AMMAN —
Human Rights Watch will open a regional office in Amman, Jordan, in February to
increase its advocacy on important human rights issues in the Middle East and
North Africa,
Human Rights Watch said Sunday in a statement.
اضافة اعلان
Human Rights
Watch has operated a separate Jordanian country office in Amman since 2014.
The Ministry of
Industry and Trade has approved
Human Rights Watch’s application to establish
the regional office in October 2022.
‘Positive step’“While most
governments in the Middle East and North Africa are increasingly repressing
dissent and impeding the human rights movement, Jordan has taken a positive
step toward increasing human rights engagement across the region,” said Lama
Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
“At a time when civil society space is shrinking in many countries in the region, Jordan is taking a positive step in its engagement with global institutions.”
“Our country
office in Jordan will continue to address the growing restrictions on
fundamental rights in Jordan and lobby the Jordanian government for important
human rights reforms.”
Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization with nearly 600
employees operating worldwide. The staff consists of human rights experts,
including country experts, lawyers, journalists and academics from diverse
backgrounds and over 80 nationalities.
In addition to
the regional office in Jordan, Human Rights Watch also has offices for the
Middle East and North Africa region in Tunisia and Lebanon.
Previous workEach year,
Human Rights Watch publishes hundreds of reports, briefings, press releases,
and opinion pieces on human rights conditions in 100 countries.
Recent
inquiries include an investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and
whether certain policies and practices in certain areas amount to apartheid and
persecution, the responsibility of Lebanese officials for the August 2020 blast
in Beirut, and the lack of accountability for killings and disappearances of
protesters during and after the explosion 2019–2020 popular uprising in central
and southern Iraq.
Human Rights
Watch has published dozens of reports highlighting human rights abuses in
Jordan for more than two decades, including a September 2022 report that
documented the increasing restrictions on civil society space in the country.
Human Rights
Watch is supported by contributions from individuals and foundations worldwide.
It accepts neither directly nor indirectly state funds.
“At a time when
civil society space is shrinking in many countries in the region, Jordan is
taking a positive step in its engagement with global institutions,” Fakih said.
“This is a positive step and we hope it will be accompanied by clear and
concrete steps to address urgent and ongoing human rights issues.”
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