Lower House endorses amendments to army officers' law

AMMAN — The Lower House on Sunday endorsed amendments to the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army Officers’ Service Law stipulating that the King appoints the army chief.

The amendments were introduced to the 1966 law in line with the 2014 constitutional amendments which stipulate that the power of appointing the army chief and the director of the General Intelligence Department is vested in the King.

The amendments change Paragraph A of Article 56 of the law to stipulate that the King appoints, dismisses and accepts the resignation of the chairman of the joint chiefs-of-staff.

The amendments also organise granting the rank of officer to Jordanians under special contracts with set durations and include regulations related to leaves and salary raises. 

Also on Sunday, MPs endorsed the 2015 amendments to the law governing the formation of military courts and the 2002 law governing the National Committee for International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

Under the bill, a financially and administratively independent national committee will be established, tasked with assisting and guiding the government in enforcing the IHL.

As put in its validating reasons, the law was written to complete the requirements of Jordan’s subscription to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols, the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the 1997 Mine-Ban Convention, also known as the “Ottawa Treaty”, and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.