Palestinian Refugees: Is there the need for a new approach to solutions beyond the 70 year old impasse?
On 20 – 22 October 2019, as part of its Global Network of Experts on the Question of Palestine’s efforts, Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) organized the Networks 2nd Annual workshop in Amman titled “Palestinian Refugees: Towards a New Approach to Solutions” workshop in which the Network proceeded as per its first workshop’s (held in October 2018) recommendation’s to discuss a number of novel ideas with respect to the durable solutions for the Palestinian refugee issue. During the workshop, 30 Palestinian and international experts, from academia, civil society organizations and the international community at large, explored ways that could revitalize discussions around Palestinian refugees. The workshop recalled that Palestinian refugees, including their descendants born in exile are recognized refugees under international law. As such, they enjoy fundamental rights under various bodies of international law, including human rights law and refugee law.
Violence and Youth’s Participation in Public Life
This report comes in the context of the project “Bridges of Understanding: Empowering Youth through Community Cohesion” in Al-Mafraq Governorate, which was implemented by Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) in cooperation with the Fondation de France. The project’s activities, which lasted from April 1, 2018 to November 30, 2019 included (legal awareness sessions, psychological and social support sessions, conflict resolution skills building sessions, and dialogue sessions) to support Jordanian and Syrian young men and women between the ages of 16-25 years, to contribute effectively to the efforts towards achieving community cohesion in their communities. The involvement of young men and women in the efforts to achieve social cohesion in Mafraq is at the core of ARDD’s work and its goals to ensure that everyone in Jordan should have the opportunity to have a role in solving the issues facing them in their societies. ARDD also believes that providing space to support the creation of positive relations between Syrian youth and host communities and providing them with the tools necessary to contribute effectively to their societies, is imperative to achieving peace, stability and recovery in the region now and in the future. “Young people in Jordan constitute (70%) of the population, while children and young people under the age of 24 years constitute a cross section of a group, reaching (43.5%) of the total population, the endeavors of development in all fields will be more influential and changing if efforts targeted the largest segment and the most widespread, as investing in youth gives the state and society an immediate and future treatment that contributes to building a more coherent and strong building.“ The frustration of young people could lead to problems that we are not necessarily aware of, among them the isolation that impairs the active role of youth in citizenship and public responsibility. Young people in Jordan still suffer from difficulties in obtaining education and having the adequate job opportunities, which enhances the frustration of young men and women, and increases immigration rate and brain drain, especially with the high cost of higher education in public universities, the narrowing of spaces for expression and equal participation. Social violence (in its various forms) is an obstacle to the vital participation of young people in public life, especially in conflict areas, As during conflicts, civil society and government institutions reduce their civic education programs in favor of humanitarian relief programs (such as health, education, and food) … etc.), which affects the participation of young people in public life, and their social, economic and political rights.
Supporting Governance from Below – Effective local engagement of and within communities in northern municipalities in Jordan and the role for local civil society.
Governance from below – listening to and representing the voices of people through local participation in decision making and ensuring accountability towards local communities – is crucial for sustaining peace and security, for ensuring sustainable development and for fostering social cohesion. This report explores how local civil society can contribute to local participation and engagement of local communities, in response to and in accordance with the 2015 Decentralization Law and the Municipality Law. ARDD (2016) understands civic participation as the engagement and active awareness of people in ongoing development of and by their communities. This differs from other conceptualizations of civic participation which tend to frame it in terms of wider political participation through more formal structures. In this report, ARDD draws upon lessons learned from two years of continuous work with local civil society and local communities in three municipalities in the north of Jordan (Mafraq, Sarhan and Ramtha) – including women, youth, and refugees – with the goal to increase their participation and local engagement. This project, Ma’an Lenabne: Empowering Communities through Political Engagement is part of Qudra, an EU-funded regional initiative for strengthening the resilience of displaced persons and their host communities in response to the Syria and Iraq crises. The primary activity consisted of community initiatives which started with carefully selecting, partnering with and training 7 CBOs that were working with youth, women, and refugees and were strongly rooted in local networks. Tools were provided to support their engagement with communities and in developing roles, relationships and responsibilities that underpinned the formulation and development of bottom-up initiatives to address local communities’ concerns and needs. The report explores the many challenges and opportunities that exist for local engagement and participation by community members – including youth, women and refugees – within their communities and the municipalities. It contributes to understanding the potential roles civil society can play to further support effective local engagement by and of communities.
What will Jordanian civil society look like if localization is achieved? JONAF -Working together towards Localization
JONAF- Working together towards Localization As part of its advocacy efforts and role in promoting localization of humanitarian response, the Jordan National NGOs Forum (JONAF) held its third annual event On July 21, 2019, seeking to address and answer this question “What will Jordanian civil society look like if localization is achieved?”. JONAF has begun to play an important role in the follow-up of several significant agendas such as the Humanitarian Action Localization agenda, which calls for the inclusion of local and national representatives in the planning and implementation of humanitarian and development strategies to ensure that targeted community needs are met. Current challenges to implementing localization include different interpretations of the Grand Bargain by local and international organizations; conflicting approaches between government agencies, local organizations, and international organizations to implementing localization; and finally, the capacity and understanding within national organizations to carry out aid work. This event, which was launched by a word from her excellency Senator Sawsan Al Majali, aimed to generate discussion amongst JONAF members, government officials, and CSOs to encourage the commitments made in the Grand Bargain in 2016 and in the Charter 4 Change in 2015. At the core of this commitment was to enable locally led humanitarian and development architecture and practices, and Jordanian civil society, to scale up and sustain investments from the aid sector by enforcing accountability and localization. The event also aimed to increase resilience to challenges posed by a shrinking space for civil society, funding limitations, and increased due diligence requirements by governments and donors.
“Syrian Refugees’ Perceptions and Satisfaction Regarding the Justice Sector in Jordan
ARDD has released its latest report entitled “Syrian Refugees’ Perceptions and Satisfaction Regarding the Justice Sector in Jordan”. The report is based on the outcomes of two surveys: the first one was conducted under “Support for Justice Sector Reform” funded by the EU, and included a non-national non-representative sample of (1700) Jordanians and non-Jordanians. the second one was conducted by ARDD as an independent follow-up survey that included a sample of (600) female and male Syrian Refugees living out of refugees camps in the areas of Amman, Zarqa, Mafraq. Irbed, and Karak. According to ARDDs report, (43.8%) of the Syrian Refugees respondents reported to feel that their rights are fully protected in Jordan.
Know Her Rights Tools of Knowledge Elimination violence against women and girls in Jordan
Various sectors of Jordanian society are marred by a wide-ranging lack of gender sensitivity and different forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG). The easy-to-understand “Tools of Knowledge: Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls in Jordan” toolkit was created as part of the Know Her Rights Project to combat VAWG in four sectors: government, media, education, and health sectors. Awareness-raising, as employed in this toolkit, is one of ARDD’s main tools to empower women, secure just legal outcomes, and create a more gender-sensitive environment for women to live life comfortably. While this toolkit contains the input of various stakeholders, from the government to media, education, and civil society experts, its innovative approach to dispersing the knowledge is based on the simple, non-technical composition of the toolkit. “Tools of Knowledge: Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls in Jordan” includes descriptions of the challenges facing women in each of the four sectors, as well as surveys for members of the sector to appraise their own understanding of VAWG and gender sensitivity. The key output from this project is developing a culture of gender sensitivity that combats violence and negative byproducts of institutionalized male-dominated norms and social roles. By fundamentally transforming how women and men handle VAWG in Jordan, enduring change is expected to take root as a result of the toolkit. This toolkit was created in partnership with the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UNTF).
Silent Women: An ARDD report on harassment in the workplace
The report is one of the outcomes that are to be produced as part of the Ford Foundation project ‘Women’s Access to Economic Justice through Legal Empowerment’. It provides an in-depth analysis of harmful and discriminatory workplace practices in Jordan that are potentially hindering women from safely accessing the labour market, and works towards answering the overall project question: ‘How can refugee and host community women in Jordan be empowered to safely access the labour market and be able to confidently utilize the Jordanian legal system when rights are violated?’.
Barriers to Balance: Overcoming Obstacles to Women’s Economic Participation in Jordan
In Jordan, and much of the Global South, women face a unique dilemma. On the one hand, in the face of low rates of female labor force participation and increasing youth unemployment, women are exhorted by governments and NGOs alike to enter the labor force or else become entrepreneurs. On the other hand, a domestic division of labor, that often places unequal burdens on women, has meant that any engagement in the market economy must occur on top of the unremunerated and unequal care economy. Compounding this dilemma are the myriad barriers to paid employment: including a general lack of job opportunities, workplace discrimination, social policy (e.g., insufficient maternity leave and lack of childcare) and harassment.
Women’s Access to Justice: A Framework for Inquiry
This report analyzes the status of women’s access to justice in Jordan, with a particular focus on the Shari’a court system. Through a review of relevant laws, research, and international conventions, it identifies legal, social, and institutional barriers to women’s access to justice. At the same time, it traces gaps in the justice system related to: legal aid services; economic and human resources; and gender sensitivity. The report proposes a framework of inquiry – based on international experiences – that allows for systematic analysis of women’s access to justice in Jordan. Additionally, it offers key analytical recommendations for facilitating women’s access to justice by way of increased gender sensitivity, enhanced dispute resolution and enforcement mechanisms, and quality legal support services. With continued coordination between institutional and civil society stakeholders, an enabling environment for women’s access to justice can be established with an adequate supply of institutional resources to facilitate the process and meet current demands.
Public Perceptions and Satisfaction Regarding the Justice Sector in Jordan
In 2012, the European Commission approved a long-term initiative to “Support Justice Sector Reform” that aims to improve the juvenile justice system, integrate various justice sector actors, and enhance the operational independence of key institutions (European Commission, 2012). The Government of Jordan, with the support of the European Union, constructed the Jordanian Judicial Authority Strategy Building Plan 2012-2014 and initiated a number of significant legislative reform initiatives within the justice sector. Indeed, by the end of 2014, the Jordanian parliament passed 13 laws, including the Judicial Independence Law and the new Juvenile Law – both to great acclaim. Starting in 2017, the European Union commissioned Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development – ARDD to implement the Support for Justice Sector Reform project. The overall objective of the project was to engage the Jordanian public in the ongoing justice sector reform process by raising awareness and support for ongoing reform initiatives. The project also aims to foster evidence-based social dialogue among key stakeholders of the justice sector with a view to strengthen support to Justice Sector institutions. Indeed, while much of the Jordan’s strategic plan focused on creating an independent, efficient and effective justice sector, another pillar of the plan involves building public confidence in institutions tasked with safeguarding the rule of law in Jordan.