Jordan: Islamist movement calls on gov’t to withdraw from CEDAW

Jordan Times

By Mohammad Ben Hussein

AMMAN - The Islamist movement on Sunday called on the government to withdraw from the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on grounds that the treaty will lead to a myriad of social problems in the country.

In a press conference held at the Islamic Action Front (IAF) headquarters in Abdali, Islamist leaders joined hands with women activists in the party to sound the alarm about the possible consequences of CEDAW on the Jordanian family and society in general.

"Families in Jordan face the threat of total collapse under CEDAW," warned the IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, in a statement distributed during the press conference.

Activists from the IAF's Al Afaf women’s society said they are concerned about a recent Cabinet decision to lift its reservations on paragraph four of Article 15, which gives women freedom of mobility and choice of residence without consent of their husbands or other male family members.

According to IAF activists, the clause contradicts the teachings of Islam, under which authority over women's mobility is in the hands of their husbands if they are married, and in the hands of brothers or fathers if they are single.

"Both husband and wife should approve the choice of accommodation, not the wife alone," said Maisoun Darawseh, an Al Afaf society member.

"States Parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals," the article states.

The convention also allows women freedom of mobility: "States Parties shall accord to men and women the same rights with regard to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and domicile."

IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Rsheid criticised the government for ratifying the agreement without first resorting to a national dialogue.

"The government should have conducted a genuine national dialogue with all segments of society regarding this agreement. They should have dealt with this matter based on its social and future dimensions, not its international and financial dimensions," he said.

He urged the government to launch a notational dialogue on CEDAW, raise public awareness of its contents and amend legislation to grant women their religious rights.

In July 1992, the Kingdom signed the convention, which was ratified and published in the Official Gazette in August 2007 with three reservations related to the citizenship, housing and women's mobility clauses in the Personal Status Law.