CAT/C/JOR/CO/2
(a)
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, in May
2009, and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, supplementing the Convention, in June 2009;
(b)
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in March 2008;
(c)
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict, in May 2007;
(d)
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography, in December 2006; and
(e)
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in April 2002.
5.
The Committee notes the ongoing efforts at the State level to reform its legislation,
policies and procedures in order to ensure better protection of human rights, including the
right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, in particular:
(a)
The establishment, in 2003, of the National Centre for Human Rights of
Jordan as an independent national human rights institution;
(b)
The establishment, in 2008, of the Ombudsman’s Bureau as an independent
body with a mandate to receive complaints as of 1 February 2009;
(c)
The adoption by the Government of Jordan, in 2007, of the comprehensive
plan for the development and modernization of correctional facilities and rehabilitation
centres as well as the closing of the Al-Jafr Correction and Rehabilitation Center in
December 2006;
(d)
Governmental support to the implementation of the Karama Project, in
cooperation with civil society actors: the overall objectives of the Project are elimination of
the use of torture and ill-treatment, the criminalization of such acts and the investigation,
prosecution and punishment of such acts according to the international legal obligations of
Jordan; and
(e)
The establishment of an “Integrated Services and Family Justice Centre”
within the Dar Al-Wifaq Women’s Shelter.
6.
The Committee notes with appreciation the information provided by the delegation
that the death penalty has not been applied in the State party since March 2006.
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Incorporation of the Convention into domestic law
7.
The Committee notes with appreciation that the Convention was published in the
Official Gazette in 2006, thereby rendering the Convention part of the national legislation
and thus enforceable in national courts. However, referring to its previous concluding
observations (A/50/44, para. 165), the Committee regrets that, although the State party has
been party to the Convention since 1991, the State party representatives acknowledged that
it had not been in effect domestically until its publication (arts. 2 and 10).
For the purposes of ensuring that incorporation of the Convention takes place and
preventing conduct in contradiction to the Convention, the State party should provide
extensive training to its State authorities, law enforcement and other relevant officials
and the judiciary to make them fully aware of the provisions of the Convention.
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