The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) | Shadow report
Right to physical and mental health
57. The Committee is concerned about the general inadequacy of funding for
and the persistent disparities in access to public health-care services in the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Committee is also concerned about reports of inadequate mental health care, including for women and children
who are victims of domestic violence (art. 12).
58. The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Take all measures necessary to improve its health-care services and
guarantee the enjoyment of the right to good-quality and affordable
health care to all persons throughout the State party;
(b) Earmark funding to improve mental health-care services at both the
preventive and the curative levels, including for women and children
who are victims of domestic violence.
59. In this regard, the Committee recalls its general comment No. 14 (2000) on
the right to the highest attainable standard of health.
60. The Committee is concerned about the highly restrictive legal framework
for legal access to abortion, which subjects both doctors and patients to
criminal prosecution under articles 321, 322 and 324 of the Jordanian Criminal Code of 1960, as incorporated by the State party, and which also results
in unsafe abortions (art. 12).
61. The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)Amend parts of the domestic legal and institutional framework, including articles 321, 322 and 324 of the Jordanian Criminal Code of 1960,
as incorporated by the State party, to ensure that women and girls who
undergo abortions and the doctors or others who attend to them are
not subject to criminal penalties, as also recommended by the Human
RightsCommittee;30
(b) Duly takes into consideration the World Health Organization Abortion
Care Guideline.31
62. In this regard, the Committee recalls its general comment No. 22 (2016) on
the right to sexual and reproductive health.
63. The Committee is concerned about reports that the State party’s health
insurance system is governed by multiple legislative and administrative
frameworks, which increases the transactional and administrative burdens
for patients and health-care providers alike, and about reports that referrals
30
31
CCPR/C/PSE/CO/1, para. 16 (a).
Geneva, 2022.
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