Al-Hmoud: We are seeking a contemporary law that takes into account the family's pivotal role
06-14-2017
We are seeking to produce a contemporary law that is careful to give the family a pivotal and leading role in the preservation and advancement of our society towards a positive and distinguished reality", said Fadel Al-Hmoud, NCFA Secretary-general.
During the second workshop held to lobby support on the "Protection against Family Violence Draft Law", Al-Hmoud added that "the technical drafting committee will collect all observations and ideas emerging from the two workshops held so far to be complied, discussed and submitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives to be presented before the House."
On the sidelines of the workshop attended by representatives from the House of Representatives and public, media and civil society institutions, two working sessions were organized to discuss several working papers on the highlights of the new law as well as its pillars and compelling reasons.
During the first session headed by Dr. Akef Al-Ma'aytah from the Justice Center for Legal Aid, Al-Ma'aytah said that "the law is of particular importance in light of the recent developments and events in the region and the role of the family in this regard", emphasizing the importance of the meeting and its resulting discussions in enriching the debates when the law is submitted for deliberation in parliament.
In his working paper entitled "Procedures for case-reporting and protection of witnesses and reporters", Deputy Attorney-General Judge Ayed AL-Khalaylah indicated that the difficulty facing law enforcement agencies are evident after crime discovery during the process of establishing the elements of the crime; witnesses in this process are of key significance, and urging them to testify and not to withhold their testimonies proves to be a difficulty.
On his part, Judge Ayoub As-Sawa'eer from the Judicial Council presented a working paper on "Specialization and confidentiality in the draft law" in which he pointed out that penal laws in general are divided according to the type of underlying rules to two categories: substantive laws that determine which actions are considered crimes, their penalties and the pertinent special provisions, and procedural laws which regulate interrogation, trial and appeal proceedings.
Presiding the second session, MP Dr. Reem Abu Dalbouh, Head of the Women and Family Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, said: "we underscore the importance of this workshop as it enables us to directly communicate with national and civil society institutions, hear their views on the family violence law and henceforth amend the law in line with the law's compelling reasons and in a manner that corresponds to the stability of the family", noting that the Legal Committee and the Women and Family Affairs Committee will study all suggestions and recommendations presented before them.
In her working paper titled "Awareness and Prevention", Hadeel Abdel-Aziz from the Justice Center for Legal Aid said: "family protection against abuse is a constitutional and international obligation; Article (6) of the Jordanian Constitution states that " The family is the basis of society the core of which shall be religion, morals and patriotism; the law shall preserve its legitimate entity and strengthen its ties and values".
"A lot of people shy away from reporting cases of family violence because of the association between the concept of violence and family privacy. They consider it a family private matter that should be dealt with within the boundaries of the family without the intervention of others and that it should not be brought to the open as it represents an insult to the family in their social circle as inspired by some of the social norms associated with this issue", indicated Judge Dr. Suhair Jayousy from the Judicial Council in a working paper titled "Preserving family privacy (alternative penalties and measures
