‘Political will at highest levels works to improve human rights situation in Jordan’

AMMAN — A political will at the highest levels works hard in Jordan to activate cooperation between all public civil society organisations to improve the human rights situation of Jordanians, Jordan’s Representative to the UN Office at Geneva Saja Majali said on Wednesday.

Majali stressed that there had been vigorous efforts to bring about satisfactory results in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The envoy’s remarks came during her meeting with “INSAN” and the “Ein” coalitions for human rights held at the headquarters of the permanent mission in Geneva, within the agenda of the second day of the preliminary round of meetings to gather support for contents of the UPR from stakeholders.

Majali explained that the mission covers 26 human rights organisations in Geneva and that they are trying, as much as possible, to follow up on all the human rights issues related to Jordan, as well as the foreign political issues affecting the rights of citizens.

Majali pointed out preparations have started for the discussion of Jordan’s national report, scheduled for November 7 at the Human Rights Council.

She pledged to facilitate any joint meetings in Geneva that would advance the human rights file before discussing Jordan’s commitment to the UPR and she also promised to support any future meetings of non-contractual mechanisms.

She added that Jordan’s mission is ready to discuss ways to enhance the level of coordination between the civil society organisations (CSOs) and the government, calling for joint consultation sessions in Geneva ahead of discussing the Kingdom’s national review of the human rights during the UPR preparatory meetings.

Representatives of the two coalitions briefed Majali on main priorities listed on the human rights stakeholder reports, reiterating the importance of representing CSOs in the national delegation, which will discuss the report in the Human Rights Council.

The delegation from the two coalitions met with Nargiz Arupova, UPRINFO programmes director for the Middle East, and reviewed the main topics to discuss during the national periodic review.