On Friday Jordan celebrated the Human Rights Day which is observed on December 10th each year, and It marks the day on which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, and the theme for the year 2021 was: "equal dignity & the implementation of the rights of all to opportunities & outcomes in order to build more just and inclusive societies", This year's Human Rights Day theme focuses on article (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights" which focuses on "equality", inclusion, non-discrimination and inclusion without exception as one of the pillars of a human rights-based approach to achieving sustainable development goals 2030.

Dr. Abla Amawi- Secretary-General of the Higher Population Council stressed that the Council attached great importance to this occasion by advocating for a approach based on respect for human rights, the promotion of human rights and the consolidation of their noble principles and values as a framework for human development including all civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, which in turn will contribute to the application of the principle of equality and non-discrimination that lies at the heart of development problems and address deep-rooted forms of discrimination that have affected the most vulnerable people in our societies and finding solutions, where sustainable development goals focus on universal equality and non-discrimination, which are at the heart of human rights, to contribute to the achievement of these goals.

She demonstrated that according to the human rights index and the rule of law for State classifications according to the report from the World Economy Website, Jordan ranked (67th) out of (173) countries for 2021, while Egypt ranked the highest number (1) and Norway the best number (173).

She stated that The observance of this year's Day came under exceptional circumstances at the national and international levels because of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to the imposition of a state of emergency in accordance with constitutional principles and international human rights standards, following which extraordinary legitimacy was established for decisions and actions of the executive branch to be compatible with the public interest, without prejudice to human rights, economic and living conditions. The pandemic also revealed that there is a need to intensify and strengthen national efforts in areas (policies, legislation, and practices) to address the failures that the pandemic has revealed to recover in order to return to normalcy, It has also imposed the need to re-establish human rights as a matter of national security, by focusing on a human rights-based approach to create equal opportunities for all to address inequalities, exclusion and discrimination, to promote participation and national solidarity in all its capacities, and to intensify efforts in the area of social protection, especially for the groups most in need of protection (women, children, persons with disabilities, older persons).

She pointed out that one of the major challenges standing in the way of the implementation of economic and social rights is widespread poverty, as poverty and unequal access to education, housing, health services and facilities increasingly determine social progress and quality of life and violate human dignity and the right to an adequate standard of living. According to the report on the results of the Survey of Household Expenditure and Income (2017-2018) issued by the General Statistics Service, the poverty rate among Jordanian people was (15.7%)which means (1,069) million Jordanian people are in the poverty zone, COVID-19 pandemic has also had significant economic and social impacts on Jordanian society, especially on the most vulnerable segments of society, particularly the women and refugee workers, day labourers and those working in the private sector and the various affected sectors,It led to a (30-50%) decline in wages among unregulated employment, showing that there was a need to "address the biggest challenge “unemployment”
given that the unemployment rate was about (24.8%) for the second quarter of 2021 (males 22.7%, females 33.1%).

She added that the pandemic had resulted in thousands of workers losing their jobs owing to the closure of many industrial and commercial factories and enterprises, and we needed to build and lay the foundations for a sustainable human-rights-based economy that would achieve equity and sustainability for generations today and tomorrow, with the participation of all without exception.

She explained that the Corona pandemic had the greatest impact on Syrian refugees inside or outside the camps, particularly the 233,000 Syrian school-age refugees in Jordan, where they faced multiple obstacles to education, which were more severe for children 12 years of age or older Including child labour due to poverty, child marriage, lack of affordable school transportation, lack of comprehensive education and appropriate measures for children with disabilities, the Government had used television and the Internet to provide distance learning to students during precautionary closures to prevent the spread of the Corona virus.

according to a UNICEF report, about 70% of Jordanian children have access to the Internet, but this figure is falling sharply among refugees and poor and marginalized Jordanians, and even before the Corona virus spread only about a quarter of Syrian refugee students were able to continue their education until secondary school. Not only that, Persons with disabilities had also suffered significant obstacles to the right to education during the pandemic in the absence of educational services that dealt with the learning difficulties of that group of students. There was therefore a need to ensure the integration of persons with disabilities with educational institutions, to provide a safe and enabling educational environment without any form of discrimination and inequality based on or because of disability, and to give persons with disabilities the educational empowerment they deserved and to provide them with social and technical support.

She noted that during the pandemic, health personnel from doctors, nurses and technicians were overburdened, especially those who worked in hospitals for Corona patients, where they were required to work for a period of time. (14) Continuous 24-hour days before being asked to go into quarantine for a period 14 more days before visiting their relatives, returning to work again, and the lack of environmental facilities in some hospitals and health centers for persons with disabilities and older persons.

She added that during the Corona pandemic there was a clear exception to the membership and participation of women during the pandemic, for example, there was no female representation on the management committee of the private sector account for the major contributions to the fund. There is an urgent need to develop a system of legislation, policies, practices and trends that establish equality and social justice, provide decent work and equal opportunities for women, by supporting and enhancing the presence of women in decision-making positions and expanding women's participation in political life in order to achieve equal opportunities for women in all sectors and areas.

She stated despite the difficult humanitarian situation in the Arab region, which had resulted in a large influx of refugees into Jordan, Jordan, through its national machinery, had achieved a high degree of application of procedures and practices that strengthened the human rights, freedoms and right to life system by adopting and developing numerous national policies, strategies and plans consistent with human rights principles and national, regional and international standards for the promotion of various civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, the most important of which is the Comprehensive National Human Rights Plan (2016-2025), the National Plan for the Implementation of Security Council Resolution No. 1325, the National Strategy for Women (2020-2025), the National Plan for the Implementation of the Goals of Sustainable Development (2030), the Jordanian Response Plan for the Syrian Crisis (2020-2022), the Operational Plan for Strengthening Institutional Response to Cases of Domestic Violence (2016-2018) and the Jordanian National Strategy for Older Persons (2018-2022).

Moreover, one of the national achievements, based on the approach of respecting and promoting human rights and consolidating their lofty principles and values, had been the formation of the Royal Commission for the Modernization of the Political System with the Will of Supreme Monarchy, which had worked on the development of an integrated system of recommendations for a new electoral bill and a new political party bill, proposals for constitutional amendments relating to the laws and parliamentary mechanisms, as well as recommendations for the development of legislation governing local administration, expanding participation in decision-making, creating a legislative and political environment that guarantees the role of youth and women in public life, which can be a fundamental framework for Jordan's early second century must promote the values of citizenship by promoting rights and obligations, thus providing a national input and framework for promoting the freedoms guaranteed by legislation, upholding the principle of the rule of law, upholding the values of justice and providing maximum guarantees of fairness, transparency and equality.

She also stated that There was a need for an operational programme of action and for vigorous follow-up to the legislative and organizational aspects at various levels of the Committee's recommendations. The Committee's recommendations emphasized the need for the role of youth and women to be at the forefront of modernization and for their political, economic and social empowerment, as well as the importance of developing mechanisms to ensure the participation of all groups in public affairs, so as to ensure effective and productive participation in political life and the development of mechanisms of accountability and good governance, so as to ensure equitable distribution of gains and comprehensive and sustainable local development and to translate His Majesty King Abdullah II's vision of continuing the process of modernization and development into the face of accelerated changes and to keep pace with the demands of the future, while upholding the ingrained tenets of the throne, constitutional institutions and solid national unity.

Despite this achievement at the national level, there have been slow achievements towards women's representation in public life, both civil and political. Women's participation in the Council of Ministers has declined, only (2) women out of (29) ministers, including the President equivalent to (7%) while the number of women in the previous Council was (4) out of (29) Ministers (13.7%), the proportion of women in the Senate declined for 2021, with 7 out of 65 members (10.7%) women in the Senate, while in 2016 there were (10) women out of (65) members (15.3%).

The elections of the 19th Chamber of Deputies also revealed the decline in women's representation and the upward trend in women gaining seats has stopped, with (15) of the (130) seats in the Chamber of Deputies being women (11.5%)which is quota for women, however, no women won through competition, and women's participation in the 18th Council of 2016 represented only (15.3%) percent. Women's participation remains low at the senior management level in universities where no women have been appointed as university presidents during the year 2021, women judges have not been appointed in the year 2021, and there have been no appointments of women judges in the Sharia courts or in the General Advisory Chamber.

She added there continued to be a discriminatory legal problem in the Jordanian Nationality Act No. 6 of 1954, and there had been no developments with regard to the instructions for the implementation of the 2014 Cabinet decision on the granting of facilities to Jordanian women married to non-Jordanians.