For nearly three decades, the Jordanian government has not
submitted a new periodic report to the United Nations Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, even though Jordan is a State party to the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its next
periodic report has been overdue for many years.
اضافة اعلان
This delay is particularly striking given that Jordan has
maintained an active presence in several international human rights mechanisms
over the past decades and has accumulated considerable institutional experience
in preparing national reports and discussing them before United Nations bodies.
The report should not be viewed merely as a procedural
obligation or routine communication with an international committee.
Its
preparation would provide a comprehensive national opportunity to review the
status of rights that directly affect citizens’ daily lives, foremost among
them the rights to decent work, health, education, social protection, housing,
food, an adequate standard of living, participation in cultural life, and
enjoyment of the benefits of scientific progress.
The report would also allow the government to present the
progress it has achieved, explain the economic, fiscal and regional
circumstances that have affected its ability to fulfil its obligations, and
outline the measures it has taken to address existing challenges.
This would
help present a more balanced picture of Jordan, rather than leaving assessments
of its situation to depend primarily on external reports or fragmented
information that does not always reflect the full national context.
In fact, Jordan’s record on economic and social rights is
not so weak as to justify hesitation in submitting the report. Despite limited
resources, successive regional crises and the hosting of large numbers of
refugees, the country has maintained extensive education, healthcare and social
protection systems.
It has also developed legislation and policies in the areas
of social security, labour, the rights of people with disabilities, family
protection and social assistance.
Moreover, Jordan has public institutions and
a statistical system capable of providing a substantial portion of the data
required for the report.
This does not mean that the situation is ideal. Jordan faces
genuine challenges, including high unemployment, low levels of women’s economic
participation, the expansion of informal employment, rising living costs and
the inadequacy of some social protection programmes, in addition to the
pressures created by public debt and fiscal policies.
International reports, however, are not submitted only when
problems have disappeared.
Their primary purpose is to present progress and
challenges together and to open a professional dialogue on possible avenues for
improvement.
The continued absence of the report may create an
international impression that Jordan is weak in following up on its commitments
or reluctant to subject itself to review.
Submitting it, by contrast, could
send precisely the opposite message: that Jordan is a state confident in its
institutions, willing to present its achievements transparently, acknowledge
existing gaps and commit to a clear plan for addressing them.
What is needed today is for the government to announce the
start of the report’s preparation according to a clearly defined timetable,
through a national committee comprising the relevant ministries and public
institutions, while involving the National Centre for Human Rights, civil
society organisations, trade unions, universities and experts. A participatory
preparation process would make the report more accurate and credible.
Submitting the report is not a diplomatic burden, but an
opportunity to strengthen Jordan’s international standing and reaffirm that
human rights are not limited to civil and political rights.
They also encompass
every person’s right to work, education, health, protection and a life of
dignity.
