Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Protecting child rights in Jordan represented a definite priority that dates back to its establishment as a country, according to a statement issued by the Information and Research Center, King Hussein Foundation (IRCKHF), to mark 25 years of Jordan's signing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It recalled that Jordan opened its first care center, known as al-Hussein Social Center, in 1953 – less than ten years after the Kingdom's Independence. On May 24, 1991, exactly 24 years ago, Jordan joined the world and "ratified the CRC, which became the most widely accepted human rights treaty ever, inspiring social change in all regions of the world, it added.

"By the end of the 1980s, Jordan had achieved human development advances that were recognized by UNICEF and other agencies worldwide as exemplary in the developing world in areas such as nutrition, school enrollment and girl’s education", said the statement.

Jordan, it said, ranked among the top forty-five countries in the world to achieve higher immunization rates among children, adding that in 2009, the working group report of the Universal Periodic Review noted Jordan’s increasing intention to the promotion of children’s rights at legislative and institutional levels, the accession to CRC and its optional protocols, the establishment of institutions which includes the National Task Force for Children (NTFC). The statement said that Jordan’s renowned reputation in child protection is "prompted by its clear political commitment" through its continuous allocations and establishments of appropriate mechanisms for its protection, the oldest of which is the NTFC and its Research and Database Unit, known today as the Information and Research Center – King Hussein Foundation (IRCKHF) and resembling the country’s strong commitment to child rights.

The NTFC, it stated, served as "the coordinating agency of Jordan’s national efforts aiming at the improvement of current levels of achievement on child-related issues, ensuring that children continue to receive ‘first call’, and accelerating efforts towards the attainment of qualitatively higher levels of child survival, development, protection, and participation rights of Jordan’s children". The statement said recommendations of IRCKHF – preceded by NTFC – continue to shape the final CRC recommendations advising Jordan on ways to further improve the conditions of children.

It said that in 2013, the submitted non-governmental periodic report by IRCKHF, along with three other Jordanian non-governmental organizations brought the issues of negative stereotypes of girls and its role in curtailing their rights, early marriage, child abuse and Gender-Based Violence to the forefront. The concluding observations of the CRC for Jordan in 2014 on the consolidated fourth and fifth periodic reports expressed its concern on several issues: 1) The nationality for the child of Jordanian mother married to non-Jordanian fathers, based on IRCKHF’s study and policy paper: Reversing the Gender Bias against Jordanian Women Married to Foreigners, and Jordanian Women Married to Non-Jordanians Have the Right to Pass on Their Nationality to Their Families. 2) The discrimination against girls and education based on IRCKHF’s studies of Homebound Girls in Jordan, To Be a Girl in Jordan: A Legal and Cultural Bias, and The Economic Underpinnings of Honor Crimes in Jordan. 3) The concern for the discrimination faced by children deprived of family ties, which IRCKHF is currently researching further through its project: Empowering Care Leavers in Jordan: Youth deprived of Family Ties at Birth (funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The studies conducted over the past 6 years are all available on HAQQI Information Zone[11] and IRCKHF’s website[12], allowing the Jordanian public to continue to understand the reality of its children.

The statement said Jordan has reached a long way, but the progress must continue. It vowed that The Information and Research Center – King Hussein Foundation, in partnership with key stakeholders, will continue its role in researching and advocating for children’s rights, but added that it is also the responsibility of all Jordanians to ensure the continued protection of children.