I would like to express my appreciation for being invited to speak at this Forum to discuss implementation of recommendations addressed to Jordan in the Universal Periodic Review process in 2018. This is a very timely initiative as we are mid-way in the cycle before the next review by Jordan takes place at the end of 2023. Next year will be an important year to take stock and accelerate implementation of those recommendations that still pend action.
The last time I spoke with many of you was in July 2021 when 17 civil society organizations launched a report on the human rights situation in Jordan. With that analysis, you have already laid the basis for quite some analysis which will be useful when you look at the implementation of UPR recommendations now.
And I do not want to repeat what I highlighted on that occasion with regard to Jordan’s overall engagement with the United Nations human rights mechanisms. The remarks can still be found at our United Nations website and you can also find on that website under “Publications” a detailed Background paper on how Jordan engages with the United Nations human rights mechanisms -with hyperlinks to many important sources of information.
Today, I would like to make four suggestions for next steps in this forthcoming UPR review process:
Firstly, as civil society you may wish to consider to submit a mid-term report on your assessment of the implementation of UPR recommendations, -ideally it should be submitted not later than in the first quarter of 2022. If you wish to do so, colleagues from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), organizations like “UPR info”, but also myself stand ready to provide technical assistance including on the best format such a report could have. Or you can start to prepare your submission(s) by the end of March 2023 for the next UPR review in November 2023. An advantage in presenting a mid-term report now would be that your assessment would become public on the UN human rights UPR website (see OHCHR | UPR UPR NGOs Mid-term reports) and at this point could already inform further implementation efforts.
Secondly, whichever way you decide, when you assess the status of implementation, I would strongly suggest to not only look at UPR recommendations but also at recommendations from other United Nations human rights mechanisms, the treaty based independent expert committees (like the Human Rights Committee or the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability) or Special Procedures mandate holders, like for example the country visit report from the Rapporteur on the right to water and sanitation from 2014 which offers recommendations still relevant today in addressing water scarcity in Jordan. 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. A helpful tool to facilitate this review is the Universal Human Rights Index, a database in which you can search for all recommendations addressed to Jordan by human rights themes, affected groups but also by Sustainable Development Goals.
Thirdly, speaking about the Sustainable Development Goals, you will also be aware that Jordan will submit a Voluntary National Review (VNR) report in 2022 on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. Your work on assessing the implementation of UPR recommendations can contribute to assessing the status of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. As you know, the 2030 Agenda is grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties of which Jordan ratified seven.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets seek to realize human rights. 156 targets directly relate to human rights. You may be interested to learn that 36% of UPR recommendations addressed to Jordan related to SDG 5 (gender equality); 34% to SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions); 8% to SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); 4% to SDG 1 (reducing poverty) and 4% to SDG 10 (reducing inequalities). If you map your assessment against the Sustainable Development Goals this would be relevant information to feed into the VNR. The United Nations encourages that the VNR report is prepared with multi-stakeholder participation as was the practice in 2017- and there is even a UPR recommendation to the Government of Jordan that suggests to “Continue the practice of consulting with civil society on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. This is your entry point to mainstream human rights in other Governmental processes beyond the traditional United Nations human rights mechanisms. I see this as crucial if we want to achieve progress and convince audiences beyond those who anyway deal with human rights.
Lastly, this assessment process is about fostering implementation. And while a large number of UPR recommendations are suggesting important legislative changes or the adoption of strategies and action plans, implementation should also translate itself into concrete practices and actual changes in the lives of people. So, beyond assessing the status of implementation, I consider it important to identify challenges to putting human rights into practice, what capacity gaps there may be and who could do something about it.
The Government of Jordan has the primary obligation in realizing human rights in Jordan for ALL but we can and should all support these efforts.
As the United Nations in Jordan, we stand ready to assist in providing technical assistance to all stakeholders on what certain rights mean, to share good implementation practices from other countries, to support inter-ministerial coordination, and the establishment of a data-base to monitor and track implementation or to serve as a convener for multi-stakeholder discussions. We can also facilitate bringing in expertise from the wider UN system. In this regard, I am pleased to advise that Ms. Najat Maalla, the Special Representative on Violence against Children, will visit Jordan in December, and you may wish to engage with her to assess the status of implementation of recommendations on violence against children.
