Layla Naffa, Director of Projects, Arab Women Organization of Jordan
Syrian refugees in Jordan have become a huge problem. Our government is very weak and doesn’t know how to provide protection for them. They don’t know about [UN SCR] 1325 and there is no awareness of using international processes like that.
My organization is focused on women’s rights and working with Syrian refugees. It has been responding to the influx of people. Rape was highly prevalent in the refugee camps. I joined UNHCR Rape Group in the camps, but then wanted to provide services outside the camps. The Arab Women Organization (AWO) expanded to surrounding areas with five support centers. They started services: psychosocial counseling and formed support groups. They also provide legal consultation and support, working with other NGOs to make it free. They used to provide “vocational training” but now its called “recreational training” because the government doesn’t want refugees and young women competing in formal job markets. They teach skills such as sewing, weaving of straw hats and baskets, and embroidery. Jordan has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (CEDAW), with two reservations. AWO have been pressuring the government through presenting shadow reports in 2007, 2012, and there will be another in 2016 on Jordan.
We were the only Arab organization to present to the UN on Agenda 1325. In October 2014, we presented a Shadow Report on 1325 in New York City to the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights. Monitoring is part of our work, so we collect data, follow-up with local authorities and at the national level, and the Ministry of Social Development is invited to events.
Arms trafficking has always been an issue, especially since 2012. Tracing and prosecuting cases of rape and prostitution are becoming more difficult. We are a Bedouin country, so everyone knows everyone, but with the influx of new people, prostitution is higher, and human traffickers are now using Jordan as a base for the Gulf States.
Inside Jordan we have local networks that are linked with the grassroots, and this is the best way to communicate these agendas, use existing social networks, and this will be the best way to improve changes on the ground and link to the international women’s movement.
Municipalities are elected, however there is a new law for second level of local governments, half appointed and half elected. They stopped caring, and also donors stopped pressuring governments on women’s issues and human rights, focussing only on “security” There is severe regression and all of the women’s movement must restart their work. There has been a big shift backwards on women’s rights.
