Mr Chairman,
Allow me to extend the gratitude of Sweden to His Excellency Dr Mousa Burayzat, for taking an active part in our dialogue here today. We appreciate the strong commitment of the government to handle the challenges Jordan is facing within the area of Human Rights.
Sweden has been concerned about reports that torture is being used by Jordanian police and prison authorities. We welcome that your presentation addressed this question and outlined some of the steps that the government has taken to prevent torture. We also recognize the accession to the Convention against Torture, the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the attempts to bring national legislation in line with international standards. We would recommend the government to continue and strengthen its’ efforts with a view to completely stem this practice and ensure that detainees have access to effective legal remedy. In this regard, we also recommend steps to be taken to enable an accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
In 2007, the CEDAW Committee issued a number of recommendations regarding discrimination against women in Jordan. We are, in particular, concerned about reports on honour killings, discriminatory family and inheritance legislation, and the situation for foreign women employed as domestic workers. We note your assurance that the Constitution does not allow any discrimination and the information you provided in this regard on new legislation to promote the status of women. We would, however, recommend the government to continue looking into this question with a view to ensure that violence and all sorts of discrimination against women is effectively eliminated and in line with international standards.
Thank you, Mr Chairman.