A step in the right direction

The ministerial committee established by the government last November to look into expanding the rights of children born to Jordanian mothers married to foreigners has recommended granting these children certain health- and education-related “privileges” to alleviate some of the restraints they face in their daily lives. 

Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Khaled Kalaldeh, who is a member of the committee, said the panel agreed to grant these children “free health and education services, as well as ease restrictions on driving licences, property ownership and investment opportunities”. 

This is certainly a major step forward but by no means enough. 

What we are talking about here are about 300,000 to 350,000 children with Jordanian mothers and non-Jordanian fathers. 

Some 84,000 Jordanian women are married to foreigners, according to official figures.

Women’s groups and activists have been demanding for years that these women be allowed to pass on their citizenship to their children and spouses, a right that only men enjoy. 

At a recent unofficial Lower House meeting, the interior minister said the government is working on granting these children access to certain services for humanitarian reasons. 

But their mothers want nothing less than passing on their citizenship to their children and feel the concessions the government is thinking of do not go far enough.  

Although the recent shift of policy on this category of children is positive and commendable, it is necessary to point out that under international human rights conventions that are legally binding on Jordan, granting civil, economic and social rights to these children is not for humanitarian purposes alone, but also for legal reasons. 

Giving these children their due is obligatory by virtue of a number of intentional human treaties that Jordan is legally bound to respect and apply. 

To name but a few, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child all  “dictate” giving children of Jordanian mothers full citizenship rights. 

The country, therefore, is legally obliged to bestow on these children all their civil, economic and social rights. 

Obviously we are not talking here about “privileges”, but “rights”.

The ministerial committee’s recommendations are a step in the right direction, but what is required is having the issue addressed in a manner that would conform to international laws and conventions.