Jordan joins the world today, Saturday, in celebrating the International Day of Non-Violence, which is observed on the second of October of each year. On this day, the world raises the slogan, ‘Say No to Violence.’ This date is also the birth date of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of non-violence. The United Nations designated this day in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 61/271 of June 15, 2007, which stipulated the commemoration of that anniversary. The resolution reaffirms the global importance of the principle of non-violence and the desire to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence, and to spread the message of non-violence through education and public awareness.
The World Health Organization defines violence as, ‘The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.’
Secretary-General of the Higher Population Council, Dr. Abla Amawi, confirmed in a press statement on this occasion that lately, violence has become a threat to individuals, and that perhaps the most dangerous thing about violence is that it may come from the closest and most closely related people within the family framework, and that it is sometimes linked to psychological and behavioral trends and wrong beliefs that make committing an act of violence against others as a justification for those who do it, and which has recently escalated due to the impact of the Corona virus pandemic on global and national levels. Dr. Amawi indicated that the problem of violence has emerged as one of the major challenges that needs to be addressed rigorously because of its serious impact on the lives of individuals and their social value system, especially women and children, where global estimates published by the World Health Organization indicate that during her life, one out of every three women around the world is exposed to physical and/or sexual violence at the hands of a family member.
Dr. Amawi indicated that violence (be it physical, sexual or psychological) in general, causes the victim to suffer from serious physical, psychological, sexual and reproductive health problems in the short and long term, and leads to high social and economic costs incurred by the victims of women or children, their families and communities, and that it could lead to deadly consequences such as possible injuries, murder, suicide or depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders, or unwanted pregnancies, induced or spontaneous abortions, gynecological problems, and infections caused by sexually transmitted diseases.
Dr. Amawi pointed out that a report issued by the United Nations on domestic violence against females in 2020 revealed that about 243 million women and girls were subjected to forms of domestic violence, sexual harassment and abuse during the past year. The report indicated that these forms of violence have doubled since the beginning of the outbreak of the Corona virus and countries are starting to implement measures of lockdown and home quarantine, where a significant increase in cases of violence was recorded in many countries, mainly due to the increase in anxiety and tension caused by the loss of job, social and health security, in addition to the loss of jobs and businesses after taking measures and closures to combat the outbreak of the epidemic.
Dr. Amawi explained that on the national level, the Department of Family and Juvenile Protection issued its first year book of 2020; the book revealed that the number of repored domestic violence cases increased from 41,221 cases in 2018 to 54,743 cases in 2020, where 58.7% of these cases were subjected to physical violence, and 34% to sexual violence.
Amawi pointed out that most of the victims of violence are females, namely: the wife, sister, daughter, mother, and children in general. Violence is mostly rooted in discrimination based on gender and age. The Department of Family and Juvenile Protection Yearbook of 2020 also indicated that 2.4% of the cases of domestic violence that reached the administration were of children against elderly mothers, and 82% of husbands against wives.
As for the distribution of the age groups of victims, child victims constituted 27.7% of the total cases, a percentage that must be considered in the type of violence directed against them and the need to put in place the necessary measures to protect them in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in addition, 66.3% of the reported cases are of adult females; Jordanians constitute the highest percentage among the nationalities of perpetrators in the cases dealt with by the administration in 2020, at a rate of 87.9%, virsus 5.8% Syrians.
Amawi declared that the results of the quantitative study carried out by the Information and Research Center in cooperation with the Institute for Family Health Care and the ‘Ana Insan’ Association for the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2020, entitled "Gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities", confirmed that cases of gender-based violence are on the increase especially with the spread of the epidemic. Women and girls with disabilities often face double discrimination on the basis of “gender and disability” and are more vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion, often lack access to basic services and social opportunities, and are exposed to higher rates of gender-based violence than women without disabilities; despite the volume and severity of the problem, it remains invisible because of the isolation they are exposed to, or because it involves attitudes, behaviors and standards which are socially acceptable.
On the other hand, Syrian refugees in refugee camps suffer from types of gender-based violence and child protection issues such as high rates of marriage for those under 18, child labor and restrictions imposed on women and girls that impose limits on their movement and participation in social and economic activities, and access to basic services pertaining to reproductive health and protection from domestic violence.
In a statement, the Higher Population Council indicated that Jordan is committed to continuing to work on the recommendations of the Nairobi Summit 2019 by working on drafting a national plan to implement the Nairobi commitments for the years (2021-2030), and responding in particular to Global Commitment No. (5) to end sexual and gender-based violence including the commitment to zero child and forced marriage, in order to realize the potential of all individuals as factors of change in their society socially and economically, through the application of legislation governing protection from violence.
The Council noted that, alongside that, Jordan is constantly striving to work on executing strategies, programs and social, psychological and health services. The Higher Population Council, this year, contributes to the national efforts exherted to eliminate violence, especially gender-based violence, through its preparation of the National Population Strategy (2021-2030) and the National Strategy for Reproductive and Sexual Health (2020-2024), where both strategies reached a clear conclusion/ result to combat gender-based violence, with a participatory mechanism with the concerned national entities, highlighting the importance of partners, enacting institutional interventions, programs and projects that reflect the translation of strategic interventions in both strategies related to gender-based violence.
