'Dialogue, partnership between state, civil society needed to face current challenges'

DEAD SEA — Strengthening the role of the state through dialogue and partnership to face current challenges in the region was the main message civil society and government representatives agreed on at the conclusion of a two-day meeting on Thursday.

Other recommendations at the National Forum on Human Rights: Towards an Effective Partnership included establishing a national umbrella that includes all parties to work together on the challenges facing the country.

Setting up a national fund to support civil society to avoid accusations of foreign funding as well as creating ethical guidelines to organise the relationship between civil society and the government were also among participants' recommendations.

The forum was part of the EU-funded Support to Civil Society, Dialogue and Participation in Jordan project, and was initiated by the Political and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, and the office of the government's coordinator’s on human rights, in cooperation with the National Centre for Human Rights.

The event was held by the GFA Consulting Group.

The participants also recommended establishing a follow up committee to evaluate the performance of civil society and the government.

Earlier in the day, participants engaged in a dialogue on the government’s policies and practices when it comes to dealing with freedom and human rights matters.

Layla Naffa, director of programmes at the Arab Women’s Organisation, said the issue of security in Jordan is an important topic “but we fear that focusing on security and safety will strip women of all the achievements the movement accomplished over the years.”

“The government tells us that we have to put other issues on hold because of security matters. We have achieved a lot of gains for women, but we feel that we are being pushed back because of these concerns,” Naffa said at the morning session.

“We should join hands in fighting extremism, because this is our war now, as we never witnessed such violations against women by extremist groups, and we will not accept for women to be humiliated in this way in our region.”

Naffa voiced concern over the “complete silence from society and officials towards violations against women”. 

The calls only come from the highest level, she said, but “we need to mobilise everyone to condemn these harmful practices.” 

At the same time, Naffa stressed the need to constantly engage in dialogue to strengthen the role of the state in facing the current regional crises and ensure the involvement of all parties.

Hassan Abu Arqoub, from the Ifta Department, responded to Naffa’s comments by saying that his department has issued many fatwas (Islamic edicts) against Daesh for instance, “including their harmful practices against women”. 

“The Ifta Department is launching an ideological and electronic war against Daesh, and we use all means to spread ideas that would fight their extremist thoughts,” Abu Arqoub added.

Meanwhile, Amneh Zu'bi, a former senator, said there are problems “we have to acknowledge in order to change the status quo of the relationship we have had between the government and civil society for the past 50 years.”

“It is our responsibility to draft a strategy... to change the gray relationship between civil society and government and at the same maintain the security of our country,” added Zu’bi, a leading women's rights activist in Jordan.

Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists Director Nidal Mansour, who also addressed the gathering, stressed the need to find a way to avoid “sacrificing freedom of expression and human rights in favour of security and safety”.

“We feel that journalists are targeted sometimes and are persecuted for writing anything that is against the norm, while people who are transmitting hate speech and extremist ideologies at universities and other media outlets are not questioned or prosecuted,” Mansour charged.

He also criticised the government for issuing gag orders when it comes to important and public opinion cases, “which is hindering our work and preventing us from getting to the truth”.

Amman Attorney General Ziad Dmour responded to Mansour’s remarks by saying that “the authorities’ role is to protect people’s reputations and rights as well ensuring national security, and sometimes some media outlets violate this right and their reporting could end up harming the economy of the state for example and that is why they are legally prosecuted.” 

Dmour explained that issuing gag orders “does not mean that we are preventing the press from accessing information. It is rather a way to protect our investigation and prevent any unwanted information that is reported by the press from affecting the investigation or the witnesses.”

Basil Tarawneh, the government's coordinator on human rights, said he was satisfied with the outcome of the event.

“We managed to bring together civil society organisations, police officers, judges, prosecutors, and State Security Court and Interior Ministry officials to engage in a frank dialogue with civil society, including lawyers, activists and journalists. This is an important achievement” Tarawneh said.

Most importantly, he told The Jordan Times, “we managed to come up with concrete and important recommendations that will guide us as well as other institutions in our future work.”