Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

List of issues in relation to the initial report of Jordan *

A.Purpose and general obligations (arts. 1-4)

1.Please provide an update on the evaluation of specific progress made under the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities 2007-2015, and any plans for its renewal, with the active participation of organizations of persons with disabilities.

2.Please indicate what measures have been taken to fully harmonize laws and policies with the standards of the Convention, particularly to bring the concept of disability in line with the human rights model of disability in Law No. 31 of 2007.

B.Specific rights (arts. 5-30)

Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)

3.Please provide detailed information on the measures taken to provide reasonable accommodation and data on violations reported, investigations conducted and the nature of resulting sanctions.

Women with disabilities (art. 6)

4.Please provide information on the measures taken to mainstream the rights of women and girls with disabilities into the National Strategy for Women and to combat the discrimination experienced in all areas of life by women and girls with disabilities, especially the discrimination issues arising from traditional practices with cultural backgrounds.

5.Please provide an update on how women and girls with disabilities are guaranteed access to appropriate reproductive health services.

Children with disabilities (art. 7)

6.Please indicate how the rights of children with disabilities are included in the National Childhood Strategy. Please specify the measures in place to ensure the full protection of children with disabilities from all forms of corporal punishment in all settings, and how the measures have been implemented in practice. Please provide detailsabout the steps taken to ensure that there is continuous independent monitoring of the situation of violence against children with disabilities in special education centres, with the participation of organizations of persons with disabilities, and to ensure that reports are transparent and publicized.

Awareness-raising (art. 8)

7.Please provide information on any mass-media campaigns conducted in parallel to the adoption of relevant laws on the rights of persons with disabilities and those targeting to resolve discrimination issues faced persons with disabilities with the aim of leading to cultural transformation.

Accessibility (art. 9)

8.Please inform the Committee on steps to monitor and enforce compliance, including through the use of punitive sanctions, with the legal framework regulating the accessibility of public buildings and facilities. Please provide detailsabout the steps to ensure efficient application of the Access Code.

9.Please provide details about how the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities ensures that various means of information and communication and related technologies and services provided to the public are fully accessible for persons with disabilities.

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies (art. 11)

10.Pleaseprovide detailsabout the measures in place to ensure the accessibility of humanitarian and emergency services available to refugees with disabilities, in particular those living in refugee camps,particularly with respect to assistive devices, shelters, relief and other services and facilities, including social support and health services.

Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)

11.Please provide updated information on the planned legal reforms, including to the Civil Code (Law No. 43 of 1976), to repeal and replace substituted decision-making with supported decision-making regimes in the exercise of legal capacity.

12.Please explain the measures taken to ensure the equal right of all persons with disabilities to own or inherit property or control their own financial affairs, including handling bank accounts and banking services, and including access to electronic services.

Access to justice (art. 13)

13.Please inform the Committee on concrete plans to repeal article 3(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure and to ensure that persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities have effective access to justice on an equal basis with others and, specifically, are not restricted in filing a complaint directly before the judiciary.

Liberty and security of the person (art. 14)

14.Please specify the number of persons deprived of their liberty on the grounds that “they constitute a danger for themselves and/or society”and the measures taken to repeal these provisions and the criteria and protocols that are applied in those cases to ensure judicial oversight to safeguard the liberty and security of persons with disabilities.

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment(art.15)

15.Please provide details on the national monitoring mechanism for the prevention of torture, including whether it is mandated to monitor all settings in which persons with disabilities may be deprived of their liberty.

16.Please provide update information on the steps to adopt legislation to protect women with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities from forced sterilization.

Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse (art. 16)

17.Please provide information on the prevalence and trends of different forms of violence against persons with disabilities and the measures taken to implement the pillar in the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilitieson combating violence and abuse. Please provide detailson the services and programmes in place to ensure the effective recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration of victims of violence, particularly women and girls with disabilities.

18.Please provide details on any training provided to family members and caregivers of persons with disabilities, health and law enforcement personnel to recognize all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, particularly for orphans.

Liberty of movement and nationality (art. 18)

19.Please indicate the measures in place to ensure that, in accordance with the Civil Status Act No. 9 of 2001, every newborn child with a disability, particularly those living in rural and remote areas and in refugee settlements, is registered upon birth and given a name and a nationality.

Living independently and being included in the community (art. 19)

20.Please inform the Committee about any national strategy to ensure that persons with disabilities, regardless of place of residence, have access to a range of community and independent-living support services, as managed by persons with disabilities.

Personal mobility (art. 20)

21.Please provide the percentage and the mechanism of the public budget allocated to supporting persons with disabilities to obtain mobility aids, devices and other assistive technologies and forms of life assistance and intermediaries, in view of enhancing their personal autonomy.

Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information (art. 21)

22.Please provide updated data on the adoption of legislation to ensure that private entities that provide services to the general public and mass media outlets that provide information do so in accessible forms and formats for all persons with disabilities.

23.Please provide updated data on any steps to recognize Jordanian sign language as an official language.

Respect for home and the family (art. 23)

24.Please provide information on when the repeal is intendedof article 12 of the Provisional Personal Status Law of 2010 requiring judicial authorization for marriages for persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities.

Education (art. 24)

25.Please provide updated data on the number of children with disabilities, disaggregated by type of impairment, sex and area of residence (rural/urban), who are deprived of education and the measures taken to remedy that situation.

26.Please informthe Committee about the measures taken to overcome the obstacles for achieving inclusive education for persons with disabilities and the proportion of the State budget allocated to increasing the enrolment and retention of children with disabilities in mainstream schools.

27.Please provide clarification regarding an assessment of the degree of impairment as a criterion for reducing university fees of students with disabilities and for being selected as a teacher with disabilities.

Health (art. 25)

28.Please provide information about the measures taken to increase the standard of and access to, and about, health care for persons with disabilities, and the training of medical staff.

Work and employment (art. 27)

29.Please provide updated statistics on the number of unemployed men and women with disabilities in comparison with persons without impairments, and information on whether there is a plan to develop employment strategies for persons with disabilities.

30.Please provide details on the existence of mechanisms and procedures in place for persons with disabilities to address discrimination in all matters related to employment and conditions of work, including providing reasonable accommodation. Please provide statistical data on the number of such complaints and their resolution.

Adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28)

31.Please provide details on how specific measures for persons with disabilities are mainstreamed in the National Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Participation in political and public life (art. 29)

32.Please indicate whether the repeal is plannedof the provisions of the Election Act exempting persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities from exercising their right to participate in elections.