AMMAN — The Ministry of Social Development has announced the formation of a committee to revisit the
fundraising bylaw for charitable organizations and its 1957 amendments, which
regulate the work of charities in Jordan.
اضافة اعلان
The need for revision
arose from the need to accommodate new methods of collecting donations,
including electronic donations, according to a statement released by the
Ministry on Monday.
The development of
this system has become necessary to keep up with technological advancements,
the minister said in the press release.
The new laws must be
clear and explicit regarding modern ways of collecting donations, especially
electronic ones, so that there are clear regulations and measures for
collecting funds, whether monetary or in-kind donations, he added.
The new system seeks
to solve the problem of electronic mendicancy, i.e. begging using the internet,
for which the current law contains no specific provisions.
Updated statistics on
the scope of electronic mendicancy in Jordan are unavailable.
Electronic mendicancy
is an issue of cyberspace and does not have any statistics like regular
statistics, Ministry of Social Development spokesperson, Ashraf Khrais, told
Jordan
News over the phone.
“Social media is new
to all societies including the Jordanian society. Therefore, there were no law
provisions governing this issue, not a law nor a by-law,” Rateb Nawaiseh, a
lawyer and legal expert, told
Jordan News over the phone.
He said that
legislation develops with society and that circumstances have now called for
amending the system to include electronic mendicancy.
“This has
unfortunately become a disturbing phenomenon,” Nawaiseh told
Jordan News.
Vagrancy is punishable
by law in Jordan. Authorities arrested 1,597 beggars in February and March of
2021, according to an official report published on Tuesday.
“When you receive a
message asking for money or any other kind of donation, you are unable to
report them because they are not covered by the Cybercrime Law or by the Penal
Code,” Nawaiseh added.
Many comments
soliciting money and in-kind donations can be found in the comments section of
Facebook posts.
“I’m from … and reside
in Jordan, I need your help in paying my rent. Please help me,” said one of the
comments on a popular news agency post.
“They’ve cut off our
electricity bill … I need help … if only JD100,” another post on a Facebook
group read.
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