Meeting gathers gov’t, CSOs ahead of Jordan’s 4th Universal Periodic Human Rights Review

AMMAN — Director of the Prime Ministry’s Human Rights Department Khalil Abdallat on Monday stressed the Kingdom’s commitment towards safeguarding the freedoms and basic rights of all.

Abdallat’s spoke during a one-day consultation meeting with local organisations to discuss preparations for Jordan’s Fourth Universal Periodic Review 2024, which will be presented in Geneva later this year.

The meeting is one in a series of meetings held in cooperation with the Information and Research Centre at the King Hussein Foundation (IRCKHF).

“Today’s meeting comes following a series of successful achievements by the Jordanian government with the human rights portfolio,” Abdallat told the gathering.

The Jordanian government, under the directives of His Majesty King Abdullah, is keen “to ensure that its own legislation is in line with international obligations”, he added.

“The government aims to ensure that human rights values would be the supreme goal, and to provide protection and care for all individuals living in the Kingdom,” Abdallat stressed. 

According to Abdallat, the government ultimately aims to work towards the national interest of improving human rights conditions in Jordan.

“Today’s meeting is one of several meetings to take place with civil society organisations (CSOs) to hear their remarks, so that we can adopt them when we present Jordan’s report to the UPR,” Abdallat said.

  Also addressing the gathering was IRCKHF Director Ayman Halaseh, who noted the meeting’s importance in gathering representatives from the government’s human rights team and civil society organisations.

“I believe that this is an important opportunity for civil society to represent its recommendations in the presence of the team that will be preparing the report,” Halaseh said.

Turning to his own establishment, Halaseh said that the IRCKHF is working on activating knowledge for positive social change.

“Our partnerships with civil society and academic institutions are part of the joint work led by the centre,” Halaseh added.  

During the meeting, IRCKHF launched the “HAQQI” platform, which is an open space for anyone to access information regarding legislation, research and media surrounding human rights in Jordan.

 The UPR, along with the Human Rights Council, was established by UN Resolution 60/251 in 2006, according to its website.

Under this mechanism of the UN human rights system, it involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States once every 4.5 years, based on the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments to which the state under review is a party. The review also considers all voluntary pledges and commitments made by the state.