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AMMAN – The influx of Syrian refugees heading to Europe is a result of the lack of attention paid to the region in the past five years, the president of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Mogens Lykketoft said on Tuesday. 

In an interview with The Jordan Times in Amman, Lykketoft said the nature of the refugee crisis that faced Europe recently made it so difficult for the European governments and EU to deal with. 

"We should have realised much earlier that there was this huge need of more help to go to the refugees and to the neighbouring countries to Syria," he told The Jordan Times. 

Commenting on the humanitarian financing report that was revealed in Dubai on Sunday, the UN official said the report shows that the world is dealing with even double the estimated number of people who are dependent on some kind of aid.

The global refugee crisis, he said, is not blamed entirely on armed conflicts but also on natural catastrophes, including famines such as the one witnessed now in Ethiopia. 

“It is clearly related to climate change, so for all these reasons there is this huge increase in the needs," he added.   

Lykketoft noted that there is a need to appeal very strongly to all the UN member states to provide the United Nations and other relief organisations with the necessary amount of resources to deal with “this exploding humanitarian crisis.”

He noted that visits the UN officials pay to Jordan constitute one way to attract stronger global attention to the problem and to have a first-hand idea of the actual needs of refugees.  

Jordan hosts around 1.3 Syrian refugess, 15 per cent of whom live in refugee camps in the eastern areas of the Kingdom.

Commenting on the Syrian refugees who are camping across the border with Syria, Lykketoft said he understands the security concerns of Jordan. 

“I understand [that these] refugees come from the areas where ISIS [Daesh] is very active right now. It is a very legitimate concern that terrorists may join the people who try to escape the conflict and of course that has happened … in Europe…. It is a terrible situation because we cannot always look at the faces and say who is the refugee and who is the one who is trying to hide,” he added. 

Lykketoft also stressed that there is a need to support the hosting countries in the region, including Jordan. 

All these things have to be managed in a way that ensures that refugees would not become an extremely heavy burden for the host communities.   

Lykketoft said there is “optimism” about the Vienna talks over the future of Syria. 

“I mean the roadmap is there and now it is up to both major powers and the permanent members of the Security Council as well as the regional powers to put pressure on the parties Syrian conflict to end the fighting and start the political process,” he said, adding that the ongoing conflict in Syria will make Daesh stronger if it was not solved.  

The UNGA president said there is a need for countries around the world to take more refugees, but at the same time, it is good to try to keep these people in the region in order to help rebuild Syria after the conflict ends. 

“So it is not only the political implications for Europe but there are many other reasons concerning the future of Syria. We know that there are educated and economically resourceful people who went to Europe and they will be needed in Syria in the future,” he added.   

AMMAN — Forced relocation is likely the fate of entire Jordanian families belonging to a tribe if a relative kills a person from another tribe, even in an urban context.

The relocation, or jalwa, is deemed by some tribal leaders and legal experts "outrageous" and irrelevant in the 21st century. 

"Jalwa", a term first coined by tribes, entails the forced relocation of a clan if one of its members murders someone, in a bid to avoid friction between the two tribes, both of the victim’s and the killer’s, if they were living in the same area. 

The measure was applied last week in Karak against the tribe of a 34-year-old man suspected of killing Turki Sarairah, a 40-year-old trader and father of two who was shot dead earlier this month at his shop in Karak's Mutah town by a masked man, who was arrested and allegedly confessed to the crime.

As a result, dozens of families belonging to the suspect’s tribe evacuated their homes in Karak and headed to Tafileh Governorate, leaving behind their homes, jobs, businesses, schools and farms. 

The Karak jalwa was part of a government-sponsored “confession atwa”, an initial agreement brokered by mediators who acknowledged that the suspect committed the crime and gave guarantees that the conditions of the victim’s family be met. These were:  sentencing the killer to death, dropping the right of the suspect to hire a defence lawyer, evacuating the suspect's tribe (all those related to the suspect through the fifth paternal ancestor) and giving the victim's clan the right to kill the perpetrator's father, children, grandchildren, uncles, and their children if they pass by Mutah town at any time. 

Although lawmakers say that these conditions violate the law and the Constitution, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Mohammad Thneibat led the atwa delegation, drawing criticism from reformists. 

“What happened on Friday is a clear indication of the failure of the state’s institutions. The idea of jalwa was first introduced when there were no state and government institutions to enforce the law. The tribes used to resort to this measure to prevent bloodshed, because otherwise, revenge would take more lives,” said tribal leader and judge Talal Madi, who is also secretary general of the Unified Jordanian Front Party. 

Madi added that with the emergence of prisons, security apparatuses and penal codes, tribes should no longer stick to traditions that violate the core concept of the civil state. 

“Tribes should blend into a civil state, but the weakness of state apparatuses concerned with the safety and security of citizens is not helping this process move forward,” said Madi, who criticised having a member of the government lead an atwa that “resulted in the relocation of tens of innocent people”.

“This requires a white revolution” to stop such injustices, he said.

Madi’s words were echoed by a man who was forced to follow such a tribal ruling two years ago because of a crime he did not commit.

Salem, whose full name was withheld upon his request, drank from the bitter cup, having to leave home, farmland and other belongings in the northern governorate of Irbid after his brother committed homicide.  

He was made to leave with his sons and daughters as well as his four brothers.

They all moved to Amman, where “life has become more expensive in terms of cost of living, including rent and education for my grandchildren”.  

“We can’t rent out houses back home or benefit from our farmland because of the conditions of the jalwa document,” said Salem, regading the document which was issued after his brother was found guilty of killing his business partner over a business dispute.

Salem said although he loves Amman, he still dreams of returning to his home village one day and to be buried there. 

“The evacuated tribe cannot benefit from anything left behind, even the olive trees they planted back home,” Madi lamented. 

Tribal leader Barjas Al Hadid believes that while jalwa might cause injustices to a lot of people, it is for the best interests of the two parties. However, he said, it should be applied according to “very strict rules”. 

“For example, if the families of the victims and perpetrators live in the same street, it is for the best interests of the killer’s family to relocate. Otherwise, their lives would become hell,” he told The Jordan Times. 

Hadid disagreed with the recent Karak jalwa for stipulating the evacuation of large numbers of the perpetrator’s clan, who include descendants of the suspect’s fifth paternal grandfather. 

He cited an agreement signed by tribal leaders recently limiting the jalwa, or evacuation, to the persons listed in the family registration book, meaning direct family members, and not the entire clan, stressing that the “ultimate purpose of the measure is to protect the innocent and protect them from any harm that might result from crimes they did not commit”. 

“Jalwa is only applied in cases of premeditated murder and rape and when the two parties, the victim and the perpetrator, are neighbours,” Hadid said, adding that late King Hussein has issued orders to limit the effect of jalwa only to the immediate family of the perpetrator. 

Last week, Interior Minister Salameh Hammad said the new 2016 Crime Prevention Law limits the jalwa to the father and children of the killer and gives the authority of specifying the diyeh (blood money) to the chief Islamic justice. 

He underlined that the law seeks to “safeguard the status of the country and the interests of the people”.

In remarks he made late last year, Hammad, who himself belongs to a major bedouin tribe, underlined the importance of arriving at an agreement on legal measures to be respected in cases of tribal disputes to safeguard social harmony and to ensure respect of the rule of law.

At a meeting with tribal figures and representatives, he noted that violations and unacceptable acts are sometimes committed under the pretext of tribal norms and customs, stressing that there should be a binding agreement on legal measures to be observed in such issues.

He said reconciliation should be reached regarding tribal-related issues and serious offences, including honour crimes and the killing of someone from one’s own tribe. 

‘Civil law vs tribal customs’ 

While acknowledging that jalwa might prevent bloodshed in light of the exclusive features of tribal society, it violates the law in many areas, particularly since it involves a collective punishment, according to lawyer and constitutional law expert, Omar Jazi. 

“Jalwa remains a very controversial act. In one part, it is considered a norm in the tribal traditions, but it does not make any sense in a civil system. The state, not the tribe, should have the power to protect individuals in a civil state,” he said. 

Jazi added that while the civil law and tribal customs “meet” in many issues, they stand contradictory when it comes to jalwa. 

On the other hand, the legal expert noted that the conditions of the atwa, including the recent one, include provisions that violate the Constitution, such as requesting the family of the perpetrator to waive his right for legal representation. 

Expert Fadi Al Qadi, former spokesperson for Human Rights Watch in the Middle East and North Africa, strongly condemned Friday’s jalwa, saying that it showed the “failure of the state in applying the rule of the law”.

“The message it gave us is that the state institutions are incapable of protecting civilians and that tribes should step up to do their job,” he told The Jordan Times, adding that the forced displacement of innocent people violates their basic human rights. 

He added that those harmed by the jalwa have the right to file lawsuits against the state for failing to protect them and their interests. 

“It has been proven by this act that we are still far from being a civil country. Assigning the education minister to lead the atwa and agree on its terms on behalf of the state cannot take place in a civil society,” said Al Qadi. 

In previous remarks, veteran MP Mahmoud Kharabsheh said tribal traditions have their positive side as they are supposed to help in enforcing the law and safeguarding the stability and safety of the society. 

The MP, who is also a jurist and a retired security general, said that historically, Jordan has had a tribal law before, but it was abolished, and there was another law governing the issue of bedouin settlement, which was also cancelled. 

His Majesty the late King Hussein, he added, oversaw the adoption of a “document” that regulated tribal traditions, including the so-called tribal judicial system. Both the law and the document, he said, were also restricted to specific types of crimes.

Madi noted that principles of tolerance and forgiveness, once distinct features of Arab tribes and norms, “no longer exist” and therefore tribal rulings might cause more harm than good. 

“The Koran says: ‘and no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another’. Where are these norms from what Islam dictates?” he asked. 

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday received Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sports Abdul-Hussein Abtan, who conveyed a message from Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi on the Iraqi efforts to free areas under Daesh control of.

At the meeting, which took place at Al Husseiniya Palace, Abtan also briefed the King on the Iraqi government's measures to restore normal life for Iraqis and secure their return to the cities retrieved from the terror group, a Royal Court statement said.

The minister highlighted the importance of the Jordanian role in supporting Iraq and its issues, describing the Kingdom as "the closest Arab country to Iraq and its people".

In this regard, King Abdullah reaffirmed Jordan's readiness to continue its support for Baghdad in a way that would enhance its safety and stability, the statement added.

On Syria, the King referred to Jordan's support for efforts to reach a comprehensive political solution, in addition to the Kingdom's role in coordinating with all relevant parties to combat terrorism and extremist groups, which pose a threat to the entire world.

At a separate meeting with HRH Prince Ali, Abtan renewed his country's support for the prince in his FIFA presidency elections, according to the statement.

AMMAN —  Social media users reacted with anger to pictures shared on social networking sites on Tuesday that showed a large number of gazelles hunted and killed in the north of Rweished, near the Syrian border.

Some Facebook users alleged that the hunters came from Qatar and were accompanied by several Jordanians.

Social media users said hunting wild animals is illegal, asking how the hunters entered a "sensitive area" that should have been off limits and who is responsible for the "massacre" they committed. 

The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) does not have the authority to supervise lands in the areas near the border, Yehya Khaled, director general of the RSCN, told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Facebook users said it is the RSCN's responsibility to preserve wildlife in Jordanian lands, and it should coordinate with other institutions to prevent entry to such areas.

They also urged the society to file a lawsuit against the violators who hunted the gazelles. 

Haigaz Kradenian, a hunter and a photographer at the German-Jordanian University, said the hunters came from Qatar and Iraq, accompanied by several Jordanians, and went to the Hadalat Dam north of Rweished and hunted 10 gazelles.

He said that when the photos of the incident were shared on social media, he recognised some of the hunters, whom he declined to identify, and said those hunters confirmed they were hunting in Jordan.

Kradenian said hunting in the area of the dam is illegal during all seasons, adding that whoever allowed the entry of the hunters should be held accountable 

Last year, the RSCN announced a decision banning Gulf citizens entering Jordan from bringing in their falcons as a step to prevent hunting of endangered species.

The RSCN, Jordan’s wildlife conservation and nature protection NGO,  said at the time that the decision was taken in agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, and was circulated by the Ministry of Interior to local agencies and embassies of Gulf states in the country to inform their citizens.

In 1973, the government gave the RSCN a mandate to regulate hunting and protect the Kingdom’s wildlife.

Around 4,000 out of an estimated 7,000 hunters in the Kingdom were registered with the RSCN in 2014.

AMMAN — The use of mobile devices as a tool for making money transfers, cashing out money from ATMs and even paying for bills and services is expected to increase greatly in the near future, officials and experts said Tuesday.

“The entire ecosystem in Jordan for using mobile wallets is now complete and these services will help reach unbanked Jordanians,” Maha Bahou, executive manager of the Domestic Payments and Banking Operations Department at the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ), said at a press conference to launch Umniah’s "Mahfazti” mobile wallet for financial services. 

In Jordan, where some 75 per cent of the population is unbanked, the potential is huge for the adoption of such services, especially since making transfers using such services is cheaper than making transfers via banks, said Bahou, who is also a member of the Jordan National Payment Council. 

She added that “opening mobile wallets” with telcos is easier than opening accounts with banks.

“We took several measures to ensure that these services are safe and there are several security layers to earn users’ trust and confidence to facilitate the rollout of these services,” the bank official stressed.

“There are no branches for banks in remote areas and villages, and it is unfeasible for banks to open branches in such areas, but residents of these areas have mobiles and can use them to make transfers and pay for their needs,” she explained.

According to Bahou, mobile wallet users will be able to use their wallets to pay for utility bills and other government services starting from the end of February.

Umniah CEO Ziad Shatara said mobile wallet users can withdraw cash from any of Umniah’s branches or any ATM.

Mobile wallet services, he said, are expected to witness “major” take-up in light of the high mobile penetration in Jordan, which, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, reached 159 per cent at the end of September, with some 13.1 million active mobile subscriptions.

“Users need a basic mobile to have mobile wallets. They do not need an Internet connection or smartphone,” said Shatara.

He added that the service is launched under the supervision of the CBJ and in accordance with its regulations in this regard.

Umniah's Mahfazati service will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will encompass secure transfers through CBJ systems, with low transfer fees, enabling subscribers to control and manage their expenses and receive financial reports on their payments. 

The second phase will allow subscribers to carry out financial withdrawals. 

AMMAN — With strong dust-laden winds currently affecting the Kingdom, the Civil Defence Department (CDD) on Tuesday advised the public to take precautionary measures.

In a statement, the CDD also affirmed its preparedness to cope with prevailing weather conditions, urging people not to go out except for emergencies. 

The department called on motorists to be extra cautious when driving on highways due to low visibility.

The CDD stressed the importance of having enough medical supplies for those suffering from asthma and other respiratory diseases, asking the public to call 911 in case of emergency. 

Homeowners should also fasten objects on rooftops to prevent them from being blown off by the strong winds.

"We are ready to cope with the prevailing weather conditions, and our preparedness depends on the updates issued by the weather department," CDD Media Director Brig. Gen. Farid Sharaa said.

The department has not dealt yet with any serious condition caused by the weather, a CDD source told The Jordan Times over the phone, noting that operation rooms are open to receive any complaints by the public.

Maj. Wasfi Etoum, of the Public Security Department's (PSD) security media department, said visibility does not exceed 40m in some areas, but all roads are open.

Ruweished town in the northeast and Ghabawi in east Amman are the areas most affected by the prevailing weather conditions, but no traffic problems have been reported, the PSD official told The Jordan Times over the phone.

"The PSD urges motorists to exercise caution and refrain from tailgating to avoid accidents," he added.

The Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) also warned of slippery roads and called on motorists to avoid valleys due to the chance of flash floods.

A JMD statement said there will be a chance of rainfall in the northern and central regions of the Kingdom on Wednesday, with temperatures in Amman expected to range between 2°C and 11°C.

Frost formation is expected after midnight around the Kingdom, the department added.

On Thursday, temperatures in Amman are forecast to range between a low of 2°C and a high of 13°C, according to the JMD, which added that frost is also expected at night.

AMMAN — The Lower House on Tuesday passed the 2015 amendments to the Residency and Foreigner Affairs Law under which personal numbers will be assigned to foreigners.

Under MPs' amendments to the 1973 law, foreigners residing in the country will be given personal numbers  to regulate their entry, exit, registration, residency permits and the duration of their stay.

Lawmakers also set JD50 as the fee foreigners have to pay annually to have their residency permits renewed, disagreeing with the government, which wanted the value of fees for residency permits, visas and IDs to be set by a by-law.

The law also lists the foreigners exempted from obtaining residency permits and stiffens penalties against violators.

In response to some deputies' demand to exempt Gazans living in Jordan and Palestinians holding a temporary passport from residency permits, Interior Minister Salameh Hammad said the benefits to this segment are granted through the Labour Law and not the residency law.

Hammad told the 150-strong House that no specific category of residents in Jordan shall be exempted from residency permits, saying that such issues lie at the heart of the country's sovereignty and are of "dangerous political dimensions".

The minister also said that the Gazans enjoy special benefits, including temporary passports, adding that bearers of such special documents also include people from the West Bank, Syria and Iraq.  

Article 5 of the Residency and Foreigner Affairs Law grants the interior minister additional authority to allow the entry of foreigners from any country.

AMMAN — The government has banned the import of frozen poultry from France, where bird flu cases were reported, an official said on Tuesday.

"The import of frozen poultry has been banned from four provinces in France where bird flu cases were detected. The ban was put in place less than a month ago and is still in effect," Agriculture Ministry Spokesperson Nimer Haddadin told The Jordan Times.

Several countries banned the import of poultry from France following the outbreak of avian flu — most recently Saudi Arabia on Monday.

Both the civil and the military consumer corporations used to sell French frozen poultry, Haddadin said, noting that the ban did not affect the prices and availability of frozen poultry in the local market.

Veterinary authorities usually announce on the World Organisation for Animal Health’s website that a case of bird flu was detected in order to alert importers, according to the ministry.

“The ban on the import of frozen poultry will continue until the infected country is declared free of bird flu,” Haddadin said.

Bird flu or avian influenza (AI) is an infectious viral disease of birds (especially wild water fowl such as ducks and geese), often causing no apparent signs of illness, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

AI viruses can sometimes spread to domestic poultry and cause large-scale outbreaks of serious diseases. Some of these AI viruses have also been reported to cross the species barrier and cause disease or subclinical infections in humans and other mammals, according to the WHO website.

Most AI viruses do not infect humans; however some, such as A (H5N1) and A (H7N9), have caused serious infections in people.

AMMAN — Culture Minister Lana Mamkegh and veteran TV anchors say there is an obvious problem with the language used on Jordanian TV channels, urging the institutes to enrol their employees in Arabic training courses.

“There is an obvious problem with the use of language and the utterance of certain words or sounds by some local TV presenters,” Mamkegh told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

The minister was quick to add that “it is not the fault of the news presenters, because many of them do not go through training to master the proper techniques”.

Former director of Jordan Television Ibrahim Shahzadah, who has been a news presenter for 45 years, agreed with Mamkegh.

“I am not content with the performance of some TV anchors. They read what is written for them like parrots,” Shahzadah told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

“If we want successful TV presenters, they have to work on themselves,” he asserted.

Shahzadah, who wrote a book about his experience with over 7,000 news bulletin reads, mostly at Jordan Television, said the secret lies with simplicity.

“Many teachers helped me in school and in my early career. One teacher advised me to simplify things and to focus on the content of the news item,” he added. 

Shahzadah said he used to rewrite the news items, starting with the most important to the least important while at the same time replacing difficult words with simple ones.

“This practice helped me connect with my viewers, and — at the same time — be aware of what I'm saying and how I say it. I believe this is lacking among our TV presenters these days,” he explained.

Lana Atyat, a TV presenter and producer at Jordan Television for the past 19 years, said another phenomenon common among TV presenters is the “Lebanising of the language”.

“Many anchors are using the Lebanese accent because they believe it is more attractive, and this is really bad for our profession,” Atyat said.

She told The Jordan Times that “anchors should be encouraged to use the 'white accent', which is the common language used by people in Jordan.”

“It is best that each TV presenter uses his/her own common language and stays away from being pretentious. It is best just to be yourself,” Atyat added.

Mamkegh, Shahzadah and Atyat all agreed that the key lies in professional training courses that enable presenters to identify any pronunciation problems, work on their speaking skills and their posture in front of the microphone.

Earlier in January, the Jordan Academy of Arabic sent a letter to Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani on the use of colloquial Arabic in the content of TV channels, newspapers and other media outlets.

The academy, which monitored and observed media outlet content, said the editing of Arabic content in television news is weak.

The language used during talk shows is also close to colloquial Arabic, which is “inappropriate”, the academy added.

AMMAN — Irbid Civil Defence Director Brig. Gen. Munib Awawdeh on Tuesday honoured Mahmoud Zu’bi, a civilian, for rescuing a child from drowning in an agricultural pond a few weeks ago.

Awawdeh expressed his gratitude for Zu’bi’s efforts in the western Ramtha incident, where another child died before the arrival of civil defence personnel. Zu’bi risked his life although he cannot swim, the director said, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.