Opening statement by Christina Meinecke, Senior Human Rights Advisor to the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan

Opening statement by Christina Meinecke, Senior Human Rights Advisor to the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan, on the launch of the "Human Rights Situation in Jordan 2020" Report 

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Mr. Nidal Mansour, Founder of the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists,

Excellencies,

Distinguished participants,

Ladies and gentleman,

I would like express my appreciation for this invitation to the launch of the report by several civil society organizations on the human rights situation in Jordan. Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Christina Meinecke, and I arrived in Jordan at the beginning of this year as Senior Human Rights Advisor to the Resident Coordinator, Mr. Anders Pedersen. My main function is to advise the Resident Coordinator and the UN family in Jordan on how to support the Government and other stakeholders in implementing or supporting the implementation of international human rights obligations. 

This is an excellent opportunity for me to meet you all and I am grateful for learning more from you today regarding your assessment of the human rights situation in Jordan.

Please allow me to share a few observations on Jordan’s engagement with the UN human rights mechanisms and to highlight some opportunities to further enhance the implementation of human rights recommendations made by those mechanisms in Jordan.

Jordan has ratified seven out of the nine core human rights treaties and generally engages very well with the United Nations human rights mechanisms:

• Jordan is reporting regularly to the independent expert committees which monitor the implementation by States of their treaty obligations including on the so called “follow-up procedures”. Most recently, Jordan provided input to the CERD and the Human Rights Committee under such “follow-up procedures”, submitted its report under CAT and I understand the submission of the CEDAW report is imminent.
• Up to 2015, Jordan received several Special Procedure mandate holders, so called Special Rapporteurs, covering human rights themes like combatting torture, violence against women, trafficking in persons, freedom of religion and belief and the right to water & sanitation. Individual communications addressed to Jordan by Special Rapporteurs focus mainly around the prohibition of arbitrary detention, right to a fair trial and restrictions to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and Jordan responds to such communications, most recently in December 2020.
• During the 2018 Universal Periodic Review process, in which I know many of you were actively engaged, Jordan supported 146 out of the 200+ recommendations addressed to it.

Having said this, Jordan has not reported to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights since 2003. Reporting to this Committee would be important under the current circumstances of fighting the COVID pandemic and building forward better. The right to health, the right to work, the right to education, etc. are at the heart of a successful recovery after the pandemic.

Jordan has not received a Special Rapporteur’s visit since 2015 and some mandate holders have re-iterated their requests for a visit, like the Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Expression who asked to visit this year.

Jordan has accepted the inquiry procedure under CAT (article 20), but has not yet ratified the Optional Protocol to that treaty which foresees the establishment of a National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (NPM) nor accepted human rights treaty-based individual complaints procedures.

Overall, since 2006, more than 800 recommendations were addressed to Jordan by these three international human rights mechanisms. When analysed closely, many of these recommendations reenforce or complement each other, which in itself gives an indication on where emphasis of implementation efforts could be placed.

COVID 19 has surely not eased implementation efforts and our task in promoting and protecting rights. Some of the measures to combat the pandemic have infringed on personal freedoms and have enhanced existing inequalities including for refugees, migrant workers and vulnerable host communities. We witness increases in violence against women and children, child labour as well as some restrictions of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

The limited enjoyment of human rights is often the root cause of social and political unrest and the breakdown of social cohesion.

Having said this, the pandemic recovery phase offers opportunities for building forward better. In his policy brief on “COVID-19 and the Arab Region: An Opportunity to Build Back Better”, the United Nations Secretary-General,  Antonio Guterres, argued that now is the moment to prioritize human rights, ensure a vibrant civil society and free media and create more accountable institutions that will increase citizen trust and strengthen the social contract.

So, what are the concrete opportunities to enhance implementation of human rights in Jordan? Implementation that goes beyond the important legislative changes or adoption of strategies and action plans but translates itself into policies, practices and actual changes in the lives of people:

• Firstly, a review of the status of implementation of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and dialogue around these important rights could be an important contribution to building forward better. If Jordan submits a Voluntary National Review (VNR) report in 2022 on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development this could be a concrete entry point to ensure a rights-based implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals including through a multi-stakeholder participation in developing such a report.
• Secondly, to foster increased multi-stakeholder participation in policy development and decision-making processes, the Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights, and the UN Guidance Note on the Protection and Promotion of Civic Space underpin the need and provide examples to enable people and groups – or “civic space actors” – to participate meaningfully in the political, economic, social and cultural life of their societies. The “Guidelines on the effective implementation on the right to participate in public affairs” provide recommendations for States on different dimensions of the right to participate, for example on participation in electoral processes, on direct participation in non-electoral contexts and on participation at the international level. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, in her address to the Human Rights Council in February 2021, referring to Jordan “encouraged the Government to engage in dialogue with independent voices, and to view media freedoms, and the promotion of all civic freedoms, as a vital foundation for sound public policies”.
• Thirdly, the importance of reliable and inclusive data and indicators for measuring the implementation of human rights obligations has been widely acknowledged in human rights treaties, by the Treaty Bodies, and during the UPR process. The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals with their pledge to “leave no one behind” further reinforces the States’ obligation to collect data that is of high quality, accessible, timely, reliable, and disaggregated, on which we can collectively assist.
• Fourthly, prioritizing support and advocacy around the implementation of recommendations which are particularly critical for building forward better, for example with a view to increasing women employment opportunities addressing barriers such as child care, safe transportation and redesigning further the curriculums to foster women’s rights and gender equality, could be another entry point.
• Last but not least, we should all support efforts to institutionalize existing structures and processes to engage with the UN human rights mechanisms on an ongoing basis so that the implementation of recommendations does not only occur during peak reporting periods but at all times.

The ultimate success will be the visible strengthening and upholding of the protection of human rights in Jordan, leaving no-one behind.

I look forward to engage with you all in exploring such entry points and opportunities further, to facilitate engagement with the broader UN family in this regard and wish us all an interesting morning today.