Day: April 16, 2024

HRH Princess Basma bint Talal, honorary president of Save the Children (SC) Jordan, warned of the dangers of child begging, including child labor as a form of human trafficking and called for confronting this phenomenon, addressing its causes, and activating national laws that guarantee children’s rights and protection, which is guaranteed by the Jordanian Constitution as well.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of a project on enhancing the capacity of national regulations to protect and safeguard the rights of children in begging situations, Princess Basma stressed the importance of developing effective programs, interventions, and care to ensure that these children are permanently taken away from the streets and roads, and that they do not return to begging.

The ceremony, organized by SC Jordan and the Justice Center for Legal Aid (JCLA), included the launch of an analytical study on the legal framework related to the protection of children in begging situations, and the recommendations of the policy paper
and legal framework for the protection of children in begging situations.

Princess Basma emphasized the importance of the project, which sheds light on one of the most vulnerable and fragile categories of children, pointing out the importance of working in a team spirit to change the approach to dealing with this group, and promote a rights-based protection system that respects the dignity of children.

HRH commended all national partners working in the field of child protection, especially the Ministry of Social Development and the judiciary, for their role in protecting and safeguarding the rights of this group of vulnerable children, as well as the European Union, which supports the program.

She also praised the efforts of the SC Jordan team on the 50th anniversary of its establishment, and its role in advocating for children’s rights and defending them in all fields.

For her part, Minister of Social Development Wafa Bani Mustafa said that the ministry attaches special importance to reducing begging cas
es through interventions and measures it provided, and included increasing and intensifying the number of daily campaigns across the Kingdom, increasing the scope of the paths allocated for campaigns in Amman, and limiting the bailing of arrested beggars.

Bani Mustafa explained that the ministry’s measures also include activating long sentences to ensure that beggars do not return to the street within a short period of time, and ensuring that the required interventions are carried out while they are present, in cooperation with strategic partners, especially the judiciary, public security department and relevant authorities.

Deputy Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Jordan, Thibaut Moyer, emphasized the importance of ensuring the rights of children and keeping them off the streets for a just society and building a better future for them and Jordan.

He pointed to the EU’s commitment to supporting initiatives that provide opportunities and protection for all children, and the role that civil society
organizations can play in fighting poverty, which is a cause of child begging.

SC CEO Diala Khumra called for unifying efforts to provide protection for this group of children and guarantee their right to a happy and safe childhood and their basic rights to survival, development, education and participation.

JCLA Director, Hadeel AbdulAziz, said that in light of the results of the project and the recommendations of the study, the JCLA will take a set of steps and measures that will contribute to translating legislation and strategies to improve the life of children and their families.

A study on exploited children in begging was also presented at the ceremony.

Source: Jordan News Agency

“Whoever violates international law must be held accountable, and whoever endangers the security of the region and its peoples and international peace and security must be held accountable, and the world must act according to the same standards and tell everyone that whoever plunges the region into conflict, whoever violates international law, and whoever violates international humanitarian law will face a single unified international position,” Safadi said, stressing, “This is how we protect our credibility as an international community and protect the credibility of international law, and how we prevent the expansion of conflicts and the danger they pose to everyone.”

“Jordan has paid the price for the conflicts taking place in the region, as Jordan now hosts 1.3 million Syrian refugees, and Jordan has done everything it can to provide them with decent living conditions, but after more than 11 years of the crisis, Jordan almost alone bears this responsibility, as no country is more concerned with achieving
peace, security and stability in the region than Jordan,” Safadi added.

On the other hand, Safadi received phone calls today and yesterday evening from Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot, during which they emphasized the need to stop the escalation in the region.

Safadi emphasized that stopping the aggression on Gaza is the main requirement for de-escalation, warning against the continuation of the aggression on Gaza and its catastrophic repercussions on regional and international peace and security.

Source: Jordan News Agency

“We in Jordan have our own issues with Iran, and we have been clear in asking it not to interfere in the internal affairs of Arab countries, and to stop many practices that push towards escalation,” he said.

“Jordan has direct issues with Iran regarding the smuggling of drugs and weapons into Jordan through the Syrian border, and those involved in smuggling operations are groups with clear links to Iran, and we have clearly informed Iran of this.”

“We will not allow Iran or Israel to turn Jordan into an arena for conflict,” Safadi emphasized.

“There is also what is happening in Gaza, the unprecedented war and the amount of destruction it is causing, and the violations of international law and international humanitarian law, and this must stop, and international law must be applied according to the same standards and not double standards, and in order to prevent escalation, everyone must do their part, Iran must not escalate, Israel must not escalate, and Israel must also stop the war that pushes the entire
region towards the expansion of the conflict, not only in Gaza, but what is happening in the West Bank, and the clashes on the Israeli-Lebanese border as well, so the position must be clear, the issue here is not Iran, and the focus should be on what is happening in Gaza, and on this aggression, which is unparalleled in the killing and destruction it causes.”

“This war killed more Palestinian children than all the wars in the world in the last four years, destroyed the infrastructure in a way we have not seen in decades, and displaced 1.7 million Palestinians, and if we really want to work for peace and de-escalation, we have to look at the whole picture, and we cannot accept that Israel violates international law without deterrence and that we treat it with different standard than everyone else.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

“We have been working for months to advance peace in the Middle East, and all countries are working wisely. We emphasize that Iran’s plan to sow the seeds of violence cannot succeed, and we must not further inflame the region. We must act wisely and responsibly and not allow a third country to become a zone for this war, and we must reduce escalation and violence in the entire region,” she added.

In response to a question about the delivery of aid to Gaza and the crossings, Safadi said, “The crossings have not been opened yet, and there is a famine in Gaza because Israel prevents the entry of aid, and we emphasize and the whole world emphasizes the need to open all crossings for the entry of aid adequately and immediately to all parts of the Gaza Strip, and the United Nations must assume responsibility for the distribution and receipt of this aid because no other party is able to do so.”

“So far, the United Nations is not working effectively in Gaza because the requirements for its work and safety are not a
vailable, and we call on and emphasize that preventing the worsening of the famine that the Gazans are experiencing requires that Israel open all crossings and remove all obstacles that prevent this.”

Safadi referred to the role of UNRWA, saying, “No one is able to do what UNRWA does in terms of distributing aid and helping the Palestinians, and I would like to thank Germany for the support it provided to the agency because supporting the agency means supporting the Palestinians’ right to life and because the agency saves the lives of children, women, and men from the growing threat of famine.”

In response to a question about the Iranian escalation, Safadi said, “We are all against escalation, and we are all working to reduce it, and the Iranian attacks were in response to Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, and Iran announced that it would not go further than that, and in order to prevent escalation, the international community must exert pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister so that he
does not respond and plunge the region into a new war, and it is no secret that the Israeli Prime Minister’s policy aims to expand the conflict to ease the growing pressure on him internationally due to his killing, war and destruction in Gaza.

“To achieve security and stability, we need to prevent any party from escalating, and this applies to both Iran and Israel,” he added.

Source: Jordan News Agency

“We have been working for months to advance peace in the Middle East, and all countries are working wisely. We emphasize that Iran’s plan to sow the seeds of violence cannot succeed, and we must not further inflame the region. We must act wisely and responsibly and not allow a third country to become a zone for this war, and we must reduce escalation and violence in the entire region,” she added.

In response to a question about the delivery of aid to Gaza and the crossings, Safadi said, “The crossings have not been opened yet, and there is a famine in Gaza because Israel prevents the entry of aid, and we emphasize and the whole world emphasizes the need to open all crossings for the entry of aid adequately and immediately to all parts of the Gaza Strip, and the United Nations must assume responsibility for the distribution and receipt of this aid because no other party is able to do so.”

“So far, the United Nations is not working effectively in Gaza because the requirements for its work and safety are not a
vailable, and we call on and emphasize that preventing the worsening of the famine that the Gazans are experiencing requires that Israel open all crossings and remove all obstacles that prevent this.”

Safadi referred to the role of UNRWA, saying, “No one is able to do what UNRWA does in terms of distributing aid and helping the Palestinians, and I would like to thank Germany for the support it provided to the agency because supporting the agency means supporting the Palestinians’ right to life and because the agency saves the lives of children, women, and men from the growing threat of famine.”

In response to a question about the Iranian escalation, Safadi said, “We are all against escalation, and we are all working to reduce it, and the Iranian attacks were in response to Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, and Iran announced that it would not go further than that, and in order to prevent escalation, the international community must exert pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister so that he
does not respond and plunge the region into a new war, and it is no secret that the Israeli Prime Minister’s policy aims to expand the conflict to ease the growing pressure on him internationally due to his killing, war and destruction in Gaza.

“To achieve security and stability, we need to prevent any party from escalating, and this applies to both Iran and Israel,” he added.

Source: Jordan News Agency

“The situation is very difficult, and this forces us to take action at the level of the difficulty of these conditions, and this action must start with stopping the aggression and must end with solving the cause of the conflict, which is the absence of prospects for achieving the two-state solution, which is irreplaceable as a way to achieve security and stability for Palestine and Israel, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a country working for peace and has worked for peace, and we will continue our efforts,” Safadi said.

Safadi stressed, “The road to peace will not pass without resolving the Palestinian issue on the foundations that meet the right of the Palestinian people to a free and dignified life and an independent and sovereign state like any other people.”

“How can anyone imagine that there can be peace with the continued oppression of more than five million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, living under oppression, living under deprivation, living under economic and political sieg
e, and all that?” Safadi concluded.

“We are working jointly with Jordan to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the people in Gaza, this is our responsibility and our humanitarian duty, but unfortunately there is very little aid actually reaching Gaza, especially in the north of the Strip,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, lauding Jordan’s efforts to improve the conditions of the people in Gaza.

“Jordan is establishing field hospitals in Gaza, coordinating airdrops, and we are also contributing with the German air force, and in the past weeks we have worked jointly for more efforts to establish a corridor from Jordan directly to Gaza to move forward with the delivery of aid,” she said, emphasizing that the Jordanian land corridor is an opportunity to improve the situation in Gaza and an opportunity for more aid to reach the Strip.

“Jordan is doing a lot for the Palestinians in Gaza, for Syrian and Palestinian refugees, and for many years, in order to support Jordan and help it bear this grea
t financial and economic burden, Germany has decided to allocate 20 million euros to the World Food Program (WFP) and an additional 5 million euros to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to improve the conditions of refugees in Jordan,” she said.

“We witnessed an unprecedented attack by the Iranian regime on Israel, and this attack puts the entire region on the brink of the abyss, and Iran, through this dangerous behavior, is playing with the fate of the people of the region in the Near and Middle East, and this military escalation will have consequences,” she said.

Source: Jordan News Agency

“The situation is very difficult, and this forces us to take action at the level of the difficulty of these conditions, and this action must start with stopping the aggression and must end with solving the cause of the conflict, which is the absence of prospects for achieving the two-state solution, which is irreplaceable as a way to achieve security and stability for Palestine and Israel, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a country working for peace and has worked for peace, and we will continue our efforts,” Safadi said.

Safadi stressed, “The road to peace will not pass without resolving the Palestinian issue on the foundations that meet the right of the Palestinian people to a free and dignified life and an independent and sovereign state like any other people.”

“How can anyone imagine that there can be peace with the continued oppression of more than five million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, living under oppression, living under deprivation, living under economic and political sieg
e, and all that?” Safadi concluded.

“We are working jointly with Jordan to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the people in Gaza, this is our responsibility and our humanitarian duty, but unfortunately there is very little aid actually reaching Gaza, especially in the north of the Strip,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, lauding Jordan’s efforts to improve the conditions of the people in Gaza.

“Jordan is establishing field hospitals in Gaza, coordinating airdrops, and we are also contributing with the German air force, and in the past weeks we have worked jointly for more efforts to establish a corridor from Jordan directly to Gaza to move forward with the delivery of aid,” she said, emphasizing that the Jordanian land corridor is an opportunity to improve the situation in Gaza and an opportunity for more aid to reach the Strip.

“Jordan is doing a lot for the Palestinians in Gaza, for Syrian and Palestinian refugees, and for many years, in order to support Jordan and help it bear this grea
t financial and economic burden, Germany has decided to allocate 20 million euros to the World Food Program (WFP) and an additional 5 million euros to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to improve the conditions of refugees in Jordan,” she said.

“We witnessed an unprecedented attack by the Iranian regime on Israel, and this attack puts the entire region on the brink of the abyss, and Iran, through this dangerous behavior, is playing with the fate of the people of the region in the Near and Middle East, and this military escalation will have consequences,” she said.

Source: Jordan News Agency

“The situation is very difficult, and this forces us to take action at the level of the difficulty of these conditions, and this action must start with stopping the aggression and must end with solving the cause of the conflict, which is the absence of prospects for achieving the two-state solution, which is irreplaceable as a way to achieve security and stability for Palestine and Israel, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a country working for peace and has worked for peace, and we will continue our efforts,” Safadi said.

Safadi stressed, “The road to peace will not pass without resolving the Palestinian issue on the foundations that meet the right of the Palestinian people to a free and dignified life and an independent and sovereign state like any other people.”

“How can anyone imagine that there can be peace with the continued oppression of more than five million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, living under oppression, living under deprivation, living under economic and political sieg
e, and all that?” Safadi concluded.

“We are working jointly with Jordan to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the people in Gaza, this is our responsibility and our humanitarian duty, but unfortunately there is very little aid actually reaching Gaza, especially in the north of the Strip,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, lauding Jordan’s efforts to improve the conditions of the people in Gaza.

“Jordan is establishing field hospitals in Gaza, coordinating airdrops, and we are also contributing with the German air force, and in the past weeks we have worked jointly for more efforts to establish a corridor from Jordan directly to Gaza to move forward with the delivery of aid,” she said, emphasizing that the Jordanian land corridor is an opportunity to improve the situation in Gaza and an opportunity for more aid to reach the Strip.

“Jordan is doing a lot for the Palestinians in Gaza, for Syrian and Palestinian refugees, and for many years, in order to support Jordan and help it bear this grea
t financial and economic burden, Germany has decided to allocate 20 million euros to the World Food Program (WFP) and an additional 5 million euros to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to improve the conditions of refugees in Jordan,” she said.

“We witnessed an unprecedented attack by the Iranian regime on Israel, and this attack puts the entire region on the brink of the abyss, and Iran, through this dangerous behavior, is playing with the fate of the people of the region in the Near and Middle East, and this military escalation will have consequences,” she said.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) has escalated its aerial operations as of 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday to prevent any unauthorized intrusion into the Kingdom’s airspace, stated a spokesperson for the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) – the Arab Army, early Tuesday.

The JAF spokesperson emphasized that this measure reaffirms Jordan’s unwavering stance against the unauthorized use of its airspace for any purpose, underscoring its violation of Jordanian sovereignty and potential risks to homeland security and the safety of its citizens.

The JAF spokesperson urged the public to refrain from succumbing to unfounded rumors that may instill fear in the community, advising them to seek information from credible sources.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) has escalated its aerial operations as of 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday to prevent any unauthorized intrusion into the Kingdom’s airspace, stated a spokesperson for the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) – the Arab Army, early Tuesday.

The JAF spokesperson emphasized that this measure reaffirms Jordan’s unwavering stance against the unauthorized use of its airspace for any purpose, underscoring its violation of Jordanian sovereignty and potential risks to homeland security and the safety of its citizens.

The JAF spokesperson urged the public to refrain from succumbing to unfounded rumors that may instill fear in the community, advising them to seek information from credible sources.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) has escalated its aerial operations as of 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday to prevent any unauthorized intrusion into the Kingdom’s airspace, stated a spokesperson for the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) – the Arab Army, early Tuesday.

The JAF spokesperson emphasized that this measure reaffirms Jordan’s unwavering stance against the unauthorized use of its airspace for any purpose, underscoring its violation of Jordanian sovereignty and potential risks to homeland security and the safety of its citizens.

The JAF spokesperson urged the public to refrain from succumbing to unfounded rumors that may instill fear in the community, advising them to seek information from credible sources.

Source: Jordan News Agency

“The West Bank is boiling; there are ongoing Israeli measures that escalate the situation in the West Bank, there are land confiscations, there is increasing settlement, there are military operations against Palestinians, and there is also settler terrorism, which since last Friday has killed 7 Palestinians and injured more than 70, and led to the destruction of dozens of houses,” Safadi said.

“What we must all work for is to stop all forms of escalation and stop this destructive war on Gaza, and to emphasize that what is happening in the West Bank is also a danger that cannot be accepted and another aggravating factor that must be stopped,” he stressed.

“There is a people being subjected to a vicious war; there are children dying of hunger; there is a whole society being destroyed, and this will not achieve security and will not achieve peace, neither for Israel, nor for Palestine, nor for the entire region,” he said.

Safadi lauded Germany’s role in addressing the humanitarian catastrophe and bringing aid
into Gaza.

“There is a famine in Gaza simply because Israel prevents the entry of aid and uses starvation as a weapon, and this must end, and infants must not die of thirst, and women must not die because there is no medicine for them,” he said, stressing that this situation violates all international laws and violates all humanitarian values and must stop.

“We are ready to continue working with Germany to confront this disaster and we in Jordan are ready to open a direct supply line from Jordan to Gaza. We can send more than 500 trucks to Gaza daily, but the question is when these trucks reach the crossings in the north, who will receive them? The United Nations should be responsible for receiving and distributing aid, which it does not do because Israel prevents it, and the United Nations requires guarantees for its security and the security of its employees, and this must be achieved, and it cannot allow relief workers to be exposed to the killing of employees of the World Central Kitchen over the past w
eeks,” he added.

Safadi emphasized that the aid so far is minimal and does not meet the needs of the Palestinians. According to UN estimates, Gaza needs 800 trucks per day, and the rate of entry of trucks has not reached 8 trucks per day since October 7.

“We will continue to work with Germany and our partners to deliver even the minimum life requirements for children and women, and for the 2.3 million Palestinians who are facing real famine,” he said.

Source: Jordan News Agency