Letters:
TO THE KING & PRIME MINISTER:
Dear King, Prime Minister:
I am writing to express my support for the men and women in Jordan advocating for women to be given equal citizenship rights with men, in particular the “My mother is Jordanian, and her nationality is a right for me” campaign organized by Nima Habashna. Under Jordanian Law No.6 of 1954 on Nationality, last amended in 1987, with few exceptions, women cannot transmit their nationality to their non-Jordanian husbands or to the children they have together, which is negatively impacting their lives. I respectfully request that you do all you can to amend the Nationality Law without delay to remove this prohibition and thereby improve the lives of these families immeasurably.
Hardships caused by the inability of a Jordanian woman to pass on her nationality include the fear that children will be taken out of the country by her non-Jordanian husband leaving her with huge legal difficulties in getting access to them, exploitation by employers of foreign-born men and their children, and the urge to marry off girls at a very young age to Jordanians to gain security. Additional restrictions, such as where children from these unions can work or study, in access to government hospitals and the need to obtain Ministry of the Interior approval to marry, are all contributing to the increased vulnerability of these women and their families.
Though Jordanian law allows for the possibility of naturalization of a non-national husband and their children, it is at the discretion of the Council of Ministers and applications must be obtained and filed in person with the Ministry of the Interior based in Amman. No woman in the campaign has even managed to have her petition considered and sometimes women are unable even to obtain an application.
The Arab Women Organization brought the issue to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in February 2012. In its concluding observations in July 2012, CEDAW urged the government “to enable Jordanian women to pass their nationality to their foreign spouses and their mutual children” within the context of nationality rights. Several other UN treaties and treaty monitoring bodies including the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have also addressed this issue. All of these committees in their most recent review of Jordan’s implementation of their respective human rights treaties have urged your government to amend its nationality law.
Please act urgently to amend the Nationality Law. In the interim I also urge you to work with the Ministry of the Interior to accelerate efforts to facilitate provision of residence permits to foreign spouses of Jordanian women and regular access to health and education services for their children so that such families have temporary respite from the hardships of the current law.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
TO THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR:
Dear Minister,
I am writing to express my support for the men and women in Jordan who are advocating for the amendment of Jordanian Law No. 6 of 1954 to give Jordanian women married to non-nationals the equal right with Jordanian men to pass their citizenship on to their spouses and children. Until the Nationality Law is amended, please also accelerate governmental efforts to facilitate provision of residence permits to foreign spouses of Jordanian women and access to health and education services for their children so that such families have temporary respite from the non-implementation of the naturalization provisions of the current law.
Some of the hardships caused by the inability of Jordanian women to pass on their nationality include real fears that their children will be taken from the country by the non-Jordanian husband with no way for the woman to bring them back, exploitation by employers of foreign-born men and their children, and the inclination to marry off girls at a very young age to Jordanians to gain security. Additional restrictions, such as where children from these unions can work or study, in access to government hospitals, and the need to obtain approval from your office to marry, are all contributing to the increased vulnerability of these women and their families.
Though Jordanian law allows for the possibility of naturalization of a non-national husband and their children, this is only at the discretion of the Council of Ministers and applications must be obtained and filed in person with your Ministry in Amman. Nima Habashna, the organizer of the campaign, “My mother is Jordanian, and her nationality is a right for me,” for example, submitted an application several years ago. However, despite repeated attempts to obtain a decision, and even with the assistance of a Parliamentarian who submitted papers on her behalf, she has never directly received an official written response. It was only this past April that the Parliamentarian received notification that Nima’s application was rejected, but without any explanation as to why. Other women in the campaign have also tried to have their children and spouses naturalized but are unable to even obtain an application from your Ministry. No woman in the campaign has yet managed to have her petition considered.
Please support the amendment of the Nationality Law, in accordance with Jordan’s international legal obligations, and do all that you can to facilitate provision of residence permits to foreign spouses of Jordanian women and regular access to health and education services for their children until then.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
