Gov’t agencies present achievements in human rights report

AMMAN — A high-level permanent government human rights committee was formed recently to follow up on the work of the relevant authorities to secure the rights and freedoms of citizens, the government coordinator on human rights announced on Tuesday.

The announcement came during the launch of the fourth periodical government human rights report that was made available to the press on Tuesday. The event was attended by over 100 members of the government’s human rights team representing various sectors and government agencies at the Royal Cultural Centre.

Basil Tarawneh, the government’s coordinator on human rights, said the report includes “the status of human rights in Jordan comparing it to the country’s vision as well as measures taken by the relevant authorities to improve the status of rights and freedoms in the Kingdom.”

Tarawneh said one of the main focuses was the correctional and rehabilitation facilities and the efforts exerted by the Public Security Department (PSD) to improve its detention and prison facilities.

Col. Hussam Majali of the PSD highlighted the measures taken to facilitate inspection visits by various local and international organisations as well as “providing dozens of training and educational courses for around 5,000 inmates over the past year.”

“We had around 500 visits to our facilities by various human rights activists, lawyers, judges, religious clerics as well as local and international organisations to check on the premises, inmates’ conditions and services provided,” Majali told the gathering.

Meanwhile, the 229-page report listed many achievements by different government agencies regarding services and measures adopted to safeguard the rights of citizens.

For example, the PSD distributed a booklet among inmates to educate them on the dangers of extremist thought and ideology. 

The report also cited achievements by the PSD-affilaited Family Protection Department, which held over 350 awareness lectures at various organisations, schools, colleges and universities reaching out to over 9,000 people.

The report also said that police officers are being held accountable for any violations they commit, with several standing trial on charges ranging from beating to death, abuse of power, torture and extracting confessions by force.

Meanwhile, the report listed the revisiting of legislation governing the care of physically challenged and mentally ill individuals by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) to ensure better services and protection for them.

The MoSD also established a unit to combat child labour and started receiving victims of trafficking and providing them with the necessary services at new facilities from September 2015.

The Ministry of Health listed various figures regarding services provided to the Syrian refugees in Jordan and their treatment as Jordanian citizens, including services at government hospitals and clinics.

The ministry said the cost of medical care provision to Syrian refugees stands at around JD253 million annually, amounting to a total of approximately JD1.4 billion since Syrian refugees began flocking to Jordan.

“We are satisfied with what have been presented so far by many of the relevant government institutes and we will continue to follow up with them on the necessary procedures to be adopted on constant basis,” Tarawneh told The Jordan Times.