AMMAN — The Jordanian Judicial Council and the
Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY)
signed a memorandum of understanding which sets the stage for launching
the sixth phase of Karama program.
اضافة اعلان
The 2022–2026 program, funded by the Danish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, aims at eliminating pre-trial detention in the Kingdom.
The DIGNITY
website said Karama is a national anti-torture program, which was launched in
2008, and focuses on eliminating the use of torture and other forms of
ill-treatment in places of detention in Jordan.
The memorandum was signed in a brief ceremony at the
Amman Moevenpick hotel on Monday. It brought together DIGNITY Senior Program
Officer Samah Abu Khalifeh, Chief Public Prosecution Office Yousef Thiabat,
DIGNITY CEO and Director Rasmus Christensen, representative of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Denmark Andreas Thulstrup, and DIGNITY Director in Jordan
Yasar Abdu.
Christensen said that the memorandum “will pave the
way for the next phase of Karama program.”
According to Christensen, DIGNITY is a human-right
organization that was established 40 years ago as a proactive rehabilitation
center for torture victims in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.
He said that the organization is specialized in
“rehabilitation of traumatized victims, prevention of torture, and
documentation of human rights violations. It works in partnership with more
than 25 countries, as well as with government authorities and research
institutions around the world”.
“Torture is one of the most devastating human rights
violations, and has severe consequences on the victims and their families,”
DIGNITY’s CEO pointed out.
He told
Jordan News that “the specific focus
of the Karama program over the next five years will be to decrease the number
of people in pre-trail detention and to ensure that
detention only takes place
in accordance with international standards, with special focus on young people
in particular.”
“Compared to many countries around the world, the
situation is not terrible in Jordan, but there is always a room for improvement
when it comes to torture and the use of ill-treatments,” Christensen said.
DIGNITY Director Abdu said that the memorandum “is a
culmination of the achievements of the Karama Program in its past five phases”.
“We shared joint efforts, and built national
partnerships that lasted for 14 years, through national and international
anti-torture discussions, to constantly search for everything new and useful in
line with the national legislations and relevant international agreements,”
Abdu said.
Speaking about the achievements of Karama program in
its previous phases, he pointed out that most prominent were “expanding the
legal vision, conducting enriching discussion meetings for the program’s
members and other partners, preparing a guide for lawyers about their role in
pre-trial detention, and preparing specialized procedural guides about
pre-trial detention”.
The
UN states that torture is a crime under
international law. According to all relevant instruments, it is absolutely
prohibited and cannot be justified under any circumstances.
This prohibition forms part of customary
international law, which means that it is binding on every member of the
international community, regardless of whether a state has ratified
international treaties in which torture is expressly prohibited. The systematic
or widespread practice of torture constitutes a crime against humanity.
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