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AMMAN — Interior Minister Salameh Hammad on Tuesday said Jordanian-Qatari relations are growing and developing as a result of the efforts of the leaderships of both countries, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Hammad made his remarks during a meeting with Qatari Ambassador to Jordan Bandar Al Attiyah that covered political, economic and security cooperation, in addition to developments in the region. Attiyah said it is important to boost ties even further to serve mutual interests.

AMMAN — A 52-year-old woman died on Tuesday after being hit by a vehicle near the Zaatari camp traffic light, according to a Civil Defence Department (CDD) statement. Also on Tuesday, an 18-year-old died of gas inhalation in Irbid due to a gas leak from a water heater. Also in Irbid, three people suffered smoke inhalation in a house fire.

CDD cadres took them to Princess Basma Public Hospital where they were listed in fair condition. In a separate accident, five children suffered food poisoning after eating expired food. They were taken to Al Bashir Hospital where they were listed in fair condition.

AMMAN — Two Egyptian guest workers on Tuesday suffered injuries after falling off scaffolding while doing construction work in Ajloun, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Ajloun Civil Defence Department Director Col. Hani Smadi said cadres administered first aid to the injured and took them to Iman Public Hospital where they were listed in critical condition.

AMMAN — The period for contesting Karak’s 2nd District by-election result at the Court of Appeals started on Tuesday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted the Independent Elections Commission’s legal affairs director, Mohammad Qatawneh, as saying.

During the 15-day period, every voter in the electoral district has the right to contest Sameh Majali’s win, in accordance with the Constitution.

AMMAN — A national alliance of civil society organisations on Tuesday called on the government to take several measures to improve the human rights environment to ensure that it is in line with Jordan's international obligations.   

The Jordanian Civil Coalition against Torture (Jo-CAT) urged the government to consider the recommendations made by the Committee against Torture in its 56th session last month, saying that the vast majority of observations had been made years ago but "fell on deaf ears".  

The committee “is the body of 10 independent experts that monitors implementation" of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by its state parties, according to the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In November, the committee reviewed the Kingdom's implementation of the convention.

Jo-CAT submitted shadow reports to the committee prepared by its members, which include the Jordanian Society for Human Rights, Adaleh Centre for Human Rights Studies, Tamkeen Fields for Aid, Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), and the Jordanian Civil Coalition against Torture.

At a press conference held to announce the observations of the UN committee, members of the coalition said more than 80 per cent of the observations of the panel were "repeated from the Human Rights Committee in 2010". 

"We appreciate the government's measures to combat torture and eliminate it, but at the same time we are observing with immense concern the continuation of such violations and impunity of the perpetrators," Jo-CAT said in a statement, calling for ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 

The coalition suggested creating a mechanism that coordinates efforts to implement the committee's recommendations in cooperation between the government and civil society. 

On the bright side, the UN committee's observations shed light on some of the positive steps taken by Jordan in relation to combating torture. 

The panel commended the Kingdom for adopting legislation in relevance to the convention, such as laws on juveniles, independence of the judiciary and the Constitutional Court. 

It also welcomed the establishment of a national register for cases of torture at public prosecution offices, the adaptation of the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking and the holding of two international conferences on torture prevention and alternatives to pre-trial detention.  

However, the committee cited many shortcomings, with the major one being Jordan's definition of torture, calling for adopting one that covers all elements outlined in the convention and ensures that torture is a crime rather than a misdemeanour. 

Furthermore, the panel directed the government to "ensure that the principle of absolute prohibition of torture is incorporated in its legislation and ensure its strict application in accordance with the convention".

"The state party should ensure that an order from a superior officer may not be invoked as a justification of torture, and to this end establish a mechanism for the protection of subordinates who refuse to obey such an order," the UN committee said. 

"Jordan willingly ratified the convention against torture and this obligates it to take all measures to ensure its implementation…," CDFJ President Nidal Mansour said at the press conference. 

As for administrative detention, the committee urged the government to ensure that all detainees are afforded fundamental legal safeguards, while intensifying efforts to reduce the number of inmates placed in pre-trial detention.

"There were more than 2,000 guest workers held in administrative detention between the years 2011 and 2013, all of whom did not know the reason behind their arrest, while the period of their detention ranged between 21 days and two years," said Tamkeen Executive Director Linda Kalash.

She added that the committee expressed its concern over the "inseparable legislative and legal powers when it comes to administrative detention and how the governor is given the power to hold people in detention". 

The panel "reiterated its previous recommendation to abolish the practice of administrative detention, including and in particular against holding women and girls who are victims of violence in protective custody as well as migrant workers who have fled abusive employers".

On the other hand, the panel said it was "alarmed" by the several cases of death of inmates in custody in 2015, calling for expediting investigations into all cases of deaths in custody and bringing perpetrators to justice.

"The state party should ensure that the Jordan National Centre for Human Rights is granted access to all facilities of detention and is able to carry out unannounced and regular visits to all such facilities," the committee said. 

"Alternatively, the state party should establish an independent monitoring mechanism mandated to carry out regular and unannounced visits to all places of detention."

The panel also called for abolishing the State Security Court in line with the recommendation put forward by the Human Rights Committee in 2010.

AMMAN — After coming to Jordan with hopes for a better life, domestic helpers face many violations that threaten their wellbeing, according to a recent study.

Although efforts to protect domestic helpers have resulted in substantial legislative reforms in recruitment regulations, workers’ access to basic human rights and protection is “still lacking”, showed the study, conducted by Tamkeen Fields of Aid.

In Jordan, there are around 50,000 legal domestic workers, while the number of irregular household helpers reaches 30,000, as highlighted by the study, titled “Invisible Women: The Working and Living Conditions of Irregular Migrant Domestic Workers in Jordan”.

“Migrant domestic workers — mainly women — from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines, are... one of the largest groups of workers excluded from labour and social protection in Jordan,” the report said.

“This study is different from any other conducted on the same subject in its ability to shed light on the social aspects of domestic workers, their everyday life, educational level and marital status,” Tamkeen Executive Director Linda Kalash told The Jordan Times on Monday.

Of the main findings of the study, based on several methodologies, mainly interviews, domestic workers’ ignorance of their rights was the most evident, according to Kalash.

“Respondents who receive their salaries on time described their situation as being very good although it was obvious in their answers to other questions that they lacked basic rights and decent treatment,” she noted.

Many workers are deprived of basic needs such as food and leisure time, and the chance to contact their families.

Many of them are also exposed to physical, verbal and sexual abuse, the study said Many employers and recruitment agencies take advantage of migrant domestic helpers by confiscating their passports and other legal documents, including work and residency permits, it added.

It also indicated that the majority of workers knew that they were going to work as domestic helpers, but they did not know the extent of hard work required from them.

Some workers said that they expected their tasks to be limited to cleaning the house, and not involve additional duties such as childcare and gardening, or to be asked to work for more than one house without their consent.

Concerning wages, 38.7 per cent of the helpers surveyed do not receive their salary on a regular basis, while it is also common for workers not to be paid at all as their employers cheat them by promising to pay all salaries at once at the end of the contract.

“However, once the contract expires, they refuse to pay her the due amount. In the worst case, employers refuse to pay several years of a worker’s salary,” said the study. Around 23 per cent of the interviewees said they encountered physical and/or sexual abuse in the workplace.

Verbal abuse is also very common: 39 per cent of domestic workers stated that they had been subjected to it. In addition, 11.3 per cent of domestic workers testified to injuries that have caused serious physical and health consequences Focusing on the social situation of workers, the study maintained that the educational level of those in Jordan ranges between elementary and higher education, while there are a few with no education.

However, the level of education is “uneven” from one nationality to another and that there is a connection between violations and the level of education “The lower the education level of the worker, the more violations she is subjected to at the workplace and vice versa. This is due to their ignorance of their legal rights, and their fear of going out and spending time with their friends outside the house,” said the study.

The average age of the 303 women who were interviewed is 35.6, and the average number of working years in Jordan is 3.3 years, according to the study, which was two years in the making.

“The interviews were the most difficult part of the study for it took time and efforts to reach out to the workers and convince them to speak to us,” noted Kalash. Most irregular domestic workers, she said, are unregistered in the formal labour sector, a reality that “amplifies the risk of their exploitation and blocks their access to justice”.

Government pressure to crack down on the growing phenomenon of irregular migration in Jordan and the fear of deportation have left a group that already works in private households further isolated from the public eye, according to the study.

It added that “many women workers are afraid they will encounter police officials demanding legal documents... and choose to stay in the workplace or in their homes” to avoid that.

Of the interviewed sample, very few workers mentioned that they have their children living with them in Jordan, with many of them being elderly people who have been working in Jordan for years.

The workers who have their children living with them are usually married to Jordanian men, while the children of other irregular migrant workers are stateless, and therefore deprived of their most basic rights. These were born in Jordan outside “ordinary” wedlock. The research team met five families who face such difficulties.

Most of the interviewed women who were married come from conservative communities in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia that usually put pressure on women to get married and have children at an early age.

“Quite a few workers who were interviewed confirmed facing problems with their husbands, and they asserted that their work abroad gave them independence from them,” the report said, but the women also said that the distance has affected their relationships with their husbands.

The study criticised laws that “criminalise running away from the workplace”, which might lead to exacerbating the ill treatment some domestic helpers face.

The recommendations included establishing a private entity that employs domestic helpers on a parttime basis without requiring them to stay at the employer’s house, abolishing the sponsorship system, training workers before their arrival to Jordan and reviewing antihuman trafficking regulations to ensure they are in line with international standards.

AMMAN — The government and Saudi company ACWA Power on Monday signed an agreement to revamp Al Hussein Thermal Power Station at a capacity of 485 megawatts and a $500 million investment.

The project is vital, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, because the current thermal station is old and was expected to go out of service soon.

ACWA Power, a key investor in the Central Electricity Generating Company (CEGCO) since 2010, will rehabilitate the station at the same site, under the agreement, signed in the presence of Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.

The project will provide the Kingdom’s power grid with around 12 per cent of its needs, according to Petra.

At a meeting with ACWA Power Co. Chairman Mohammad Abunayyan, and CEGCO board members, Ensour said energy agreements worth over JD2 billion have been signed this year, highlighting investors’ confidence in the country’s economic climate.

The premier stressed that the government will not incur any debts in this project, since the Saudi company will cover the cost of revamping the station, whereas the government will buy the generated electricity for a “fair price”.

Noting that the government hopes that the project will be implemented as soon as possible, he said a major plus is that it will help maintain the job security of the station’s 300 workers.

Ensour also voiced hope that this scheme will lead to linking the Jordanian and Saudi power grids in the future, a move that would greatly benefit the two countries and pave the way for wider interArab power grid connections, Petra reported.

Abunayyan said the project will take environ-mental, health and public safety concerns into account as well as the question of efficient productivity, noting that the project reflects the strong strategic partnership between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Energy Minister Ibrahim Saif said implementing the rehabilitation project at the site of the station means that no new infrastructure or land acquisition are required.

AMMAN — More public and private entities are now linked to the eFAWATEERcom service, which enables Jordanians to inquire about and pay their bills online.

The ministries of interior, municipal affairs and trade, as well as the Royal Medical Services (RMS) and the Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA) on Monday signed agreements with the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) to offer services through the online platform.

In February, the CBJ certified the local company Madfoo3atCom for Electronic Payments to launch the eFAWATEERcom service, which has been providing some 178 e-payment services for 47 private and public entities since its launch, according to the CBJ.

Under the agreement, the Ministry of Interior allows e-payment for 23 of its services, including ones for residency, while the Ministry of Municipal Affairs offers the online payment option for several services, including taxes on buildings and lands, the CBJ said.

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply now allows payment for its commercial registrar and for obtaining a commercial name through the portal, whereas the RMS will allow participants in its international conferences to submit participation fees via the software, according to the central bank.

The JBA will also allow its members to submit fees for membership, conference participation and advertising through the portal. eFAWATEERcom facilitates payment proce-dures, saves users’ time and allows them further flexibility in using various inquiry and payment channels, said CBJ Governor Ziad Fariz, underscoring the system’s safety and transparency due to its “instant” transactions.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, he highlighted the service as part of the bank’s efforts to enhance the national payment system that encourages the move from traditional payment methods to electronic ones.

Fariz stressed the role of the service in controlling public spending and consumption, noting that the system will function as a reference for the credit information bureau in providing information on users’ commitment to settling their bills.

He added that the system is an example of public-private sector partnership, built entirely by local expertise, which adds value to the project. M a d f oo3atCom Founder and CEO Nasser Saleh told The Jordan Times that eFAWATEERcom has so far processed over 500,000 bills, valued at JD41 million, citing a daily average exceeding 3,000 bills.

“We expect the number to grow,” he said, noting that of those who have tried the software commit to paying their bills through it.

AMMAN — Poland Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski is due to arrive in Amman on Tuesday on a two-day visit, during which he will meet with Jordanian officials, according to the Polish embassy.

The Kingdom will be the first country in the re-gion that Waszczykowski has visited since he took office in mid-November.

“My decision to visit Jordan as the first coun-try in the Middle East has not been acciden-tal,” Waszczykowski said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times, add-ing that his visit aims at “emphasising the impor-tance of your country to Poland and the whole EU as a valuable political, economic and military partner”.

The minister added that Jordan remains one of the most stable coun-tries in the Middle East. “We do appreciate Jor-danians’ input in fight-ing the so-called Islamic State [Daesh]. The Jorda-nian authorities’ efforts [in] stopping the extrem-ists are praiseworthy and fully supported by Polish authorities,” Waszc-zykowski said.

“We also highly ap-preciate the long lasting activity of Jordan to de- escalate tensions and re-store Israeli-Palestinian dialogue to restart the Middle East peace proc-ess,” he said, adding that Jordan is a very impor-tant regional actor.

“We appreciate espe-cially the personal activ-ity of His Majesty King Abdullah as guardian of Islamic holy sites in Jeru-salem in this field.” Polish companies have been active in the region since the 1950s, which led to the establishment of the Polish Commer-cial Counsellor’s Office in Amman in 1963, the statement said.

The office became the Polish embassy in Febru-ary 1964. Poland has “long been” one of the main importers of Jordanian phosphate and potassium, the state-ment added. Jordan is “a special place” in the Middle East which has become a safe haven for those fleeing the Syrian crisis, accord-ing to the statement.

“We value this clear sign of solidarity with the vulnerable. We also know that it represents a tremendous economic, fi-nancial but also political and social burden for the country,” Waszczykowski added.

“That is why I believe that international as-sistance is necessary. And that... [is] one of the main goals of my visit to Jordan during which I’m going to open two aid projects financed by the Polish government at a primary school in Ram-tha and a clinic in Ma-fraq,” the minister added.

The projects, he said. target underprivileged Jordanians and Syrian refugees. Poland has implement-ed humanitarian projects in Jordan through Cari-tas Poland and its partner Caritas Jordan since the start of the refugee crisis. Activities aim at the in-tegration and education of children from refugee families and the local community, as well as the creation of job opportu-nities for young people.

The total value of Poland- supported humanitar-ian projects in Jordan is 333,849 euros, the state-ment said. Moreover, since 2012 the Polish foreign min-istry has been making regular contributions in response to the Syr-ian crisis to internation-al humanitarian relief agencies.

The total amount of donations made in 2012- 2015 reached almost 3.8 million euros, including 2.1 million euros contrib-uted only this year. Poland has also been actively granting develop-ment aid to Jordan since 2007, the statement said, adding that priority areas of support in the King-dom for the year 2016 are health and food, educa-tion, and social care.

Poland’s trade ex-change with Jordan has grown fourfold over the last seven years. In 2014 it reached $76.7 million and only in the first nine months of 2015 it in-creased by almost 40 per cent, the statement add-ed, highlighting logistics, food and food processing, and aircraft and defence as viable sectors for fur-ther cooperation.

AMMAN — Jordan was able to reduce its tourism losses to 6 per cent this year, although the expected loss in revenues was between 20 and 25 per cent, the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) said Monday.

During a meeting with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, JTB Director General Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat showcased the board's achievements in targeted markets, in addition to promotional campaigns launched in several countries over the past three months, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Arabiyat said the number of overnight tourists was expected to drop substantially due to regional turmoil, but the JTB's measures contributed to mitigating those effects. Reducing aviation costs will lead to increasing the number of planes coming to King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba and the Amman civil airport in Marka, he added, citing the Cabinet's recent decision to cancel the $60 extra tax fees.

Arabiyat also said that every Jordanian dinar spent on promotion brings returns worth JD31 in tourism revenue, Petra reported. For his part, Jordan Hotels Association President Michael Nazzal said the private sector contributes some JD25 million to tourism promotion.

Ensour, whose visit to the JTB marked the first by a premier since its establishment, stressed that the government has taken several decisions and measures to support the tourism sector. At a meeting with the JTB's board of directors, he called for preparing studies on the most significant challenges still facing the tourism sector.

Jordan has Islamic tourist locations such as the shrines of the companions of Prophet Mohammad, and Christian ones like the Baptism Site, Ensour said, urging the JTB to also promote medical tourism.

He called on the JTB to focus on attracting tourists from new destinations like China, and Asia in general, referring to the importance of promoting and connecting umra (the lesser Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca) routes from countries like Turkey, Malaysia and India to visits to Jordan and Jerusalem.

The premier also talked about encouraging Jordanians to visit tourism and archaeological sites by charging reasonable fees. Tourism Minister Nayef Al Fayez commended the Cabinet's decision to support the JTB to face tourism challenges, Petra reported, adding that he highlighted the government's support and its positive effects on tourist numbers and the revenues the sector generates.

Promotional campaigns in various markets will pay off in 2016, the minister added.