Amnesty International Publishes 2009 “State of the World’s Human Rights” Report

Amnesty International has published its annual report titled "State of the World’s Human Rights." With the report’s release, "Amnesty International is calling for a New Global Deal on human rights, because of a human rights investment gap by world leaders."  

Emphasizing the connection between economic crisis and increased repression of basic freedoms in many countries around the world, Amnesty’s Secretary General Irene Khan writes about the need for a new kind of global leadership of both economic and political systems which work for the benefit of all and not a select few. The many faces of inequality and forms of insecurity cataloged in the report, she says, show the urgent need for governments to purposefully invest in human rights as their citizens "demand dignity for the prisoners of poverty."

Jordan appears in the report several times, first in a discussion of the nearly 2 million refugees who have fled Iraq, "mainly to Syria and Jordan." In the section dedicated to Violence Against Women, Jordan is cited for honor crimes and migrant domestic worker abuses over the past year, and in the regional overview of the Middle East and North Africa it is included in a list of 12 countries from which Amnesty has received substantive reports of torture.

On pages 191-194 of the document in English, the human rights situation in Jordan is examined under the following subtitles: counter-terror and security; justice system – administrative detention; torture and other ill-treatment; unfair trials – state security court; freedom of expression, association, and assembly; violence and discrimination against women; migrant’s rights – domestic workers; refugees and asylum seekers; death penalty.

The full document is available to read online or download as a .pdf in Arabic, English, and five other languages from http://thereport.amnesty.org/en/download.