May 11, 2023
Cited article by Adam Coogle, Human Rights Watch
HRRC calls on Jordan to enact laws and policies that support children's rights in their country, especially those governing citizenship and equal rights for refugee children and those children born to Jordanian women with non-Jordanian fathers. The discriminatory practices create a cycle of poverty for these children, and offer no further access to education in the future.
Article Summary
Thousands of children born to Jordanian women with non-Jordanian fathers are treated as foreign nationals in Jordan. A discriminatory law in place in the country affects these children's ability to find work, own property, travel, access education, and access governmental healthcare and other benefits that normal citizens legally have rights to. Yet, this law does not extend to children with Jordanian fathers and non-Jordanian mothers.
Refugee children in Jordan continue to face similar barriers. Countless child refugees from Syria have not received any education and live in poverty with no way to access education later in life. Additionally, both Jordanian and refugee children with disabilities are not provided the right to an inclusive education or reasonable accommodations. The United Nations committee’s independent child rights experts will be posing questions to the Jordanian Delegation regarding these laws, as well as laws governing violent punishments.