Jordan Launches Project to Curb Violence Against Women
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: September 10, 2007
WUNRN
International Herald Tribune
Jordan Launches National Project to
Curb Violence Against Women
The Associated Press
September
10, 2007
AMMAN, Jordan: Jordan launched a U.S.-funded project Monday
to curb violence and other forms of abuse against women under the auspices of
the country’s Queen Rania.
Organizers said the campaign was aimed at changing widespread Jordanian
misconceptions condoning violence against women, as well as providing services
to those experiencing abuse.
A 2002 study, “Jordan Demographic and Health Survey,” found that
87 percent of women here believe their husbands are justified in using physical
or verbal abuse.
“I was very surprised by the high percentage,” said Hana Shahin,
executive director of the Noor al Hussein Foundation, one of three local
organizations spearheading the initiative in conjunction with the U.S. Agency
for International Development.
“We began to realize the extent of the problem by speaking with women
who came to us for help,” Shahin said. “This led us to set up the
first facility in Jordan to help abused women and provide them with counseling
services.”
USAID is providing US$1 million (€0.7 million) to the five-year project,
which aims to raise public awareness through ad campaigns, train medical and
legal advisers to help victims and provide referral services.
Other partners include the National Council for Family Affairs and the Zein
al Sharaf Institute for Development, both partially affiliated with the government.
The effort is viewed as further strengthening Jordan’s National Strategic
Plan for Family Protection launched by Queen Rania several years ago.
“What’s important now is that we’re moving from theory to action,”
said Asma Khader, a former Cabinet minister who heads the Jordanian National
Commission for Women.
“The main obstacle is changing people’s perceptions,” she said.
“But this is exactly what is needed to confront this practice.”
Khader said there was “an urgent need for public awareness campaigns,
services and to strengthen protection methods and legal frameworks.”
Shahin added that her organization would soon start providing counseling
services to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees, particularly children,
who have been victimized by violence in their homeland.
Jordan has several other programs in place aimed at protecting women from
abuse, including a hot line and a government-run shelter to aid victims.
Women make up roughly half of the population of nearly 6 million people. But
decision-making authority is largely held by men in this conservative
tribal-based society. An average of 20 women are killed each year by male
relatives in so-called “honor crimes,” in which male relatives murder
them for simply having a relationship with a male.
Still, many women in Jordan enjoy more freedom than their counterparts in
other Arab countries, like Saudi Arabia. They can drive cars, divorce their
husbands, hold prominent positions in government and business and can travel
abroad without the consent of male relatives.
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