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AMMAN — Representatives of the UN agencies operating in Jordan on Wednesday gathered to discuss the next strategic planning framework of cooperation between the government and the UN for 2018-2022.

Held on the occasion of the UN Day, marked annually on October 24, the press conference provided an overview of the 17 UN agencies' work in Jordan, focusing on the national achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"We are coming together today to show our willingness to collaborate in achieving the UN four fundamental objectives of peace and security, friendly relations between countries, international cooperation in solving crises and the promotion of respect for human rights," said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan Anders Pedersen.

 “Through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world has agreed on a plan of action for people, for the planet, for prosperity, for peace and for partnership,” he continued, stressing the need to overcome international and national differences to attain these goals. 

“This agenda is a collective responsibility, and Jordan has played a major role in achieving the SDGs, vis-à-vis the Arab states and also globally,” said Constanza Farina, UNESCO representative to Jordan. 

She stressed the “exemplary cooperation” of the Jordanian government in the process, referring to the presentation of the Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum in July, which was previously conducted by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation. 

Outlining the various challenges facing Jordan in the field of food and water security, Jordan’s representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Nasredin Hag Elamin commended Jordan’s efforts in conserving water resources and seeking alternative sources of water.

“Jordan is facing extreme challenges in the field of water scarcity, as the level of water use is now exceeding the renewable supply,” he noted.

“However, the Kingdom has also made outstanding progress by becoming one of the first countries to achieve food security (SDG 2) by 2015,” he continued. 

For her part, United Nations Population Fund representative Laila Baker stressed the importance of continuing to support Jordan in achieving gender equality and ensure women’s rights. 

“While Jordan used to be a model of gender equality, the refugee influx has put a strain on its resources causing the level of access to key services such as reproductive health and women’s access to the formal labour market to decrease,” Baker said.

“We need to join efforts to help Jordan get back to the status of regional model it used to have,” she continued.

All representatives praised Jordan’s “exemplary” response to the Syrian crisis, commending its support to refugees over the past six years. They praised the level of cooperation between all parties, including the governmental bodies, the civil society, the NGOs and the private sector, among others.

“Jordan has had a very big heart through its open door policy and it is remarkable to see what it has achieved in spite of such a volatile environment,” Pedersen said.

“More than the SDGs, I want to focus on the LNOB or Leave No One Behind policy,” he added, urging for a collaborative approach among all agencies to serve the citizens, with a special focus on the people living in remote or underprivileged areas.

Asked about the country’s achievements made in relation to the SDGs so far, UNDP representative Sara Ferrer Olivella said: “The Global Agenda is above all an inspirational roadmap towards a better world. These targets were designed to focus world countries’ efforts in achieving progress within a coherent framework and Jordan is very well placed on the route to attain them.” 

The 17 SDGs and 169 targets included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were officially announced in January 2016.

They seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals by realising the human rights of all, and achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, according to a UNDP statement.

AMMAN — The Ministry of Water and Irrigation is scheduled to reduce its energy use, which constitutes 14 per cent of the country’s total energy consumption, by half in early 2019, according to officials.

The goal of cutting down 50 million kilowatt hours per year is expected to be attained within 15 months, according to ministry’s officials, who noted that it will be achieved after a multi-million-dollar project to rehabilitate the country’s main pumping stations and a number of well fields is completed.

Under the 10-million-dollar project, pumps and electric equipment at the stations will be replaced with energy-efficient systems.

In a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times, Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazem Al Nasser said that energy-efficient systems will be installed to reduce 7 per cent of Water Authority of Jordan’s (WAJ) electricity use, thus saving JD5 million annually under the current electricity tariff.

“The project’s consultant is now preparing the studies and blueprints to rehabilitate the pumping stations in the capital, the northern governorates, Zarqa, Balqa, Karak and Tafileh,” Al Naser said.

The project is funded by a loan from the German Development Bank (KfW), an official at the ministry said on Wednesday, indicating that it comes as part of a broader programme to raise energy efficiency in the water sector.

“The wider programme that targets all water treatment plants, pumping stations and wells is worth 32 million euros. A 26million-euro loan from the KfW is funding the programme, in addition to 6 million euros from WAJ,” the official told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The initiative is among several projects to expand the water sector’s shift to renewable energy and improve its energy efficiency.

In 2015, the ministry announced its Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Policy for the Jordanian Water Sector. The policy seeks to achieve a 15 per cent reduction in energy consumption of billed water by the year 2025, corresponding to a 0.46 kilogramme reduction of carbon dioxide emissions for the production of each billed cubic metre of water.

According to the 2013 Annual Report of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, power requirements in 2013 for water pumping alone amounted to about 14 per cent of the country’s total power production, with a total amount of 1,424 gigawatt hours.

Given that the water sector is highly subsidised, the Water Ministry’s total energy bill paid in 2013 amounted to JD100 million, according to the policy.

Assuming that current operational patterns are sustained, real power costs for water pumping are estimated to amount to JD640 million by the year 2025, the policy said.

AMMAN — As winter is just around the corner, the situation of refugees living in Jordan raises many concerns.

The number of Iraqi, Somali, Sudanese and Yemeni refugees in Jordan continues to grow, putting an additional strain on an already shrinking protection space and limited humanitarian assistance, according to UNHCR. 

Nadera Yousef, an Iraqi who fled Mosul after a Daesh assault, said she arrived in Jordan “just with the clothes that she had on her”. 

She now lives in Hashemi Shamali in Amman, with 10 of her family members.

“It is different from Iraq here, it gets very cold,” she told The Jordan Times over the phone, expressing fears about the upcoming winter, which will be “difficult and expensive” due to the need for kerosene for the heater, warm clothes and blankets.

During the summer, she and her family managed to overcome the hot weather by sleeping on the roof, but she expects the winter to be “very tough”. 

A church provided the family with a fan for the summer and a heater for the winter, but she says it is matter of “luck” if the heater is working or not.

Besides, as she lives far from the oil station where she gets the heater’s kerosene from, “we need to take a taxi which costs money too”, she explained.

Although the family is well educated, she said Iraqi refugees are not allowed to work and are not given any kind of assistance. 

“We heard of aid given to Syrians with winter clothes, even money to buy winter supplies. But for Iraqis, there is no assistance,” Yousef claimed.

Despite her dreams to return home, she said: “Our houses have been burnt down after being robbed so going home has become really difficult.” 

Many efforts have been exerted by the government, in collaboration with a number of NGOs, which provide refugees with food vouchers and winter items such as heaters, gloves and blankets. 

Judy Oldfield-Wilson, director of communication at the NGO Collateral Repair Project, said that all refugees are affected equally by winter. 

“It is not really possible to say that one group is more affected by winter than others,” she told The Jordan Times, adding “there are a lot of refugees who need medical support or who do not have the resources to buy mattresses, blankets and winter coats.”

The main problem refugees encounter during winter is the increasing risk of health issues, with high levels of stress being triggered by the need to find a warm place to stay, which is often unavailable, she said.

“The second problem is the loss of sleep, because they sleep sometimes directly on the floor which is especially bad for children who do not sleep and go to school in the morning very tired,” Oldfield-Wilson added. 

“They need warm clothes, warm thermal blankets, mattresses and carpets to pass through the winter,” she said.

The NGO worker said they also encounter many problems during the winter season. “Because we are a small organisation, funding is an issue in terms of buying things that the refugees need like heaters, clothes, blankets,” she noted 

In spite of this lack of resources, she said the NGO is currently preparing itself for winter. “We are putting things together, organising in regards with the people who need help. We are also calling for donations from international actors,” Oldfield-Wilson continued. 

“We have 4,000 families registered with us. We give food vouchers to around 150 families every month, among other things. Currently, we still have hundreds of families waiting for help,” she added. 

Iraqis are the second largest refugee population in Jordan, and it continues growing every month, with an average registration of 821 newcomers each month, according to UNHCR.

AMMAN — HRH Princess Ghida Talal, the chairperson of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation’s board of trustees, on Wednesday, received a diplomatic delegation that comprised of ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions and international organisations in the Kingdom.

During the meeting, Princess Ghida expressed her appreciation of the continuous support for the foundation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The delegates, accompanied by the princess, toured the new buildings of the King Hussein Cancer Centre and had a firsthand look at the technical and medical standards that were implemented along with the level of services cancer patients receive. 

AMMAN — Members of the Lower House’s Foreign Affairs committee on Wednesday held  a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi who acquainted MPs with the latest developments in the region.

Deputy Raed Khazaaleh, head of the panel, expressed his confidence in Jordan’s foreign policy and its efforts in realising higher national interests, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Safadi said that Jordan has a clear stance towards Arab issues and plays an effective role in reaching solutions to them through dialogue and peaceful means that maintain the unity of Arab countries and achieve security and stability. 

AMMAN — The National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) on Wednesday issued its report on the 2017 local elections.

The report included results of the observation that measured the level of applying laws regulating the elections, such as preparing election lists, contestation period on initial voter lists, candidacy period, campaigning, voting and sorting, and addressing complaints and objections, according to an NCHR statement.

In general, the centre stressed that the municipality and governorate council elections were “generally free and transparent” and achieved high turnout by women, despite some shortcomings related to work relations between the governorate councils, municipal councils and local councils, among others. 

AMMAN — Justice Minister Awad Abu Jarad and a delegation representing the Turkish Justice Academy on Wednesday held talks to boost judicial cooperation between the two countries.

Abu Jarad reviewed regional crises and their repercussions on Jordan, which hosts 1.3 million Syrian refugees, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He also highlighted the role of the Judicial Institute of Jordan in providing qualified employees by facilitating training courses. Head of the delegation stressed the importance of boosting judicial cooperation between the two countries.

AMMAN — A Sudanese tourist delegation is currently paying a five-day visit to the Kingdom, in implementation of the recommendations of the Jordanian-Sudanese Higher Committee.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement, carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that the visit aims at having a firsthand look at Jordan’s experience in the tourism field.

Jordan’s embassy in Khartoum arranged the visit. The delegation includes media, tourist religious and medical figures. 

AMMAN — Under Royal directives of His Majesty King Abdullah, the Supreme Commander of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF), orthopaedic surgeons at the King Hussein Medical City on Tuesday night performed a surgery on 10-year-old Ibrahim Khawaldeh from Zarqa.

The child tried to reach His Majesty during his visit to Zarqa, but he failed, so he posted a video on social media to deliver his message to the King, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The following day, the King issued the directives.

Lt. Col. Firas Ibrahim, consultant of bone surgery at the medical city, said that the child suffered from a congenital defect in his right thigh, which led to shortness in his right leg by 16 centimetres.

Following tests, Ibrahim noted that the child needed a multi-phase surgery, where the first surgery included correcting the defect and installing a device that lengthened thigh bones and stabilised the pelvis and knee joints. 

The first surgical procedures led to increasing the leg by five centimetres, while the device will lengthen the leg by five to 10 centimetres, Ibrahim said, noting that one year later, the child will undergo another surgery to lengthen the leg to be equal to the other. 

The child’s father expressed his appreciation of His Majesty’s makrumas (Royal benefactions) that covered all Jordanians. He also conveyed his gratitude to JAF and the Royal Medical Services.

AMMAN — Royal Court Secretary General Yousef Issawi and Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab on Wednesday inaugurated the Bader Comprehensive Healthcare Centre and the Rawda Primary Healthcare Centre, which were established under Royal initiatives in the capital.

The two centres, within the Royal initiatives, aim at improving health services presented to citizens, and were announced during a meeting of His Majesty King Abdullah with Amman dignitaries recently, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Bader centre includes emergency and maternity departments and specialised general medicine clinics, in addition to a main laboratory, pharmacy and an X-ray room.

The centre will contribute to developing the level of health service in the Bader area and alleviating the pressure on the former preliminary health centre that used to receive large numbers of patients in the area, whose population is estimated at 16,000 residents. 

As for the Rawda centre, it is comprised of two floors and includes modern medical equipment and departments that cover the needs of Rawda area in Naur District. 

Issawi told Petra that the opening of the two health centres is in line with the Royal vision to providing the best health services to citizens, noting that Royal initiatives contributed to establishing and expanding 37 health centres across the Kingdom, and providing hospitals with necessary medical devices.

Sheyyab said that these initiatives will play a key role in developing health services in line with the ministry plan to improve public hospitals and health centres, adding that such Royal contributions helped in meeting urgent needs the ministry sought to achieve.  

Director of Rawda Healthcare Centre Mohammad Khdeir said that the facility will present services to some 20,000 residents of Rawda and neighbouring areas, noting that the centre receives large numbers of patients with an average of 100 per day.