4th UPR Session – Statement of Japan
Review of Jordan – 11 February 2009

The delegation of Japan would like to thank the delegation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for the informative presentation by His Excellency Dr. Mousa BURAYZAT.

Japan notes with appreciation that Jordan, as a state party to the major human rights instruments and through methods such as holding democratic elections and promoting women’s rights and social advancement, continues to make substantial efforts in the field of human rights.  We look forward to its future efforts to further protect and promote human rights.  We also highly commend Jordan for its generous accommodation of large numbers of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees.

At the same time, with the hope of leading to further improvements, Japan would like to offer the following comments and recommendations:

(1)We would like to recommend that Jordan consider establishing a legal framework for the protection of refugees and applicants for asylum as well as becoming a state party to the related international instruments.

(2)We would also like to recommend that Jordan consider amendment of the Jordanian Nationality Act with respect to the right of children to a nationality, as the law currently does not allow a Jordanian mother married to a non-Jordanian man to confer her nationality to her children.

(3)In addition to reports of forced confessions and violence perpetrated by detention officers against detainees, it has been pointed out that, because the officers responsible for these offenses are tried within a special court system for the security services, there is a lack of neutrality when bringing them to justice. We would like to hear your thoughts on this.