Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Salma, a Sudanese national, came to Jordan almost two years ago to work as a domestic helper to support her family.

But Salma (not her real name) fell victim to a Sudanese man who helped her come to Jordan, then forced her to live with dozens of women and work as a part-time domestic helper.

“For one year and seven months this man took all the money I was making and I did not know where to go to file a complaint,” the 23-year-old told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

Dozens of women of different nationalities were living with Salma in an apartment owned by the Sudanese man who was exploiting them.

“We are all foreigners in this country and had no one to turn to until one woman escaped and informed the police about our miserable situation, after which the Sudanese man fled,” she said.

Several of the women returned to their countries, while others, including Salma, sought help from the Jordanian Women’s Union (JWU) and are now living in its shelter.

“I have been here for four months and have learned several professions during my stay which will hopefully help me start a new life when I return to Sudan,” she stated.

Salma is one of 229 human trafficking victims that have sought refuge at the shelter since 2009.

Mokaram Odeh, deputy director of the JWU and the executive director of combating violence against women programmes, said the started focusing on such cases after Jordan enacted the Anti-Human Trafficking law in March 2009.

The Kingdom has also ratified the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime and its supplemental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.

The minimum prison term for violating the law is six months and the maximum is 10 years, according to Odeh, while the fines range from JD1,000 to JD5,000.

“For the past five years human trafficking cases were not provided with the proper services in Jordan and victims were usually sent to prison,” Odeh told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

She said the JWU decided to use the shelter as a means to help human trafficking victims until the government builds a facility.

The Social Development Ministry recently announced that it plans to open a facility to house human trafficking victims that will be part of the Family Reconciliation Centre.

Last year, Jordan reported 17 human trafficking cases involving 54 males and 27 females, according to a report prepared by the National Anti-Trafficking Committee.
Statistics on human trafficking detail the type of offences as involving forced labour of domestic helpers and labourers, sexual exploitation and cases related to children.

Some of the main violations that are committed against foreign domestic labourers and foreign women residing in Jordan, are withholding their passports and official documents, preventing their mobility and placing them in inhuman living conditions, according to Odeh.

The shelter also provides numerous services to Jordanian and other women residing in the Kingdom, who seek help through the JWU hotline that was established in 1996.

Several cases handled by the JWU are referred by government institutes, or women simply visit the premises seeking help.

The hotline provides social, psychological, health-related and legal help, in addition to empowering women by suggesting training courses in various fields.

In 2012, the hotline dealt with 5,343 cases of abused women; social services were provided to 2,756 cases, while psychological services were provided to 275 callers. Legal aid was given to 1,008 cases while health services were provided to 20 women, according to a JWU study.

The 2012 study indicated that the majority of the abusers were husbands (350 cases), followed by ex-husbands (66), business owners (45) and women (41).

Several cases handled by the hotline are transferred to the JWU shelter for help, according to Odeh.

Amal called the hotline seeking help to escape 20 years of physical and psychological abuse by her husband.

The 42-year-old told The Jordan Times that she was also deprived of free mobility and was unable to see her family because her husband prevented her from doing so.

“He would hit me for any silly reason. If I smoked or if any of the children got sick, I would get beaten. He also beat up the kids,” the mother of six said.

A month ago, Amal added, a neighbour heard her screaming in pain after being abused by her husband and gave her the number of the JWU hotline.

“My neighbour would often hear me get beaten up by my husband and a month ago she decided to intervene and help, and advised me to call the hotline.”

“The minute I arrived, they provided me with food, clothes and other essential items,” noted Amal, who works in the shelter’s productive kitchen and does some embroidery and knitting.

“My mental status changed and I feel much better now because I am doing something new with my life. I feel I am a free human being.”

Amal’s next step is to get a divorce, get custody of the children and open a small business based on the skills learned at the JWU shelter.

Social services expert Alia Hejjawi, who has been dealing with women at the JWU shelter for the past five years, said the majority were domestic violence cases.

“The minute they resort to us we study their case and try to find solutions... if we cannot reach an immediate solution, we house them at our shelter,” Hejjawi explained.

In other cases, she added, women are referred for social or psychological counselling and follow-up.

“Once the women become more comfortable and get accustomed to their new environment we inform them about our training programmes,” Hejjawi said.

The training provided by the JWU includes courses on computer technology, cooking, tailoring and hairdressing.

“We provide them with raw material and they sell their products. The proceeds are theirs so it can help them during their time at the shelter,” Hejjawi explained.

The JWU also gives shelter residents a small allowance to buy items such as food, clothes, travel tickets and suitcases, she said, in addition to facilitating contact with their families.

The JWU shelter opened in 1999 in the capital’s Jabal Hussein neighbourhood with limited resources and services for abused women, and grew over the years as funding became available.

The facility has helped 1,318 women and their children since its establishment, according to JWU statistics.

The JWU and the Social Development Ministry are the only two entities in Jordan that operate shelters for abused women.

In 2007, the ministry opened the FRC to provide protection and counselling for abuse victims and offer temporary shelter for abused women and children under the age of five.

Today, the JWU shelter operates 24 hours a day and can accommodate 35 to 50 women and 36 children. The staff consist of 13 social service specialists, eight psychological specialist and 14 lawyers.

It offers social, psychological, family, legal, health and religious counselling for women, children and men, and simultaneously provides security, empowerment and training.

*Jordan Times