KAFA initiative seeks to combat community violence

AMMAN — A newly founded youth initiative was officially launched on Saturday with the goal of eliminating social violence in Jordan.

Action on Societal Violence, KAFA (enough), comprises 45 young Jordanians from nine governorates and is organised in cooperation with the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) office in Amman.

During the launch, KAS Representative in Jordan Otomar Oehring said community violence is a universal phenomenon that is not restricted to specific countries or societies. 

Jordan has recently witnessed a noticeable rise in incidents of societal violence, he added, noting that acts of aggression will diminish the rule of law, which is not in anyone’s best interest. 

Oehring said there is a dire need for holding seminars and dialogues to raise public awareness on this issue.

Lina Abu Nuwar, the director of KAFA, said societal violence, whether at universities or local communities, has become a worrying phenomenon.

She stressed that the responsibility for resolving this issue does not lie with just one party, but rather on all components of society. 

Violence will only end if all parties concerned cooperate to end it, including young people, Abu Nuwar said. 

“This is why KAFA Youth was born.”

Muthanna Arabiyat, one of the people behind the initiative, said the institutionalised campaign aims first and foremost to eliminate social violence based on a scientific and legislative approach that examines the reasons behind the phenomenon and comes up with solutions.

For the initiative’s organisers, there are basic concepts on which any endeavour to combat social violence should be based, including peaceful and democratic dialogue, the belief in Jordanians’ “collective” identity, institutionalised voluntary work, and the freedom of speech aside from defamation and character assassination.

One major step to combat community violence is to revisit related laws, they said. 

Responding to a question by The Jordan Times on how to tackle the legislative side, which is the responsibility of Parliament, Abu Nuwar said members of the initiative will target the Lower House and will engage in dialogue with MPs on laws that need to be revisited to eliminate social violence.

“We will lobby for amending these laws,” Arabiyat said.