Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Covers the period from April 2001 to March 2004.

Population: 5.3 million (2.4 million under 18)
Government armed forces: 100,500 (estimate)
Compulsory recruitment age: conscription suspended
Voluntary recruitment age: 17
Voting age: 18
Optional Protocol: signed 6 September 2000
Other treaties ratified (see glossary): CRC, GC AP I and II, ICC, ILO 138, ILO 182

Volunteers under the age of 18 were recruited to the armed forces but were reportedly not deployed. There were no reports of armed political groups recruiting children.

Context

Laws hastily introduced in 2001 in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the USA were used to erode the right to freedom of expression.1 Palestinians constituted over half of the population, and remained a key force in Jordanian political and economic life. Most were granted Jordanian citizenship. Twenty per cent of the Palestinian population lived in 13 refugee camps across the country.2

Government

National recruitment legislation and practice

The government suspended universal male conscription in the 1990s, but the Compulsory Military Service Act No. 23 of 1986, was not formally repealed. Previously, all male adults were liable under the Act for two years' military service (Section II, Article 3), with exemptions allowed to only sons, to those whose family members had died in service and on health grounds.3

Voluntary recruitment of male and female 17 year olds continued to be allowed.4 Candidates were required to have completed tenth grade in school to be considered for military service, when they were usually about 15 years old. Women could be recruited as instructors, administrators, health workers, engineers or military police officers.5

There were no reports of the deployment of minors.6

Military training and military schools

Basic military training was carried out for 19-week courses at the King Talal Military School, and a number of other academies and institutions offered further training.7 The minimum age of admission was not known, although the authorities had previously indicated that enrolment into military schools and academies was restricted to candidates over the age of 18.8

The Armed Forces' Directorate of Education was responsible for running 19 schools in socially deprived areas for around 9,500 students. The intention was to "build the Jordanian character and provide them with science and faith to be able to interact positively with the modern life".9 The proportion of students that subsequently volunteered for the armed forces was not known.

Armed political groups

The main armed political groups are Palestinian, and their activities are closely controlled by the Jordanian authorities. No military action involving these groups has been reported in the past ten years. It was not known if they provided political or military training for children.

Other developments

Jordan did not support a "straight-18" position. In April 2001 it hosted the Amman Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers in the Middle East and North Africa Region, the first regional gathering on the issue held in coordination with the Child Soldiers Coalition and UNICEF. The Conference affirmed that no child under 18 years should be the instrument or object of violence.10 There was no mention of child recruitment in a draft law on children, which was still to be signed into law in March 2004.11

Ratification of ILO Conventions 138 and 182 was reflected in new labour law that forbade employment of under-16s except as apprentices and limited the working hours of under-18s. The worst forms of child labour were reported to be virtually non-existent in 2003, although child labour increased over the past decade, partially due to stagnant economic conditions.12


1 Amnesty International Report 2003, http://web. amnesty.org/library/engindex.

2 Jumana Al-Tamimi, "Study details poverty in Palestinian camps", Daily Star, 11 December 2003.

3 Periodic report of Jordan to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/70/Add.4, 17 September 1999, http://www.ohchr.org.

4 Communication from Jordan's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, 17 June 1998.

5 Jordan Armed Forces, http://www.jaf.mil.jo/mainframe.htm.

6 Information from Coalition member in Jordan, March 2004.

7 Jordan Armed Forces, op. cit.

8 Communication from Jordan's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, op. cit.

9 Jordan Armed Forces, op. cit.

10 Amman Declaration on the Use of Children as Soldiers, 10 April 2001, http://www.id.gov. jo/human/activities2000/report_amman.html.

11 Information from al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Jordan, March 2004.

12 US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003, February 2004, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/c1470.htm.

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