31,000 people living in modern slavery in Jordan — Global Slavery Index

AMMAN – Around 31,000 people are living in modern slavery in Jordan, according to the Global Slavery Index 2014, in which the Kingdom was ranked 57 out of 167 countries surveyed. 

The Walk Free Foundation (WFF), which conducted the study, defines modern slavery as any activity that takes the form of slavery, forced labour, early marriage or human trafficking. 

Globally, more than 35 million people around the world are trapped in a modern form of slavery, according to the index, where Mauritania was ranked in first place with the “most severe problem”, while Iceland was 167th as the country with the least severe problem. 

In the MENA region, there are about two million people living in modern slavery with Qatar, Syria, the UAE, Iraq and Oman topping the list, and Jordan in 11th place. 

The index ranked the Kingdom as the 3rd highest among MENA countries in terms of government response to the issue. 

“The government has a response to modern slavery, but with limited victim support services,” the index said, noting that Jordan has a criminal justice framework that criminalises some forms of modern slavery, a national action plan and policies that provide “some protections for those vulnerable to modern slavery”.

The index cited the initiation of a hotline at the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit as one of the government’s effective responses to slavery. 

Although Jordan is a “remarkably” stable state surrounded by countries experiencing upheaval, regional conflicts, coupled with the country’s “porous” borders, make it an “ideal refuge for displaced people and an attractive destination for traffickers to recruit low-skilled workers”, according to Jacqueline Joudo Larsen, WFF’s senior research manager.

At a ceremony held by the Adaleh Centre for Human Rights Studies on Tuesday to highlight the findings of the survey, Larsen underlined that Jordan will continue to face challenges imposed by refugees.

The index noted that “Jordan is a destination where men and women from across the region, particularly Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Iraq, and from further afield, predominately Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, are vulnerable to exploitation.” 

“These men and women have arrived in Jordan through necessity, either as refugees fleeing former and current conflicts, or as low-skilled migrants evading unemployment in their home countries. Their joint experience is frequently one of forced labour, predominately in the agricultural, garment making and domestic work sectors, or as victims of forced and ‘temporary’ marriage,” the index added.

Larsen noted that agricultural produce and garments manufactured in the Kingdom are deemed to be “produced using modern slavery”. 

The report also highlighted that the “culture of shame” amongst Jordanians towards vocational work has created a demand for “cheap, low-skilled migrant labourers”. 

It added that farm workers are not protected by the Labour Law and are instead governed by regulations under which they are entirely dependent on their legal employer/sponsor. 

“Despite recent NGO reporting indicating over a thousand agricultural workers may be victims of forced labour and human trafficking in Jordan, the latest figures available reveal that the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit opened only eight cases of trafficking in this sector in 2012 — a worrying low figure reflecting deficient monitoring and persisting discrimination against foreign workers,” the index said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Basel Tarawneh, government coordinator for human rights, noted that the government has formed a committee to come up with a national comprehensive draft of a plan, which will unify Jordan’s efforts to track human rights violations.  

The 2014 index said 13 per cent of registered marriages in Jordan involve girls under 18, putting the number of “forced marriages” at over 9,600, not including many marriages that remain unregistered.  

“The proportion of marriages involving Syrian girls has tripled in the past 18 months, with 25 per cent... involving children aged 15 to 17,” the index stated, indicating that refugee children are also falling victim to “forced begging”, with around 30,000 working illegally, according to Labour Ministry estimates.  

The report’s recommendations included “establishing labour inspections in the agricultural sector and providing training to human rights inspectors; introducing measures to prevent early marriages; and adopting “criminal sanctions” against employers who recruit children. 

Samantha McCormack, a researcher at Australia-based WFF, told The Jordan Times that the importance of the index stems from the fact that it was conducted by an NGO so “it is far from politics and only aims to eradicate all forms of slavery worldwide.”