AMMAN — Eight
young men held an open sit-in at Al-Salam Plaza in Madaba Governorate for the
59th day, demanding their right to employment. “We want jobs and a decent life.
We didn’t know when we went to university that the fate awaiting us would be
many years of unemployment and dependence on our families,” said the group’s
spokesman, Abdulla Al-Rawahneh.
اضافة اعلان
Rawahneh said
the group of eight have nothing to lose, and if their demands are not met, “we
will escalate things in unprecedented ways, and we may commit suicide”.
MP Abdul Raheem
Al-Maayah told
Jordan News that he approached the relevant authorities again
but that negotiations had hit a “roadblock”, adding that it was unlikely that
there would be a “drastic solution” to the problem. “(They) are our sons,” he
said of the protesting youth, and that the possibility they might follow
through with their threat was “deeply concerning”.
According to
Maayah, previously, when made aware of the situation, Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh
responded, stating that: “I am bound to the Civil Service Bureau and its law.”
Maayah added
that the Civil Service Bureau system was “unfair” and stated that its law is
“the worst in the country”.
However, the
governor of Madaba, Nayef Al-Hidayat, reiterated Khasawneh’s sentiment. He
emphasized that the matter was the Ministry of Labor’s responsibility and that
the ministry “is aware of the problem, but the decision is up to the Civil
Service Bureau”.
The protesting
youth represent a large proportion of Jordan’s youth, especially in Madaba,
where the unemployment rate reached 40 percent in 2021.
Maayah said that
if the state is “unable to employ people, then it should create job
opportunities by encouraging and facilitating investments.”
Hamza Obeidat,
29, is one of the youths participating in the protest. He holds a bachelor’s
degree and trained in pastry making and got several bank loans to set up a
business. However, when the pandemic hit, he had to stop working and was no
longer able to pay back his loans, he told
Jordan News.
“We rely on my
deceased father’s pension, and there is no solution other than work or
suicide,” he said.
Obeidat said the
group would not stop their protest despite weather conditions. “We will not
back away and will endure the weather conditions. We have been sleeping on the
street hoping to regain our dignity.”
Nahla Momani, a
facilitator at the National Center for Human Rights, said that the center
constantly monitors sit-ins and that unemployment sit-ins frequently occur in
Madaba.
According to
Momani, the center has also recently addressed the authorities about the plight
of the young men to provide them with employment as an exceptional case.
“It is an
obligation for the state to steer the national economy and create jobs,
especially in geographical areas that suffer lack of opportunities,” she said.
The spokesperson
of the Civil Status Bureau was not available for comment.
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