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AMMAN  — Ambassadors of EU member states on Wednesday joined the EU Ambassador to Jordan Andrea Matteo Fontana in a field visit to companies eligible to export under the EU-Jordan rules of origin agreement at the Sahab Development Zone.

The companies, which represent some of Jordan's most key sectors, including chemicals, manufacturing and textile, are currently benefiting from preferential rules, which allow them to export to the EU states more easily, according to a statement by the EU delegation to Jordan.  

During the visit, EU ambassadors discussed with the factory managers and employees the opportunities provided by the rules of origin scheme, and exchanged views on solutions to some of the challenges they face when exporting to the EU, the statement said.

As Jordan becomes an increasingly important trading partner for the EU, the rules of origin agreement seeks to help companies access a new market, improve the quality of their products and create new jobs, both for Jordanians and Syrian refugees, the statement said. 

EU Ambassador Fontana underlined the importance of the agreed-upon rules of origin scheme as being "one of the ways to encourage the private sector to diversify and to mitigate the effects of the Syrian refugee crisis on the Jordanian economy".

"We are very pleased to have been able to meet with the three companies eligible to export under the rules of origin agreement. They represent the dynamism and the future of Jordanian industry. We were happy to hear personal stories about how the scheme has allowed companies to grow and create more decent jobs, both for Jordanians and Syrians," Fontana said at the end of the visit.

In July 2016, the EU and Jordan agreed on a simplification of the rules of origin applicable in their bilateral trade which allows producers in Jordan to use an alternative set of rules of origin for exports to the EU under certain conditions, according to the statement.

These include the requirement that production takes place in one of the 12 governorates in Jordan and includes the creation of jobs for 15 per cent of Syrian refugees in the first two years, rising to 25 per cent after three years. 

The new scheme applies to 52 different product categories including textiles and garments, engineering and electrical products, chemical products, plastic products, and furniture and wood products, the statement concluded. 

AMMAN — Arab parliamentarians and women’s rights activists on Wednesday urged Arab countries to abolish laws that allow sexual assault offenders to avoid punishment for their crimes.

The parliamentarians and activists underlined that several Arab countries, including Jordan, Morocco and Lebanon, recently scrapped provisions in their penal codes that allowed sexual offenders to escape punishment, calling on other countries in the region to follow suit.

They made their remarks during a meeting organised by Equality Now, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the coalition of Arab women parliamentarians to combat violence against women and the Arab Women Organisation (AWO).

During the meeting, Minister of Social Development Hala Lattouf highlighted that strong partnership between legislators and activists pave the way for amending and abolishing laws that discriminate against women’s rights.

“Violence against women and girls is neither justifiable nor acceptable and needs to be eliminated by all means, mainly by scrapping pieces of legislation that allow this,” Lattouf said.

She underlined that Jordan has put in place several laws that protect women’s rights, which also seek to economically empower women.

The minister stressed that, just as the legal system protects women, it also seeks to impose punishment on offenders.

Deputy Wafa Bani Mustafa, head of the coalition, said that 13 Arab states are currently members of the coalition, which targets laws that discriminate against women.

“Today’s meeting seeks to focus on laws in the Arab region that allow sexual assault offenders to escape punishment. Progress in this domain has been achieved in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq and we are hopeful that other countries will follow suit,” Bani Mustafa said.

Based on a recommendation by a Royal committee and the endorsement of the government, the Lower House in August voted to abolish the controversial Article 308 of the Penal Code, which became effective on November 1 after the law was published in the Official Gazette.

“We are hopeful now that Iraq will also do the same as Jordan and other Arab countries and scrap laws that allow sexual assault offenders to avoid punishment,” the MP noted.

Intisar Jabouri, a deputy in the Iraqi parliament, said that efforts are now under way to scrap such articles in the Iraqi penal code.

“We are now gathering momentum to have Article 398 in the Iraqi penal code number 111 abolished,” she told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the meeting.

Meanwhile, Hasna Mansour from the Westminster Foundation for Democracy said that female parliamentarians and women’s rights activists from Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq and Palestine are attending the meeting to lobby for further actions that ensure the protection of women.

“Now we are also pushing Palestine to scrap laws that allow sexual assailants to escape punishment in certain cases,” Mansour told The Jordan Times.

ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP — Some 100 residents of the Zaatari refugee camp on Tuesday enjoyed a day of cultural activity as part of the Karama human rights' film festival held this year under the theme “Give life a chance".

Organised by Oxfam in Jordan in collaboration with ma3mal 612 for ideas, the event, titled "Cinema in refuge”, included the screening of films on human rights and discussions among the participants on the daily challenges faced by refugees in the camp, with a special focus on education.

“These films really revive our spirit of hope. This is our suffering, some of our children are forbidden of receiving education because of their situation or because of their families,” said Rana, one of the women who participated in the activity (all names were changed to preserve the interviewees' privacy), adding "I urge all the parents in the camp to encourage their children to receive and complete their education."

Screening films that reflect the reality of the lives of Syrian refugees, the activity also aimed to give the participants a chance to voice their concerns and the problems they face in a refugee camp setting.

“In the camp, there are many families who forbade their daughters from going to school, which is wrong. NGOs always try to spread awareness on the importance of education, on early marriage and this encourages many families to allow their daughters to be enrolled in schools and complete their education,” Adnan, another mother, said.

“Syria is a civilised country and we want our children, especially girls, to learn and get education. Many of our children missed out opportunities in education at the beginning of the conflict.  Syrians are creative: in the camp, they have shown many skills and done a lot of nice work in tailoring, food making, drawing and painting," she highlighted, adding "we proved ourselves and our strengths despite our situation”.

The discussion also covered the main messages the Syrian refugees wanted to convey to the world and to decision makers in order to improve their situation.

“The formal education our children receive in the school itself is not enough, many of our children do not know how to read or write properly. Here in the camp, there are some centres where our children can receive remedial classes after they finish school. These centres are the main thing that supports our children's education and we need them to expand across the camp,” another participant stressed.

While issues such as the limited educational opportunities available to Syrians especially in higher education were raised, participants also commended the various trainings they received and the source of income they provided them and their families. 

“I participated in one of the sewing courses offered by one of the NGOs in the camp. I learned how to make nice pillow covers and how to sew professionally," said Lana, noting that the training also served to help the less privileged in the camp, as they distributed the covers they created to the most vulnerable people in the camp.

One of the moderators of the discussion, Ghada Salem, economic justice policy adviser at Oxfam, said: “Education is important to find decent jobs. People in the camp especially women and breadwinners want to have their own small businesses inside the camp to be able to live in dignity and gain income to provide for their families, as it is difficult for them to go outside the camp to work and leave their children for long hours.” 

For his part, Safi Al Sakran from the Karama team said: “Struggles and difficulties are always in our lives and we should all move forward to find good opportunities to 'give life a chance'.”

AMMAN —  A training programme aimed at improving the skills of social and health professionals working with Syrians and Jordanians conducted its last session this week, 9 months after its inception in April 2017.

Implemented by IOM, the UN migration agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Development, the training sought to help enhance the psychological support provided to Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan, according to its organisers.

“To include the mental health component in their work, front-line officers need to be trained on basic techniques such as deescalation of a violent situation, the principle of ‘do no harm’, survivor centred approaches when dealing with Gender Based Violence survivors and children who have survived violence,”  said Marie Adèle Salem, the session’s trainer.

The last of four sessions conducted throughout the year, the three-day training focused on psychosocial and mental health support, as a main component in the workers’ interventions.

Participants in the workshop included professionals from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Development, and other governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in various fields including protection and healthcare.

“The training will help me to do more and to know how to act in front of a survivor of violence,” said Linda Samarna, a translator for the government’s Counter Trafficking Unit ahead of the session, adding “we often deal with cases of violence in our work.”

During the session, the participants shared their personal experiences in the field of mental health and psychosocial support, and exchanged on the common challenges they face at their workplace. They were also briefed on self awareness, self help and self-care skills.

According to a study conducted by the UNHCR under the title "Assessment of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Needs of Displaced Syrians in Jordan", 53.9 per cent of Syrian refugees living in camps and 49.4 per cent of non-camp respondents expressed feelings of anger and loss of control related to mental trauma. 

“The success of emergency programmes also relies on the mental wellness of the beneficiaries, as it is necessary to build resilience and develop positive coping mechanism,” said Laura Sisniega, IOM Jordan’s communication officer, noting that “the Syrian crisis has made it more challenging for social workers to understand the full range of services available in terms of mental health and psychosocial support. The training has served to improve a network among the relevant actors by sharing information about the services available both for Syrian refugees and Jordanians.”

The training came in line with the efforts exerted by a number of national organisations such as Nour Hussein Foundation and the Jordan River Foundation, in addition to international organisations and NGOs, which have been delivering services to tackle the psychological impact of the Syrian crisis.

Funded by the government of Italy through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the training is part of a regional project implemented in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria which aims at building a sustainable and harmonised response in addressing the psychosocial needs of internally displaced persons, refugees and communities affected by the Syrian conflict, an organisers’ statement said.

AMMAN — A Royal Decree was issued approving the presenting of the State Awards 2017, the Jordan News, Agency, Petra, reported on Wednesday. The awards were given to individuals and institutions in the fields of literature, arts, sciences and children's literature.

This year's winners are Yousef Abdul Aziz, Taher Riad and Maha Atoum for the poetry prize; Nabil Mashini and the late Mohammad Qabbani for the arts while King Hussein Cancer Centre will receive the award for pure and applied sciences in cancer treatment.

Haya Saleh won the children's literature award.

AMMAN — MP Khalil Atieh has stressed the importance of the Jordanian role in maintaining the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Wednesday.

Atieh highlighted the important efforts His Majesty King Abdullah is exerting to maintain and defend the city's holy places in the regional and international arenas.

Delivering a speech at the emergency session of the Arab Parliament, he reiterated that Jordan will never abandon the Hashemite custodianship over Jerusalem's Muslim and Christian holy sites and will continue its role in safeguarding them. 

AMMAN — Justice Minister Awad Abu Jarad on Wednesday announced the launch of e-service to issue no criminal record certificate, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The service is part of the government's plan to digitise all its services by 2020.

In a press conference attended by ICT Ministry Secretary General Nader Thniebat, Abu Jarad said that the service is among 10 others that have been already launched online, with the aim of facilitating procedures for Jordanian nationals.

The certificate can be obtained through the Justice Ministry's website (NCRC.MOJ.GOV.JO) via a payment using (e-FAWATEERcom), post offices or banks. Paper issuance of the certificate will be cancelled as of January 2018, according to Petra.

MARKA — The French embassy in Jordan on Tuesday signed a funding agreement with the non-governmental organisation Messengers of Peace Jordan to support the education of Iraqi refugee children living in Marka.

During the signing ceremony, which was attended by 200 future beneficiaries, their families and teachers, French Ambassador David Bertolotti said: "France is really proud to finance a project in the sector of education as it is our collective responsibility to provide these children, who have experienced war and exile, with a quality education."

"This is a fundamental right and a chance to give them a normal life," he added, stressing France's attachment to the right of education and the respect of freedom of religion and belief.

The agreement, which will provide the local school with financial assistance worth 120,000 euros, aims to support an educational programme for Iraqi refugee children, most of whom fled northern Iraq in 2014 following the offensive of the Daesh terror group. 

“France has always been considered as a key mediator in the regional conflicts and we hope that this great nation will keep working with us to find fair and sustainable solutions to the tragic situations we are experiencing,” said representative of Messengers of Peace in Jordan, Father Khalil Jaar at the school of the Latin Patriarch in Marka, where the event was held.

Two hundred children between 6 and 14 years old will benefit from the programme, which will include remedial and tutoring classes for 14 hours per week to help students catch up with the educational gap they are facing due to the war and exile.

Despite concerted efforts by the Jordanian government in cooperation with UN agencies and local and international NGOs, access to education for refugee children has still been facing numerous challenges, according to a recent report by the UNHCR.

The report, titled “Left Behind: Refugee Education in Crisis” indicated that over 3.5 million refugee children aged between 5 and 17 years old did not have the chance to attend school in the last academic year, including 1.5 million missing out on primary school and 2 million adolescents being out of secondary school.

Voicing his appreciation of the French support, Jaar said: "Suffering from a transit situation, these refugee children are forgotten in the international administration limbo. Through this programme, France will allow these innocent children to regain hope to live with dignity and to ensure they have a better future."

Messengers of Peace Jordan works to provide medical assistance, food and education service in Jordan for displaced families from Iraq and Syria who fled from Daesh, the NGO website said.

The financial aid was granted under the French ministry of foreign affairs' fund to support victims of ethnic and religious violence in the Middle East.

Created in 2015 at the Paris conference on Syria, the fund, which is co-chaired by France and Jordan, illustrates France's commitment to support the Kingdom in light of the Iraqi and Syrian refugee crises, an embassy statement said.

AMMAN — Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is considered an important and integral aspect of Jordanian cultural identity and an essential value of the local communities across the Kingdom, Constanza Farina, UNESCO representative to Jordan, said in a statement released on Tuesday.

"UNESCO believes that preserving ICH sustains cultural diversity, community resilience, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life… ICH is a precious patrimony of the vast Jordanian culture and safeguarding this for future generations is a shared commitment contributing to enhancing the identity and resilience of the local communities," she noted.

In Jordan, one example of such preservation can be found in the recent documentation of bedouin coffee traditions. 

With the support of the UNESCO Amman office, community residents in Mafraq chronicled the intricacies of the coffee culture, conducting video interviews with bedouin elders to ensure that the fine details and traditions attached to this practice do not become lost as time marches on, she added in the statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

In collaboration with Jordan’s Ministry of Culture, UNESCO has been supporting local authorities to enhance the safeguarding of ICH, raising awareness in local communities and training people in collection and documentation techniques.

In order to enhance and broaden ICH support, the two parties have also been organising a series of training workshops across Jordan to ensure that local communities are actively involved in the safeguarding of their own traditional heritage.  

The UNESCO official added: "This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and this provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity."

Since 2006, Jordan has been party to the Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, ratified by UNESCO in 2003. 

In 2008, the traditions and way of life associated with "The Cultural Space of the Bedu in Petra and Wadi Rum" were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 

Concerning challenges UNESCO is facing in the field, Farina said one main concern is the potential loss of traditional knowledge and practices. 

"The value of this knowledge held by the bedouin communities throughout Jordan cannot be stressed enough. Preserving the intimate, unique details that define a people’s identity can sometimes feel like a losing battle, though. We see the forces of rapid economic development and urbanisation at work today, affecting the traditional communities with variable outcomes to their wellbeing and preservation of cultural integrity," she said.

"We know that placing culture at the heart of development policies constitutes an essential investment in the world’s future, acting as a pre-condition to successful globalisation processes. This is one reason that it is so important to see culture, for the first time, recognised as a key component of the international development agenda and enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Within this framework, we are officially recognising that culture contributes to poverty reduction, paving as well the way for sustainable, inclusive an equitable development," Farina concluded. 

BAQAA CAMP — Although Sami Atef’s accessories store at Baqaa refugee camp is his main source of income, he decided to sacrifice it for the sake of Palestine.   

Atef was among the many residents of Baqaa camp who took to the streets on Tuesday protesting against the decisions taken by US President Donald Trump to move the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognise it as the capital of Israel. 

“I wanted to take part in the strike to show support to our brothers in Palestine. This is the least we can do for Palestine by closing down the shop for one day and I am ready to continue taking part in future strikes until the decision comes to an end,” he told The Jordan Times at the camp.  

Carrying Palestine flags and chanting slogans renouncing the decision, Hussein Abu Al Shiekh, one of the strike’s coordinators, said that, since Trump’s announcement, the camp’s residents have started several activities to denounce the decision.  

“People will not abandon any rights regarding Palestine, whether the right of return of refugees or the right of Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine,” he stated.  

Abu al Shiekh noted that the committees that initially coordinated the event announced a one-hour strike from noon untill 1pm but stressed that participants decided to close their stores all day long.

Jamal Ahmad, one of the protesters, said that the strike is not a matter of closing stores down, but rather a matter of emphasising Palestine is a national cause.  

Abu Omar, 85, said that the strike will send a message to the world. 

“We will never accept to lose Palestine,” he said while sitting outside a closed store.