JORDAN


According to the 1952 Constitution, Jordan is a hereditary
monarchy in which the King forms and dismisses governments, may
dissolve Parliament, and is the ultimate arbiter of domestic
and foreign policy. In practice, the King sets the broad
parameters of foreign and domestic policy while the Prime
Minister and the Council of Ministers exercise management of
daily affairs. The Parliament--consisting of a 40-member
Senate whose members are appointed by the King and an 80-member
lower house whose members are elected--is subordinate to the
executive branch.

The General Intelligence Directorate (GID) and the Public
Security Directorate (PSD) have broad responsibility for
internal security and wide powers to monitor segments of the
population thought to pose a threat to the security of the
regime. Although the Government revoked martial law directives
in 1991, important elements of martial law, such as the broad
scope of police powers, remain operative.

Jordan has a mixed economy, with government participation in
key sectors, including industrial production, transportation,
and communications. The country has few natural resources and
one of the highest population growth rates in the world.
Jordan's stance during the Gulf war caused Arab Gulf states to
suspend flows of financial aid. Nevertheless, the economy
continued to show surprising strength in 1993, growing by a
projected 6 to 7 percent. Growth during this period is in part
attributable to the investment of repatriated savings by
returnees from the Gulf. Jordan continues to remain highly
dependent on foreign assistance and remittances from its
nationals abroad. The Jordanian economy was adversely affected
by a reduction of exports to Iraq, a major trading partner, as
a result of United Nations' sanctions against Iraq. The
unemployment rate was at least 14 percent for the year, while
the inflation rate moderated to approximately 5 percent.

Jordan continued to show progress in liberalizing the country's
political system. As a result of the legalization of political
parties in 1992, 20 political parties, running the gamut of
leftist, centrist, and Islamist conservative parties, were
licensed in 1992 and 1993. The King ratified a change from the
previous bloc-voting system to a "one person, one vote" system
in August. On November 8, 1992, the Government of Prime
Minister Abd Al-Salam Al-Majali supervised the country's first
multiparty parliamentary elections since 1956. While there
were some minor irregularities on polling day, international
and domestic observers agreed that the parliamentary elections
were essentially free and fair. Nevertheless, citizens still
do not have the right to change their government. Other
continuing human rights problems included the broad scope of
police powers, abuse of prisoners, prolonged detention without
charge, lack of fair trial in some security cases, official
discrimination against adherents of the Baha'i faith, and
restrictions on women's rights.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:

a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were no reports of such killings.

b. Disappearance

There were no reports of disappearances.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment

Despite the Government's denial that torture occurs and the
Legal Code's requiring humane treatment of prisoners, physical
abuse of prisoners during interrogation and detention continues
to occur. Lawyers often do not receive timely access to their
clients in cases involving state security, and this lack of
access makes confirmation of abuse in specific cases
difficult. The most frequently alleged methods of torture or
maltreatment are sleep deprivation, beatings, and subjection to
the "falaqa" (beatings on the soles of the feet).

Defense lawyers in the trial of six military cadets and two
civilians accused of plotting to assassinate the King charged
the security services with torturing the suspects during 4
months' incommunicado detention from April to August (see
Section 1.d.). Although the State Security Court approved the
defense lawyers' September request for medical examinations to
determine if physical or mental torture was used by GID
interrogators, the judges did not release the results of the
physician's October examinations until mid-November. As of
December, the "Mu'tah" trial proceeded without an official
court ruling on the allegations of torture. A forensic
specialist and a military doctor testified in early November
that they found no evidence of physical or mental
maltreatment. (The GID claims that detainees are routinely
provided medical examinations during detention.) The defense,
however, challenged the testimony and alleged that, since the
doctors were government employees, they were vulnerable to
government pressure. The military judge rejected the defense
request to provide its own doctor to examine the detainees.
Amnesty International and the Arab Organization for Human
Rights investigated the allegations of torture but reserved
judgment until the verdict was reached and the anticipated
appeal process completed. The Government gives the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) full access to
detainees. ICRC representatives have had full and unimpeded
access to the suspects detained in the Mu'tah case throughout
the trial.

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

Most persons are arrested and held in accordance with the
Criminal Code, which requires filing of formal charges within
10 days. This period of detention may be extended if a court
approves the Prosecutor General's renewable request for 10-day
extensions. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for
monitoring cases to ensure that persons are charged on a timely
basis. In many cases, however, repeated requests by the
prosecution for 10-day extensions of a suspect's
detention--which can result in months of incarceration without
charge--are routinely granted. Notification of arrest and
access to legal counsel are provided on an inconsistent basis
during the detention period. Notification and access are less
likely to be provided in so-called state security cases.

The practice of prolonged detention without charge continued in
1993, especially in "security" cases. After obtaining an
arrest warrant, the GID detained persons without formal charges
or trial for indeterminate periods. The Government detained a
number of Islamists in 1993 for alleged affiliation with or
membership in an illegal political organization, the Islamic
Liberation Party (Hizb Al-Tahrir Al-Islami), which advocates
the violent overthrow of the Jordanian Government, the
abrogation of the Constitution, and the adoption of Islamic law
as the foundation of the State. Several--including party
leaders Ata Abu Rishteh and Bakr Al-Khawlidah--were released
after almost 6 months in incommunicado detention. There are
unconfirmed reports that up to 10 Hizb Al-Tahrir party members
remained in detention without charges at the end of the year.
Eight Islamists involved in the Mu'tah case (see Section 1.c.),
charged with plotting to assassinate the King and with
membership in the outlawed Islamic Liberation Party, were held
incommunicado from the time of their arrest in late April until
defense lawyers were granted access by the State Security Court
in late August. Throughout that time, the suspects were denied
visitation by family members, human rights representatives, and
legal counsel.

Governors may order arrest and detention under a law
authorizing them to do so in order to prevent a crime. As an
example of this practice, human rights monitors cited the case
of a Jordanian man arrested in September and detained for
1 week without charges upon the instruction of the Governor of
Amman, allegedly to prevent his participation in antipeace
process demonstrations.

The Constitution prohibits the exiling of Jordanian citizens,
and the Government does not engage in the practice.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The judicial system consists of civilian courts, which hear
most criminal cases; the Appeals Court; the State Security
Court, which replaced the Martial Law Court in 1991; religious
courts; and special courts, including one that deals
exclusively with disputes involving government agencies.

In the civilian courts, trials are open, except in a few cases
such as those involving sexual offenses. Defendants are
presumed innocent until proven guilty and are entitled to have
counsel, to question witnesses, and to testify. Defendants
facing the death penalty or life imprisonment must have legal
counsel; if they cannot afford or do not want counsel, the
Government must appoint representation. Decisions may be taken
to the Appeals Court.

Religious courts have jurisdiction over such family matters as
marriage and divorce. The Shari'a Court handles all family and
religious cases involving Muslims. Other courts handle similar
matters for members of the main Christian sects (Greek
Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant). Shari'a laws are
generally applied in matters of inheritance, regardless of the
religion of those involved.

Observers continue to express concern about the impartiality of
the judiciary, citing low judicial salaries and strong tribal
affiliations as undermining the court system. Observers have
also raised concerns about the impartiality of military judges
who preside over security cases in the State Security Court
prosecuted by military lawyers.

The State Security Court comprises a minimum of three judges.
While either civilian or military judges may serve, the use of
military judges in security cases has prevailed in recent
years. State Security Court procedures give rise to concern
because of the routine denial of private, unimpeded access to
lawyers in the pretrial period and the absence of the right of
appeal. A State Security Court sentence of death or
imprisonment of more than 10 years must be reviewed by the
Court of Cassation (the highest court) within 30 days.
Although the State Security Court is theoretically open to the
public, in practice, courtroom access is restricted to official
guests, journalists, and a limited number of family members.
Embassy officers have been allowed to attend sessions.

Under the State Security Court Law ratified in January, all
Security Court decisions may be appealed to the Court of
Cassation. Unlike the previous law, which allowed the Supreme
Court to review only the application of the law, the new code
permits the court to review witnesses' testimony, the evidence
presented, and the State Security Court's decision. Most
important, the appeal of State Security Court cases must be
reviewed by a civilian--rather than a military--panel of
judges. As of the end of the year, the appeal procedures had
remained untested in sensitive state security cases such as the
"Mu'tah" case. Claiming that no one is currently serving a
prison term solely for political views, the Government denies
that it holds any political prisoners. Following King
Hussein's general amnesty in November 1992, approximately 50
prisoners remain in prison who were convicted in military
courts of crimes committed in pursuit of political aims; the
charges in these cases included arms possession and terrorism,
but in at least some of these cases the legal proceedings did
not meet international standards for fair trial because of the
State Security Court's denial of unimpeded access to lawyers in
the pretrial period and an inadequate right of appeal.

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence

The law stipulates that search warrants must be issued by the
prosecutor general or a judge for searches of premises in most
cases. In cases involving state security, however, the normal
legal requirements for a search warrant are not routinely
applied. Search warrants for security-related cases are
sometimes obtained retroactively. Security personnel
reportedly monitor telephones, read correspondence, and engage
in surveillance. These practices, legal under Jordanian law,
are not believed to be widespread.

Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

In principle, the Constitution provides for freedom of speech
and the press, and Jordanians freely express wide-ranging
opinions, including criticism of the Government. However, the
Government continues to exercise limited censorship of the
local media by pressuring news editors to change or omit
coverage that the Government finds embarrassing or contrary to
what it perceives to be Jordan's interests. More often, the
print and broadcast media censor themselves without specific
prompting from the Government because of fear of the
authorities. The Parliament is also sensitive to public
criticism and as an institution has been quick to sue critics
for slander.

A reporter for a weekly political party newspaper covering the
"Mu'tah" conspiracy trial was banned from the courtroom and
arrested September 26 on the order of the military prosecutor;
his editor was called in for questioning on September 29. Both
were charged with slandering the State Security Court in
articles written about court delays in ordering medical
examinations for defendants. The Ministry of Information
refused to intercede with the court on behalf of the journalist
and editor, stating that the issue was judicial in nature.

The new Press and Publications Law that went into effect on May
17 calls for the Government to reduce its ownership share of
the capital of the press company or organization to 30 percent
within 2 years. The Government still owns the main newspapers
and administers the broadcast media. Foreign newspapers and
magazines are widely available, though on two known occasions
the Government forbade distribution of foreign newspapers
containing controversial articles about the King. In August
the Government blocked distribution of two London-based Arabic
dailies which carried off-the-record comments made by the King
during a meeting with journalists. The Jordanian authorities
forbade sale of an issue of the International Herald Tribune in
September that carried a Washington Post editorial questioning
the future of Jordan as a state. Western cable television is
available through satellite links.

The new Press and Publications Law, which replaces the 1973
Press and Publications Law, was widely criticized by Jordanian
journalists and by international press rights groups because it
continues restrictions on freedom of expression. Controversial
provisions include: licensing of journalists, editors, and
directors of publications and printing facilities; licensing of
newspapers and periodicals; limited protection of
confidentiality of journalists' sources; and restrictions on
press coverage and prior restraint. Its requirement that
journalists join the Jordan Press Association is a continuing
source of contention. In August the Information Minister
proposed a "press code of honor" to be enacted as a provision
of the Press and Publications Law and as a Jordan press
association law. The proposed honor code contains 11 points,
including exhortations not to publish off-the-record
information or state secrets, particularly those pertaining to
the armed forces that might benefit the "enemy of the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan or any sister Arab states." Many journalists
have characterized the code as redundant and view it as a
further attempt to control their activities. The Press and
Publications Law authorizes licensed political parties to
publish newspapers, and these new publications have tested the
limits of the new law's vaguely worded restrictions on coverage
of proscribed topics such as national security, parliamentary
proceedings, and stories about the royal family.

The Prime Minister issued a directive in September barring
civil servants from writing for the press. Such activity was
already proscribed by the Civil Servants' Law, but that law was
not previously enforced.

Academic freedom is inhibited by the fact that academics have
been dismissed for expressing certain political views. There
were no known dismissals in 1993.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Public demonstrations--including election campaign
rallies--require permits. While such permits have been readily
granted for peaceful protests since the beginning of the
political liberalization in 1989, the Ministry of Interior
banned election campaign rallies in late September. Jordan's
Supreme Court overturned this ban on October 28 and election
rallies were permitted in the last week before the November 8
parliamentary elections.

Political parties were legalized in October 1992, and the first
political party was licensed by the Ministry of Interior on
December 2, 1992. Since that time, a total of 20 political
parties have registered.

c. Freedom of Religion

Under the Constitution, Islam is the state religion, and over
90 percent of Jordanians are Sunni Muslims. The Government
adheres to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of worship,
and followers of most religions experience no governmental
persecution. Religious groups must be registered and
recognized by the Government in order to manage property and
administer schools.

Non-Muslim sects are not allowed to proselytize among Muslims,
but Muslims are allowed to convert to other religions.
Individuals who wish to convert from Islam complain of social
and legal barriers to equal treatment once they have
converted. Such persons are regarded as apostates under
Shari'a (Islamic) law and may be legally denied property and
other rights. Converts from Islam do not fall under the
jurisdiction of their new religion's laws in personal status
matters and are still considered Muslims under Shari'a law.
The Government does not recognize the Baha'i faith as a
religion, but it did take steps in 1993 to alleviate some of
the problems of discrimination faced by Jordan's small Baha'i
community (see Section 5).

Several other religious groups are not officially recognized by
the Government but are able to meet without harassment:
Jehovah's Witnesses, the United Pentecostal Church, the Church
of Christ, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

Movement within the country is restricted in military areas.
While all women are required by law to obtain the written
permission of a male guardian to travel abroad, this
requirement is generally enforced only with married women who
wish to travel abroad with their children. Jordanian men can
prevent their children from departing the country, even when
traveling with their mothers or other family members.


Passport renewals for citizens residing in Jordan require
clearance from the police. Palestinians residing in the East
Bank may obtain 5-year passports, while Palestinians residing
in the West Bank may obtain 2-year passports. Jordan also
grants some Palestinians of Gazan origin 2-year passports
regardless of where they live. The Interior Ministry routinely
grants permits for travel between the East Bank and the
Israeli-occupied territories and neighboring states. There
were reports in 1993 that several Palestinians, carrying
restricted validity Jordanian passports, were barred from
returning to their residences in Jordan from the West Bank on
suspicion of belonging to radical Islamist groups outside the
country.

The Government claims that 300,000 Palestinian refugees
returned from the Gulf states--the majority from Kuwait--as a
result of the Gulf crisis (actual numbers may have been
substantially lower). The number of Palestinian refugees
registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA) is 1,093,800 persons, 223,000 of whom reside in
Jordan's 10 official and 3 unofficial refugee camps.

Jordan indicated that 120,000 Iraqi refugees moved into Jordan
in the months after Iraqi travel restrictions were lifted in
May 1991. International relief agencies responsible for
refugee affairs in Jordan estimate the current number of Iraqis
residing in Jordan to be no more than 30,000. Since the
imposition of a 15,000 Iraqi dinar (about $94 in December 1993)
exit tax in February, the number of Iraqis able to afford the
trip to Jordan has been severely curtailed.

Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government

Jordanian citizens may elect municipal officials and members of
the Chamber of Deputies but are not ultimately free to change
their system of government or its leaders. Executive and
legislative powers are constitutionally vested in the King, who
rules with the assistance of a Council of Ministers, which he
appoints.

The Parliament is composed of an appointed Senate and an
elected lower house. The Parliament is overshadowed by the
executive branch but has the right to approve, reject, or amend
laws proposed by the Council of Ministers. According to the
Constitution, the Parliament has the right to approve or reject
treaties and agreements with a majority vote. The King may
propose extraordinary sessions of Parliament and postpone
regular sessions up to 60 days. The King must approve all
laws, which are then put into effect by royal decree. The
Parliament must approve temporary laws issued by the Council of
Ministers when Parliament is dissolved or not in session,
otherwise the temporary law does not become a permanent part of
Jordan's legal system. In August after the King had dissolved
Parliament, he approved a temporary law issued by the Council
of Ministers modifying the 1986 elections law by converting the
previous bloc-voting system to a "one person, one vote"
system. Despite the initial objection of 18 of the country's
licensed political parties on the grounds that such drastic
change to laws governing the election should be reviewed and
adopted by Parliament, most parties and political figures
eventually decided to participate in the parliamentary
elections held in November rather than boycott them as they had
threatened.

On November 8, the Government of Prime Minister Abd Al-Salam
Al-Majali supervised the country's first multiparty
parliamentary elections since 1956. While the Government's
system for distributing ballot cards to registered voters was
blamed for the difficulties in voting some citizens
experienced, international and domestic observers agreed that
the parliamentary elections were essentially free and fair.
The lower house of Parliament created a number of committees to
examine individual candidates' complaints about election
procedures, but had issued no rulings on the formal complaints
as of the end of the year.

Despite the political and social uncertainties that arose in
Jordan in the aftermath of the September 13 signing of the
Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles, King Hussein
insisted that all Jordanian citizens--both Palestinian and East
Banker--were entitled to vote in the November 8 elections.
Some Jordanians of Palestinian origin had doubts about voting
in Jordanian elections, fearing that participation in the
Jordanian political system would preclude their participation
in a future Palestinian election. The Jordanian Government and
the King actively encouraged Palestinian-Jordanian citizens to
participate fully in the elections. Palestinian-Jordanians
were permitted to run as candidates in the parliamentary
elections as well as vote on November 8.


Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights

Local and international human rights groups investigate
allegations of human rights abuses and particularly in the area
of women's rights have published and disseminated findings
critical of government policy. Human rights groups, however,
must abide by laws and regulations governing the publication of
information about activities of Jordan's military and security
services, which constrains them from publishing detailed
allegations of torture or other abuse in Jordan. The Arab
Organization for Human Rights and the Amman-based Peace Center
for Humanitarian Studies have actively pursued controversial
human rights cases both publicly and privately. The Jordanian
Bar Association also raises human rights concerns with regard
to law and procedure, as well as with regard to individual
cases. The ICRC operates freely in Jordan and is given access
to detainees and prison facilities. Several women's
organizations have dramatically increased their activism on
issues of gender discrimination: in parliamentary debate on
December 7, for example, Deputy Toujan Faisal criticized the
discriminatory policy that does not permit Jordanian women to
transmit their nationality to their children.

Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status

Women

Women experience legal discrimination regarding pension and
social security benefits, inheritance, and divorce.

Under Shari'a law, which applies to all Jordanian citizens in
inheritance matters, a female heir's inheritance is only half
that of a male heir. In practice, non-Muslim women
occasionally have been able to obtain rulings based upon their
own religious laws. The divorce law allows men to obtain a
divorce more easily than women, but men may have to pay
considerable compensation based on the original marriage
contract. A woman whose husband takes additional wives may
seek and obtain a divorce under Shari'a law. The law grants
women equal pay for equal work, but in practice the law is
sometimes ignored, and women are paid less. Under Shar'ia law,
a woman's testimony in court carries only half the value of
that of a man. Tradition also constrains women's freedoms,
particularly their entry into professional and academic realms.


Nevertheless, some women have successfully entered the fields
of engineering, medicine, and law, and women's issues are
receiving increasing attention in the media and at symposia.
Women's groups stress that the problem is not only one of laws
but also of social constraints, including women's lack of
awareness of their rights or unwillingness to assert these
rights. The Jordanian chapter of the Business and Professional
Women's Club gives seminars on women's rights and assists women
in establishing small businesses. Club members traveled to
communities throughout Jordan during the election campaign and
succeeded in increasing female voter registration and raising
women's consciousness about the election process and their
rights. Despite progress in these areas, overall change in
women's status has been minimal.

The Koran allows a husband to discipline his wife, which some
men apparently interpret as a license to discipline with
force. Sources in the medical field say that, while they know
wife beating occurs, family and cultural norms constrain
victims from seeking medical or legal help and prevent any
realistic quantification of the extent of abuse. Many
Jordanians consider it culturally unacceptable to highlight
what is considered a private, family matter. The issue also is
considered a private one by the police and the judiciary, and
public discourse rarely focuses on incidents of spouse or child
abuse. Legal avenues to pursue redress in cases of spouse
abuse do exist. If a woman is abused by her husband, she can
visit a medical doctor, obtain a report documenting her
injuries, submit the report to the police, and file a complaint
in court based on this evidence. The court will then charge
and try the husband. Assistance to victims of domestic
violence is provided by nongovernmental organizations (nearly
all of which operate with a government license). Wife beating
is technically grounds for divorce, but the husband may
demonstrate in court that the beating occurred because the wife
was irreligious or did not obey him. It is within the
discretion of the judge to deny a divorce in such cases.

Children

Jordan is a signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of
the Child, and discrimination against children in Jordan is
rare. In September the Jordanian chapter of Amnesty
International sponsored a Jordanian children's forum,
patronized by the Queen, which examined children's rights.
Arab human rights organizations met in Amman in December to
discuss implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. Jordanian labor law prohibits children under the age of
16 from working. It is only in the past few years that
employment of underage children, child street peddlers, and
child beggars have appeared. The Ministry of Social
Development has set up a committee to address the problem and
in most cases removes the children from the streets, returns
them to their families, and provides them a monthly stipend. A
November report of a 12-year-old girl's engagement to her
11-year old cousin, who reportedly dropped out of school to
work in a cottage shoe factory, caused public outrage. The
Jordanian Women's Union called on government officials to take
strict measures, and the Secretary General of the Ministry of
Social Development concurred that the engagement was an abuse
and unacceptable. Children under the age of 18 are excluded
from capital punishment. Children convicted of crimes are held
in special reform centers where they receive vocational
training and are not detained with adults. Corporal punishment
at schools is prohibited.

There have been problems regarding custody of children born to
foreign female domestic servants. For example, if such a child
has been fathered by a Jordanian man, that child is subject to
Shari'a law. Currently, the Jordanian government is
considering a law that would make it difficult for single
foreign mothers to obtain a residence permit for children with
a foreign father not present in Jordan.

Indigenous People

According to government figures, Bedouin tribes constitute
approximately 36 percent of the population. These tribes
participate freely in the political system.

National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

There are large numbers of 1967 Palestinian refugees, primarily
from Gaza, who do not have full Jordanian citizenship and carry
only limited validity Jordanian passports.

Jordan has granted full citizenship to all Palestinians who
fled to the East Bank following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and
to a large number of refugees that came to Jordan after the
1967 conflict. All Palestinian refugees residing in Jordan
prior to August 1988 have the unrestricted right to live, work,
and own property in Jordan. Many Palestinians, however,
experience disproportionate scrutiny in taxation and
discrimination in the awarding of university scholarships and
government and military jobs, especially at senior levels.
King Hussein and the Government of Prime Minister Abd Al-Salam
Al-Majali determined that Jordanian citizens of Palestinian
origin were entitled to the same rights of political
participation--voting and running for parliamentary and local
office--as their East Bank counterparts. Although Palestinian
voter turnout was lower than that of East Bank Jordanians,
Palestinians did vote in the November 8 elections.
Furthermore, several high-level parliamentary and ministerial
positions are occupied by Jordanians of Palestinian origin.

Religious Minorities

The Government does not recognize the Baha'i faith as a
religion, and Baha'is have suffered various forms of official
discrimination. Baha'i identity cards are blank where religion
is indicated. In September the Ministry of Education issued
regulations that made the previously mandatory study of Islam
by Baha'i students optional. In December the Ministry of
Interior agreed to accept Baha'i marriage certificates as proof
of marriage for the issuance of passports and other official
identity documents. However, the Baha'i community still does
not have its own court to handle personal status and family
matters. Instead, these matters are handled by Islamic Shari'a
courts. Baha'i community property cannot be registered in the
name of the community but must be registered in the names of
individual members.

People with Disabilities

The Government passed legislation in March regarding education
and employment opportunities as well as standardized building
and access codes for the disabled. The legislation, known as
Law Number 12 for 1993, includes a comprehensive code for all
future public buildings to accommodate the needs of the
visually, hearing, and physically disabled through standardized
technical building and infrastructure requirements. The code
stipulates that existing public structures undergo retrofitting
to conform to the code, although no specific deadlines for
these adjustments were legislated. The law for the welfare of
the disabled includes a "bill of rights" for the disabled and
mandates the creation of a National Council for the Affairs of
the Disabled. People with disabilities in Jordan face the
problems of the disabled in many developing nations: severe
financial constraints on government and private programs for
the disabled, traditional attitudes of discrimination against
people with physical and mental handicaps, and unemployment
rates among the general population that restrict employment
opportunities for the disabled. Currently there is no budget
for programs for the disabled: all funding for government and
private projects comes from private and nongovernmental
organization donations as well as donations from the royal
family. Several private nonprofit organizations concerned with
education and rehabilitation of the disabled have been active
in Jordan for many years.

Section 6 Worker Rights

a. The Right of Association

All nongovernmental workers, except foreigners, have the legal
right to form and join trade unions. Workers in some
government-owned companies, such as the airlines, are also
allowed to form unions. Jordanian labor unions are
apolitical. Union leaders are elected by secret ballot for
1-year terms. The Jordan Federation of Trade Unions (JFTU)
comprises 17 unions; unions are not required to belong to the
Federation, but at present all unions are members. Union
officials estimate that less than 25 percent of workers are
unionized, thus excluding the majority of the work force from
union representation. All unions must register with the
Government.

Government influence over the JFTU decreased following
political liberalization in 1989, but the JFTU is not
independent since it depends entirely on government financing.
In August the JFTU announced it would convene a general
congress for the first time in 14 years. In April the JFTU
established an official relationship with the Asian-American
Free Labor Institute. These two moves, spearheaded by the
current Secretary General of the JFTU, are designed to
invigorate Jordan's labor unions.

Labor laws forbid strikes if an arbitration committee has been
appointed by the Government to end the dispute. If arbitration
fails, the matter may be referred to an industrial tribunal,
provided both parties to a dispute agree to have the tribunal
hear their case. The tribunal is a formal, independent body
made up of judges appointed by the Ministry of Labor. The
tribunal's decisions are binding. Strikes are not permitted
during arbitration or during the tribunal's deliberations. The
current labor law stipulates that it is prohibited to dismiss
workers during labor disputes. There were no official strikes
in 1993.


b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Unions in Jordan have the right to organize and bargain
collectively. JFTU member unions regularly engage in
collective bargaining with employers. Negotiations cover a
wide range of issues, including salaries, safety standards, and
working conditions.

Though the Constitution bars antiunion discrimination, the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions notes that the
Government does not adequately protect employees against
antiunion discrimination by employers and does not protect
public employees adequately against dismissal for political
reasons. Allegations of such discrimination may be taken to
the Ministry of Labor, which on occasion has ordered the
reinstatement of employees discharged because of their union
activities.

Duty-free trade zones, in Aqaba and Zarqa, are governed by the
same labor provisions that apply countrywide. Private sector
workers employed in these zones are part of a national union
and are thus allowed to organize and bargain collectively.

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

Compulsory labor is forbidden by the Constitution, except in a
state of emergency such as war or natural disaster, and it is
not practiced.

d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The labor laws forbid children under age 16 from working except
in the case of professional apprentices, who are allowed to
leave the standard education track and begin part-time (6 hours
per day, no night shift) training at age 13. Ministry of Labor
inspection teams attempt to enforce these laws. In practice,
some underage children work, primarily in family businesses.
Despite compulsory education (education is compulsory up to the
10th grade or age l5), a small number of children in more
remote areas are kept from school by their parents in order to
work.

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

There is no national minimum wage, but the Government
periodically prepares and adjusts a minimum wage schedule for
various trades, based on recommendations of an advisory panel
composed of representatives of workers, employers, and the
Government. The absolute minimum wage rate is estimated at
$140 per month, inclusive of all allowances. Unskilled workers
earning the lowest scheduled wage face increasing difficulties
earning enough to provide a family a decent living by local
standards.

Laws mandate maximum work hours and paid leave: workers are
not supposed to work more than 48 hours per week (54 hours for
hotel, restaurant, and cinema employees), and may not work more
than 16 hours in any continuous period or more than 60 hours
overtime per month. Employees are entitled to 1 day off each
week. Domestic servants in Jordan are not protected by
Jordanian labor laws. Therefore, there is no legal forum to
address their labor grievances. Large numbers of Sri Lankan
and Filipino workers do not have the benefit of embassies in
Jordan to lobby for their interests.

The Labor Ministry maintains a group of full-time inspectors to
oversee occupational health and safety standards. A
parliamentary committee works with the Ministry to monitor
conditions in the workplace. Jordanian law specifies a number
of health and safety requirements for workers, including
standards for bathrooms, drinking water, and safety and first
aid equipment. The Government appears to administer and
enforce its labor laws fairly, but the deployment of too few
inspectors hinders its effectiveness. In addition, under the
present Labor Code, inspectors lack the power to make, or have
issued, orders having immediate force and no obligation is
imposed with respect to notifying the Labor Inspectorate of
Industrial Accidents and Occupational Diseases. Parliament
declined to consider a draft labor law during its last session
that would revise and update legislation dating from 1960.