Jordan Times
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Civil society
institutions debate law pertaining to child abuse victims
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — The prevailing culture of shame and
loopholes in legislation protecting child abuse victims remain key obstacles in
bringing child molesters to full justice, civil society institutions conceded on
Wednesday.
In a country where sexual abuse is rarely reported and child victims themselves
remain largely silent, the current status of legislation governing sexual abuse
claims in Jordan was brought to the centre of public debate.
The special session, organised jointly by the National Council for Family
Affairs (NCFA), UNICEF and the Jordanian Women's Union, examined the impact of
waiving personal claims in cases of child molestation.
Judicial figures, lawyers and lawmakers were put under the spotlight as civil
society questioned the impact of the Penal Code that renders a guardian or
parent, who has the sole right to make a claim, to waive the personal rights of
an abused child.
Amina Zu'bi from the Jordanian Women's Union told lawmakers the guardian's right
to waive personal claims contradicted the law's provisions for the rights of a
victim under Article 1540 of the Judicial Gazette.
“The Court of Cassation states that a parent or guardian's personal waiver of
his child's right cannot be considered as it does not represent the child's own
will which Article 1540 makes clear provisions for,” said Zu'bi.
Under the Penal Code, a child's claim to sexual abuse can only be accepted if
supported by the father, or guardian.
The absence of the mother's role within this law was a point of contention for
Zu'bi who considered this detrimental under certain circumstances.
“Since the law confines waiving claims to the guardian, or father, and does not
give the mother the right to support or oppose the waiver, what happens when the
perpetrator of the crime is the father himself?” she asked.
According to Zu'bi, personal rights were waived in 24 per cent of child
molestation cases in Jordan last year, painting a dismal reality of the current
situation of child abuse.
The debate shifted attention to the impact of Article 25 of the Penal Code,
which stipulates that charges brought against a suspected child abuser can be
dropped before a final court ruling if a personal claim is waived by the
victim's guardian.
Although the state, by law, can enforce the maximum penalty on the perpetrator,
observers noted that the court frequently reduced the perpetrator's sentence.
This was regarded as counter-productive to the national track towards upholding
children's rights. Moreover, it does not act as a deterrent to would-be
perpetrators and convicted offenders.
The legislative consultative committee presented its recommendation to the
judicial authority on November 2002 to make an exception for this clause.
Concerned child rights advocates yesterday called upon the judicial authorities
to revisit and amend the legislation which infringes on the rights of the child.
Yesterday's roundtable discussion was the first of eight platforms that will be
held by the NCFA this year to address and improve current legislation pertaining
to child and family welfare.
Steps in the right direction
A committed global partner in safeguarding children's rights, the Kingdom has
worked hard to break the silence on the taboo subject of abuse.
National efforts networking with forensic physicians, law enforcement
authorities and childcare specialists, have seen the establishment of model
institutions such as the Dar Al Aman Centre for Abused Children and the Family
Protection Department (FPD), which opened in 2000. The FPD has since opened four
other branches in Irbid, Zarqa, Balqa and Aqaba.
Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Salah Bashir said
major strides were taken to improve child protection laws in recent years,
making particular note to those affording child abuse victims greater privacy
during investigative procedures.
Some of these changes to be implemented next month include using videotapes to
document the testimonies of abuse victims, sparing both child and family from
repetitive visits to the courts and the embarrassment of repeating experiences
in front of strangers.
UNICEF Jordan Representative Anne Skatvedt, whose agency is assisting the NCFA
in improving legislation for the welfare of Jordanian families, said current
changes on the judicial front were promising and vital in encouraging families
to speak out about child abuse.
She underlined the importance of privacy as a key factor that would make
families and children come forward.
“One way of helping families and guardians can be by protecting and guaranteeing
a child's right to privacy. This can be done by expediting bureaucratic
procedures and ensuring child friendly courts,” said Skatvedt.