Workshop hears of strategies to address family violence

AMMAN — Local and governmental bodies gathered on Tuesday to discuss the best strategies for addressing the problem of family violence in Jordan.

The one-day workshop was held in Amman under the title “The protection system between reality and challenges” and was organised by the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) in cooperation with the National Team of Family Protection (NTFP), and was supported by UN agencies.

JNCW Secretary General Maha Ali told the gathering that the meeting intended to ensure the sustainability of family protection in Jordan.

Last week, under the theme “Safe families ... prosperous Jordan”, the JNCW launched its annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign.

The JNCW campaign was also launched in coordination with NTFP, which includes 32 governmental and non-governmental organisations and the JNCW Network against Violence “Shama’a”.  

“We want to ensure that the issue of family violence will continue to be a priority throughout the year, and is not restricted to certain events or dates,” Ali told the gathering.

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign that was started by the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute and sponsored by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. 

NTFP Director and Secretary General of the National Council for Family Affairs Mohammad Miqdadi said the NTFP team meets on a regular basis to revise national strategies related to family violence.

“We established a specialised system to pinpoint the priorities and to address the problems that are hindering the national work to address family violence,” Miqdadi said.

The NTPF director said the findings will be announced in the upcoming months. It will include new strategies to approach family violence, especially aggression against children.

Workshop participants proposed several recommendations to safeguard the well-being of family members and protect individuals from family violence.

They called for raising public awareness of the importance of ending domestic violence and rejecting any justification or acceptance of acts of aggression within families.

The participants also called for the need to improve the quality of services provided to victims of violence, while at the same time, increasing the efficiency and number of employees in the field.

They also called for introducing stiffer penalties for repeat offenders in family violence cases.

International activists chose the dates November 25 — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women,  and December 10 — International Human Rights Day — to symbolically link violence against women and human rights, emphasising that such violence is a violation of human rights.