Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03AMMAN5012
2003-08-08 08:58:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

LOWER HOUSE TRYING TO ROLL BACK ON WOMEN'S

Tags:  PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI JO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005012 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI JO
SUBJECT: LOWER HOUSE TRYING TO ROLL BACK ON WOMEN'S
ISSUES...BUT FACE PROCEDURAL OBSTACLES AND NEGATIVE
BACKLASH FROM PRESS

REF: AMMAN 4894

Classified By: CDA DAVID HALE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)

-------
SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005012

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI JO
SUBJECT: LOWER HOUSE TRYING TO ROLL BACK ON WOMEN'S
ISSUES...BUT FACE PROCEDURAL OBSTACLES AND NEGATIVE
BACKLASH FROM PRESS

REF: AMMAN 4894

Classified By: CDA DAVID HALE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (U) The Lower House of Parliament voted on August 3 to
reject two of the 211 temporary laws passed since Parliament
was disbanded two years ago and sent another 86 temporary
laws to special committees for further examination. The laws
in question--which deal with marriage/divorce and honor crime
punishments--next have to be reviewed by the Senate, which is
likely to effectively freeze action, leaving the temporary
laws--and these important advantages for women--in place
indefinitely. Meanwhile, the Jordanian press and women's
groups have responded loudly and negatively to Parliament's
efforts. End Summary.

-------------- --------------
PARLIAMENT ATTEMPTS TO ROLL BACK WOMEN'S RIGHT TO DIVORCE
-------------- --------------


2. (C) Islamists and some tribal Parliamentarians united to
initiate the repeal of an amendment to the Civil Status Law
that allowed women to divorce their husbands and that also
raised the legal age of marriage. The amendment allowing
women the right to divorce received the most condemnation
from these deputies. Since the beginning of the year until
June 30, over 630 women have taken advantage of the law,
despite the amendment's requirement that a women give up any
claims to her husband's estate and return her dowry.
Islamists argued that the law undermined families and
encouraged divorce. The press quoted unnamed MPs as
describing the amendment as "one of the most dangerous laws
issued in the Kingdom." The other section of the amendment
raised the age of marriage for both men and women from 16 and
15 respectively to 18, and inspired more criticism from
Parliamentarians, some of whom argued that the law was
"contradicting the very nature of Jordanian society",
according to press reports.


3. (C) Whether or not the amendment is actually repealed will
depend on if the Senate, or Upper House, agrees with the
decision of the Lower House. If the Senate approves the

Lower House decision, then the law is nullified. If the
Senate does not agree to repeal the amendment, the temporary
law is sent back to the Lower House for debate. If after
more discussion, the Lower House still wants to repeal the
law, the Senate and Lower House convene a joint session and
vote on the repeal. Only if two-thirds of the combined
legislators vote to repeal the law is the law then nullified.



4. (C) Women's groups have already begun work to gain Senate
blockage of the Lower House decision, with local press
reporting that a delegation of women's activists called on
Senate President Zeid Rifa'i on August 5, the day following
the Lower House rulings. Rifa'i told diplomatic contacts
that his inbox is "very deep", implying that the Senate could
sit on this issue for some time before bringing it up for
debate. Indeed, controversial "temporary" laws can get lost
in the Parliamentary process for years--there are some in
effect now that date back to the 1980s.

-------------- -
HONOR CRIMES AMENDMENT REPEALED...IN NAME ONLY
-------------- -


5. (C) The Lower House also voted to reject an amendment to
the penal code that stiffened penalties for "crimes of
passion" (Article 340 in the penal code). In reality, the
amendment in dispute had no effect on lengthening the prison
sentences of those accused of honor crimes (the killing of
women to defend family honor) and was mostly an important
symbolic gesture by the GOJ when it was passed in 2001 to
show progress on the issue. Specifically, the amendment only
applied to murder victims who are caught by their spouses or
relatives in the act of committing adultery. But since
almost all honor killings take place after the alleged
adulterous act, courts instead apply a different provision of
the penal code (Article 98) which allows for lenient
sentences if the defendant proves he committed the crime
while temporarily insane. The potential repeal of women's
right to divorce will have a much larger practical effect
than changes to the little-used honor crimes statue.

--------------
GOVERNMENT CAUGHT OFF GUARD
--------------


6. (C) Planning Minister Awadullah, dismayed by the setback
to Jordan's image, told us he placed blame at the feet of his
fellow Ministers. He said the strength of Parliamentary
sentiment against the bills was a surprise to Cabinet, which
was unprepared to offer a defense or shore up support in the
Lower House.

--------------
PRESS HAMMERS PARLIAMENT
--------------


7. (C) A broad cross section of editorialists roundly
criticized the decision to initiate repeal of the two laws.
Urayb Rintawi in al-Dustour said that the Parliament's
convening was "one step forward", but that the Lower House's
decision to repeal the two amendments was "two steps back."
Bater Wardam in al-Dustour also chastised the decision on the
two "progressive" amendments as an "unlucky start." The
English daily, Jordan Times, was even more vehement in its
August 5 editorial, "If we knew this was the kind of policy
that the new Parliament would have upheld, we would have
never called so eagerly for elections" and said the repealed
amendments looked like "a return to the Middle Ages".

-------------- -
PARLIAMENT TO TAKE ON CABINET IN NEXT FEW DAYS
-------------- -


8. (C) The Lower House started debate on August 6 to approve
or disapprove PM Abul Ragheb's new Cabinet. The debate is
expected to take 3-5 days (see reftel) and the government
needs at least 60 votes to approve the Cabinet. According to
local diplomatic contacts, the government has already secured
80-90 favorable votes. Despite the GOJ's probable lock on
approval for the Cabinet, debate will probably still be
intense. Many deputies are still smarting from the plethora
of temporary laws passed under PM Abul Ragheb in the absence
of a parliament and will likely use the debate as a forum to
express their frustration.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


9. (C) The GOJ, backed by the Hashemites, has in general been
very supportive of moving forward on the rights of
women--both Queen Rania and Princess Basma have publicly
embraced women's issues. However, this would not be the
first time the government faced resistance from the
conservative political and social establishment in codifying
its reform measures: at a conference of Arab First Ladies in
October 2002, Queen Rania announced that the GOJ would extend
to Jordanian women the right to pass citizenship to their
children, a reform opposed by the traditionalist, East Bank
community. To date, that reform has languished, despite its
Queenly imprimatur. Eager to protect its impressive economic
reform accomplishments, the GOJ is aware it must make some
concessions to this conservative Parliament. Rumor has it,
the Cabinet may fight less on social issues to spare debate
on temporary laws that support rigorous economic reforms.
However, Planning Minister Awadullah (a rival of the PM)
blames government bungling for a defeat which harms Jordan's
image and can only be reversed by depending on the Senate to
slow down or freeze the pace of repeals.
HALE