a review over the first session for the 15th Jordanian parliament commission

The Amman Center for Human Rights Studies has issued its first report concerning the observation for the 15th Jordanian Parliament, the report’s aims to make sure that the Jordanian parliament is fulfilling its assigned tasks, which are listed in the constitution and other related laws and regulations, especially in the legislation field and providing observation over the executive authority performance

The report intends to illustrate a tangible progress through interaction, in order to keep this legislation institution as a main guarantee for the democratic process. Moreover, in the second part, the report focuses on the local press (particularly the written press) covering Jordanian parliament tasks, to examine the role of the press over the monitoring parliament’s tasks.

This report has been prepared in order to enhance public observation for the parliament’s performance, which has been applied through monitoring reports and through questioning the parliament’s representatives during different meetings at their election districts, also during which the public got the chance to question the parliament’s performance about their aid contributions for citizens. This is the first report done by Amman Center for Human Rights Studies in the field of parliament performance observation.  

As a result of the diagnosis and the conclusions regarding the parliament’s performance, the report has endorsed the following:

1- The press coverage must be extended through the media, press and reporters, as it is considered as a support and boost for citizens who are being pressured because of practicing freedom of expression. Also it could be used to counter abuses which may occur by the political and economic forces to set an obstacle against the efforts that are being produced to ignore the laws which limit the freedoms and diminish the private associations’ role for observation.

2- To ensure the importance of press participation in issuing regulations to protect human rights and guarantee that it is being applied properly, whereas, the press and media has a significant roll to contribute in creating public opinion which guaranties the authorities full respect for citizens will and rights.

3- It is really important that all different parts of the community interact and enjoy a conversational environment about the community’s vital issues, and to orientate the civil associations to work to protect personal and public rights and enhance its involvement in questioning and observation.

4- To enhance the press’ role in setting up a culture of freedom of expression, as it is an important condition to create a free and independent media in Jordan.

5- The delegates must participate in training courses regarding the universal criteria for freedom of expression and the universal declaration of human rights, as the prior and current experiences of the parliament members showed a partial acceptance for human rights principles.

The Full text of the report is published in Arabic on the Websites of ACHRS