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AMMAN — Through a programme launched recently titled “Diplomacy for Children”, the Japanese embassy is working to raise children’s cultural awareness by helping them cherish their own identity, open up their minds to diversity and explore new ways of looking at the world.

Under the programme, which targets students of all ages, embassy staff members visit public and private schools, and students also get a chance to visit the embassy.

Through interactive cultural activities, students are introduced to Japanese culture, including perspectives and ways of thinking, through film, magazines and games, an embassy statement said. 

Lectures are also delivered, highlighting Japanese culture, nature, and the differences between Jordanian and Japanese schools.

The programme represents a means to learn about Japan beyond the common perception of its advanced technology and its traditional sushi dish, the embassy said. 

The main goal of the programme is to promote greater cultural openness and tolerance, which eventually lead to peace and stability, both regional and globally, according to the embassy statement. 

By recognising the differences between their culture and that of Japan, children learn to appreciate the value of their own culture, while also gaining an increased respect for other cultures. 

The embassy said it seeks to widen its scope of activities and collaborate with more schools and educational institutions. 

Schools interested in the programme can e-mail the embassy’s cultural centre at: Culture@am.mofa.go.jp

AMMAN — A 33-year-old man has been charged with the premeditated murder of his wife, whose body was found dumped in a cesspool in Naour on Thursday, official sources said Saturday.

The Civil Defence Department (CDD) was called to the scene to pull the victim from the cesspool near the suspect’s house, a CDD official source said.

“It took us more than two hours to pull the woman from the four-metre hole,” the CDD official told The Jordan Times.

On Friday, the authorities announced the arrest of the woman’s husband and said “he was the prime suspect in the case after one of their children informed the police about the incident,” according to a senior judicial source.

“The suspect was summoned by police and confessed to murdering his wife over family feuds,” the judicial source said.

In his initial confessions to police and Criminal Court Prosecutor Tayseer Bani Khalid, the source said “the suspect had an argument with his wife, shot her with a pump-action rifle three times, including a fatal bullet to the chest.”

Bani Khalid charged the suspect with premeditated murder and possession of a firearm and ordered his detention at a correctional and rehabilitation centre for 15 days pending further investigation into the incident.

Bani Khalid is expected to hear more witnesses on Sunday, the judicial source added.

The victim is survived by five children between the ages of two and 13, and the couple had been married for 14 years, the source added.

AMMAN — A Red Sea depression forecast to affect the Kingdom this week is expected to cause a drop in temperatures, bringing rain and thunderstorms mainly to the southern and central regions, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said Saturday.

Unstable weather conditions are expected to start affecting the Kingdom on Sunday, with temperatures ranging between a high of 25-27°C and a low of 14-16°C in Amman.

On Monday evening, the depression is expected to deepen, bringing thunder and “heavy” rain at times to the southern and eastern parts of the Kingdom, said Raed Rafid, head of the JMD’s forecasting division.

He warned of low visibility and the formation of floods in low-lying areas and valleys, including Aqaba.

Scattered showers are forecast on Tuesday and Wednesday, with temperatures dropping four to five degrees below their annual average to reach a high of 21°C and a low of 12°C in Amman, Rafid said.

Temperatures during October were “slightly” above their annual average at this time of year, he said, adding that it is still too early to evaluate rainfall rates. 

Jordan witnessed the first fall of rain of autumn earlier this month, when some 200 car accidents occurred, resulting in the deaths of three men in their twenties. 

To avoid car accidents due to slippery roads, motorists are advised to stick to their lanes and drive slowly, Maj. Jalal Rahahleh, director of public relations at the Central Traffic Department, told The Jordan Times in previous remarks.

AMMAN — Child labour is becoming “increasingly common” in Jordan, especially among refugees whose children join the labour market to help their families augment their income, according to a local advocacy group.

“This factor, together with lack of access to education, the cultural permissibility of child labour in certain contexts, and the demand for child labour from unscrupulous employers, is leading to a growth in the phenomenon in Jordan,” said an assessment study conducted by Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights, a non-governmental legal-aid centre that works for the protection and promotion of human rights.

The study, titled “Syrian Refugee Child Labour in Jordan and the Risk of Exploitation”, identifies a number of factors that drive the practice of child labour, the consequences of labour for the child and for the job market, and the responses to child labour from the government and NGOs. 

Linda Kalash, executive director of the centre, said abject poverty and lack of social security and financial resources drive many Syrian children to join the labour market, amidst a “willingness” from Jordanian employers to recruit them for low salaries.   

“Before conducting this prospective study, we expected a large number of children to be victims of human trafficking. After our field visits, it appears that many of these children are instead victims of exploitation and of their families’ economic difficulties,” she told The Jordan Times on Thursday. 

The survey, which covered  Amman and Irbid, and will be followed by “more thorough studies”, said the majority of Syrian children working in Jordan do not get “fair” wages, receiving less than the minimum wage specified for Jordanians — JD190 — and guest workers — JD150. 

“There needs to be more of a focus on refugees outside the camps who struggle to make ends meet and are unable to access assistance,” said Kalash.

According to the study, around 46 per cent of Syrian boys in the workplace work more than 44 hours a week, while girls make up 14 per cent of the total number of Syrian children in the labour market. 

Its findings are echoed by Save the Children Jordan, UNHCR and the Labour Ministry, which has stated on several occasions that child labour is a growing phenomenon in the nation, especially in light of the Syrian refugee crisis.

Many children are additionally involved in unsuitable and sometimes dangerous work environments, such as the construction sector which employs 6 per cent of the Kingdom’s working children, said the legal centre’s study. 

At the same time some children, especially girls, are suspected to be victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.  

“Although these make up only a few cases, they should be investigated and addressed,” said Kalash.  

Last week, Labour Ministry Secretary General Hamadah Abu Nijmeh stressed the importance of increasing coordination among the members of the country’s National Committee to Combat Child Labour, saying that the committee should convene at least four times a year to ensure adequate coordination and boost national efforts to eliminate the problem. 

The Tamkeen study recommended stiffer penalties against employers found in violation of the law on child labour, and further investing in the Labour Ministry’s child labour unit. 

According to the International Labour Organisation, the Kingdom in 2011 adopted a National Framework to Combat Child Labour to improve the nation’s legislative environment. 

This framework lays out the various roles and responsibilities of ministries to identify child labourers, remove them from work, and provide them with appropriate education and social services.

Jordan also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, which obligates governments to protect children from work that is not conducive to their development or that intervenes with their fundamental rights, such as the right to education.   

Articles 73, 74, 75 and 76 of the Labour Law ban the employment of children under the age of 16 and set limits on the employment of minors between the ages of 16 and 18. 

Of the 629,627 Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR in Jordan, the majority are women and children.

AMMAN — UN Jordan lit up Amman’s Citadel and landmarks in the ancient city of Petra in the United Nations’ signature shade of blue on Saturday.

The event was part of a global celebration of UN Day and the 70th anniversary of the UN’s founding.

More than 150 iconic monuments, museums, bridges and other landmarks in more than 45 countries around the world turned blue on the same day, beginning in New Zealand and then Australia with the lighting of the Sydney Opera House at dusk, according to a UN Jordan statement.

“Participating in this campaign offers the government of Jordan and the community the unique opportunity to showcase their commitment to the UN principles of dignity and prosperity for all,” the statement quoted Edward Kallon, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Jordan, as saying.

“We are pleased with the support of the municipalities and authorities for lighting up the ancient city of Petra and the Amman Citadel in blue,” Kallon added.

“I am grateful our member states are showing such strong enthusiasm in marking 70 years of UN support for peace, development and human rights,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, according to the statement. 

“By turning the world UN Blue for a day, we can light the way to a better tomorrow.”

The UN’s headquarters in New York was lit up for two nights, beginning with the annual UN Day concert on Friday and concluding on Saturday, the statement said.

Other landmarks that were lit up as part of the celebration included the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, and the Empire State Building in the US, as well as Russia’s Hermitage Museum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, Edinburgh Castle and Central Hall Westminster in the UK, Table Mountain in South Africa, Japan’s SkyTree Tower and the Alhambra in Spain, said the statement.

Organisers prepared the social media hashtag #UNBlue for the event, in addition to the year-long hashtag #UN70, with the aim of generating extensive social media coverage, the statement added.

AMMAN — Police are questioning relatives in connection with the death of four family members who were burned in their vehicle on Friday in east Amman, official sources said Saturday.

The Civil Defence Department (CDD) was called to extinguish a burning vehicle that was parked in a deserted area in Beidah at 4:30pm on Friday, a senior official source said.

“When firefighters extinguished the fire they found four bodies, most of them burnt beyond recognition,” a senior CDD official said.

The victims included the 33-year-old father, the 30-year-old mother, who was seven months pregnant, and two children aged five years and nine months, the senior source said.

Two other children survived the burning incident and were listed in fair condition, the CDD official told The Jordan Times.

The surviving daughters informed investigators that a fight erupted between their parents and that their father allegedly “poured a flammable substance that engulfed the vehicle”, the official source said, quoting initial investigations by the authorities.

The source added that one day before the incident, the mother filed a report “against her husband at the Family Protection Department claiming to have been physically abused on a regular basis”.

A government autopsy conducted by pathologists Adnan Abbas, Munther Lutfi and Omar Mahsiri concluded that the four died of a result of various degrees of burns to their bodies, a medical source told The Jordan Times.

The criminal lab took samples from the scene to determine the source of the flammable substance and to look for other evidence that could help police in their investigation, the medical source added. 

AMMAN — Around 100 Jordanians participated in a demonstration in Amman on Friday in support of Palestinian resistance efforts and in solidarity with Al Aqsa Mosque. 

Participants gathered outside the Professional Associations Complex (PAC) in Shmeisani and marched towards the Prime Ministry, but security forces prevented them from reaching their final destination. 

The demonstrators marched while holding a huge Palestinian flag and raised banners bearing slogans in solidarity with Palestine and condemning the Israeli aggression. 

They also burned the Israeli flag. 

Mary Nazzal-Batayneh, a human rights lawyer, said participants wanted to show that the Palestinians are not alone.

“Palestinians living under the Israeli colonial apartheid regime have chosen to go to the streets to demand their rights. It’s the responsibility of those not living under Israeli oppression to do what they can to support the Palestinian struggle,” she said.

“Today [Friday] we say no to the gas deal with Israel and yes to a boycott,” Nazzal-Batayneh added.

Khaled Ramadan, another activist participating in the march, said the Palestinian resistance needs a supportive stance from the Arab world. 

“We want to send a message to the Jordanian government that it must recall our ambassador from occupied Palestine and expel the Zionist ambassador,” he told The Jordan Times outside the PAC. 

Yousef Ayesh, a member of a professional association, said the demonstration expresses the Jordanian people’s anger in response to steps to partition Al Haram Al Sharif/Al Aqsa Mosque. 

“This is our way to offer moral support for the Palestinians, who are struggling to defend themselves,” he added.   

Ayesh noted that Jordan is doing its best in the political area to support the Palestinian people. 

Meanwhile, a rally that was scheduled to be held by the public committee for supporting Al Aqsa Mosque at a plot of land near a hotel in Amman was cancelled by security forces. Scores of people went to the location and then left the area peacefully. 

Abdullah Obeidat, the head of the committee, said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times that the event was cancelled by Amman Governor Khaled Abu Zaid.

On Thursday, a weekly protest held outside Kalouti Mosque near the Israeli embassy in Amman was dispersed by security forces, according to media reports. 

A number of other activities and demonstrations were held at several locations across the Kingdom, including Amman’s Wihdat Camp, Karak, Tafileh and Zarqa, in solidarity with Al Aqsa Mosque and condemnation of the international community’s silence regarding Israeli crimes against Palestinians, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.    

AMMAN — Hungarian Ambassador to Jordan Csaba Czibere has lauded his country’s ties with Jordan and highlighted the common challenges facing the two countries.

Addressing a ceremony in Amman late last week marking the 59th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight of 1956, Czibere dwelt on the refugee challenge which his country is now addressing with other regional and European countries.

“In my country we are not indifferent to the plight of refugees coming from this or any other regions. International, European and national laws guide us in the process,” he said.

“But we also understand that unless the root causes of armed conflicts and poverty around the world are properly and in good faith addressed, there will be no end to the current migration wave to Europe,” the ambassador said, calling for a global effort to find a solution to the refugee problem.

He emphasised that host countries like Jordan deserve to be assisted in shouldering the burden of hosting refugees.

The ambassador paid tribute to His Majesty King Abdullah’s vision and leadership to fight extremism and international terrorism, noting that Hungary recently joined the international military coalition fighting the Daesh terror group by deploying troops in the region.

Czibere said the two countries are also working to enhance ties in various fields, from energy to water, higher education and parliamentary cooperation.

In addition, he dwelt on a scheduled address by King Abdullah to the World Science Forum, which the Hungarian capital Budapest will host in November

“We have high anticipation for His Majesty’s message to the Hungarian-initiated World Science Forum next month in Budapest, which will come to Jordan in 2017.

“On that note I would like to recognise the outstanding support the forum has enjoyed from the very beginning from the Royal family, in particular from Their Royal Highnesses Prince Hassan and Princess Sumaya,” he said.

The ambassador also expressed pride in excavation and restoration work carried out by Hungarian experts and scholars at the Machaerus historical site near the Dead Sea, namely Dr Gyozo Vörös, who is leading the work.

AMMAN — Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury on Saturday said Jordanian universities were not among the top 500 in the 2014 World University Rankings and so the Jordan 2025 economic blueprint aims at including five universities among the first 500, according to a ministry statement.

Fakhoury made his remarks at a workshop held by the Lower House Education Committee in cooperation with the higher education and planning ministries, presidents of universities, and the Audit Bureau.

Fakhoury said the blueprint aims at increasing the number of universities that meet the quality standards set by the Higher Education Accreditation Commission as well as increase annual spending on research and development.

WADI RUM — Sixty ibexes were released to the wild last Thursday in Wadi Rum as part of Jordanian-Emirati cooperation under the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Ibex Reintroduction and Release Programme. 

The project transferred 100 ibexes to the Wadi Rum Nature Reserve in 2014, which remained in a controlled environment in order to adapt to the new habitat before being released to live in the wild.

Ibexes are wild goats that live in the mountainous regions of Europe, north central Asia and northern Africa, which have long, curved horns and cloven hooves, according to web sources.

Shaikha Al Dhaheri, executive director of the terrestrial and marine biodiversity sector at the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD), attended a ceremony that preceded the release of the wild animals to familiarise the local community with the project, launched by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces.

Suleiman Njadat, environment commissioner at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), commended the EAD for its efforts to protect the ibex, which is an endangered species. 

During the ceremony, attended by several elders and notables of Wadi Rum area, Dhaheri said this project to reintroduce the ibex and a 2008-2014 project to reintroduce the oryx in Rum area — at a cost of $1.8 million — represent the UAE’s role and commitment to preserve natural heritage. 

She said EAD’s role is not limited to protecting species on the verge of extinction and increasing their numbers, but extends to involving the local community in the area by offering support and job opportunities through sustainable development and ecotourism programmes.

The ceremony also featured a play performed by students from Al Salhiya School that encouraged taking care of animals as well as a musical performance by Maan Band for Popular Arts.

At a press conference after the ceremony, Njadat said, answering a question on the poaching of ibexes, that there are plans to establish a section in the Wadi Rum reserve to raise awareness of the project’s importance.

Dhaheri told reporters that a plan was prepared by specialists and experts from the UAE, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and ASEZA to identify the number of ibexes that Wadi Rum can absorb.

She said when the animals’ basic needs are met, they can survive, stressing the importance of also communicating with the local community to ensure the ibexes’ protection and prevent hunting.

Dhaheri said satellite tracking devices were installed on 10 ibexes in order to study their movements, and any disruptions in transmission will be caused by natural death, a malfunction, or someone targeting the herd.

The tracking system will facilitate the monitoring of areas where violators access the herd, she added, noting that one of the 2.8 million UAE dirham (around JD540,558) project’s plans is to improve the status of the ibex from “endangered species” to “threatened species”.

Nasser Zawaideh, director of the Wadi Rum Nature Reserve, said the reserve will install solar-powered surveillance cameras to record violations.

Nonetheless, Zawaideh noted that the reserve’s size stands at 720 square metres which makes it very hard to monitor everything, noting that an agreement has been reached with the Rangers and other security parties to enforce the law and assist in the protection of the animals in the reserve.

Dhaheri highlighted the benefits of the project for tourism.

“Ecotourism already exists, and the ibex release project only enhances... international and local tourism. We hope the projects increase economic income through involving the local community,” she told reporters.

The Emirati official said the project will end in 2016, but the partnership will continue through follow-ups and exchange of expertise.

The EAD targets endangered species around the world and seeks to put them in their natural habitat, she said, adding that there is another project to reintroduce and release the African oryx in Chad, as well as other similar projects inside and outside Jordan.

After the herd of 60 ibexes were released, Dhaheri told the Jordan Times that she felt like she was at a national celebration in the presence of the authorities and local community representatives, and voiced hope that the released animals will live a safe life and reproduce in Wadi Rum, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011. 

Local community members said they are looking forward to see the release of the remaining 40 ibexes in 2016.