-day meeting will be attended by representatives from Russia, Turkey and Iran, which are the guarantor states that brokered a ceasefire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana peace talks that are running parallel to the Geneva talks, which failed earlier this month. 

The Turkish delegation is chaired by the deputy undersecretary of the foreign ministry, Sedat Onal, while Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian president’s special envoy for Syria, leads the Russian team, and Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari heads Iran’s delegation, the agency said. 

The ministry said representatives of the Syrian regime, armed opposition groups, as well as delegations from the UN, Jordan and the US will also participate.

It added that bilateral and multilateral consultations are planned for Thursday and a plenary meeting is scheduled for Friday.

The seventh round of Syria peace talks ended without agreement in October in Astana, Anadolu said. 

During his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, which covered the developments in Syria, His Majesty King Abdullah said that after substantial progress on the ground in the northern neighbour, the “next stage calls for further efforts to build on the Astana talks to reach a political solution that guarantees the stability, unity, and future of Syria”.

AMMAN — Four UN agencies are joining hands along with relevant ministries in Jordan to find a sustainable solution that leads to the elimination of child labour in the Kingdom.

Heads of missions at UNICEF, UNHCR, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the World Food Programme (WFP) met on Wednesday at UNICEF headquarters in Amman to discuss a new programme that was introduced by the four UN agencies and to discuss it with the relevant ministers.

“Hopefully today’s meeting, which included four UN agencies in Jordan for the first time, will act as a catalyst to bring all the stakeholders around the same table to work for sustainable education for child labour,” said ILO Country Coordinator Patrick Daru. 

The UN official told the gathering that Jordan has “a very sophisticated system at the national level but it needs to be activated and also the humanitarian agencies that are providing either protection, or livelihood or education need to come together so that under the national framework of child labour they can provide these services”.

“If you want to have sustainable solution to child labour, it has to combine education, protection and livelihood,” Daru told The Jordan Times shortly after the event concluded. 

Services to children should be individualised, Daru added. It is not the same solution for all the children but they should take into consideration the specific situation for each targeted child, he explained.

“For this you need to have labour inspectors, social workers and teachers working together for the identification of children at risk and for the package of services that would be designed for them,” Daru added.

A recent survey on child labour in Jordan found that most children worked in the sectors of wholesale and retail trade as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing, according to the concept note on Tackling Child Labour in Jordan that was prepared by the four UN agencies.

More than half of the surveyed Syrian working children worked more than 48 hours per week. The survey found that children are exposed to a number of hazards such as dust fumes, as well as exposure to physical and psychological abuse.

Alarmingly, the concept note warned, the number of child labourers has more than doubled between 2007 and 2016 (from 29,225 to 69,661), with 64 per cent of child labourers engaged in jobs considered hazardous, out of which 28 per cent are under the age of 14.

UNICEF Representative in Jordan Robert Jenkins said the combined mandate of the three-year project encompasses both humanitarian assistance and development.

“The programme will cover all thematic areas relevant for tackling child labour, including its root causes. The areas will be child protection, education, social protection, economic development, decent work, youth employment, and food security, among others,” Jenkins told the gathering.

Meanwhile, UNICEF Chief of Child Protection Maha Homsi said the idea is to present to donors a comprehensive approach to tackle child labour in Jordan. 

“The four UN agencies in collaboration with the ministries of labour, social development and education is presenting different approaches to tackling child labour and we are piloting that in four areas: Petra, Irbid, east Amman and Zaatari Camp,” Homsi said.

“We are hoping to be able to tackle 10,000 cases of children who are at risk of being in child labour or are already child labourers and provide them with a comprehensive set of services based on a case-management approach,” Homsi added.

Also speaking during the event was Labour Minister Ali Ghezawi, who acknowledged that there was a “significant increase in child labour in Jordan”.

“Jordan signed all the conventions that address child labour and we realsie that we have a problem with child labour that we are trying to combat,” Ghezawi told the gathering.

The minister said the government has drafted its “own plan to combat child labour by working on the education system and equipping students with vocational skills that prepare them for the labour market when they graduate”. 

Social development Minister Hala Lattouf agreed with Ghezawi, saying that the focus should be on education.

“The beggars and child labourers we deal with are under the age of 14 and the majority is illiterate,” Lattouf said.

“We need to focus on the education system and work with families of these children as well. We have to focus on the preventive methods to try to minimise child labour in Jordan,” Lattouf added.

AMMAN — Women can be an invaluable source of community information, and play a role in countering violent extremism in society, a recent study by the WANA Institute showed.

Titled “Women’s Role in Countering Violent Extremism”, the study analysed how women are affected by violent extremist organisations (VEOs) and what role they can play in preventing or countering violent extremism (P/CVE).

“An estimated 3,000 of the 20,000 foreign fighters who joined Daesh were women. While the focus has primarily been on Western cases, women from the West Asia — North Africa region were also drawn to the cause,” the statement read. 

Women, and mothers in particular, are uniquely placed to notice early stages of radicalisation in their children. However, partly as a result of strict gender roles, women often feel disempowered, uninformed, or scared to come forward with such information. 

Empowering women to speak more freely could help communities track radicalisation early on, the study indicated.

Propaganda 

targeting women

Women face similar socioeconomic frustrations as men, which makes them equally susceptible to radicalisation drivers. 

Daesh in particular has become expert in adapting its propaganda as necessary. Initially, the group confined women to roles in the private sphere as wives, mothers, teachers, domestic workers or sex slaves. In recent years, however, these roles have expanded significantly and women are increasingly used in militant contexts, the study said.

While some are pressured or forced, many women join VEOs by choice. 

Women and P/CVE

Looking into the question of whether gender equality and women’s empowerment can prevent radicalisation or aid in de-radicalisation and rehabilitation, the study found strong evidence that women’s participation in the security sector and as pillars of their local community, leads to greater effectiveness in violence reduction and conflict prevention.

Work in the WANA region has shown women to have in-depth insights into community dynamics, ideological patterns, and behavioural trends that differ from those available to men. 

Fieldwork has also indicated that women preachers are usually the first point of contact for women dealing with radical male relatives. 

Within families, mothers are often able to recognise early signs of radicalisation including anger, anxiety and withdrawal. Mothers of radicalised youth are also strategically placed to assist their children in navigating challenges. 

The research concluded that women are keen to exercise their role within CVE as they have a strong interest in preventing their children from becoming radicalised as well as in preventing any direct negative effects radicalisation can have on women and society as a whole.

As a result, WANA called for women to not only be carefully targeted by P/CVE policies, but to also be centrally involved in their design and implementation.