•
•
•
With respect to the Domestic Violence Law, it is noted that the Law is not
sufficiently activated. Also, despite that the Law was issued in 2008, but the
required regulations that operationalize it were issued in 2010, in addition to the
non-activating the Family Reconciliation Committees, given the small number of
cases that they considered, that they reached 10 in total, out (18) thousand cases of
domestic violence registered since 2008 .
The problem in Article 308 of the Penal Code that allows a rapists to escape
punishment if they agree to marry his victim.
The battered women prefer not to report cases of domestic violence, because they
do not want for the abuser to be fined or imprisoned, who is often a family member,
whether the husband, father or brother .
5- The crimes under the pretext of the so-called honor- killing: the exclusion of crimes
committed under the pretext of the so-called honor crimes from the mitigation granted
under articles (97) and (98) if the act was inflicted on who did not complete fifteen years
old, male or female. Also in 2010 and 2011 no court ruling accepted to take account of the
mitigated excuse. These are deemed commendable improvements in the fight against
impunity. Statistics surveys of court rulings on murder cases that have been committed
under the pretext of honor which benefited from the mitigating factors, indicates that the
punishment of such crimes was not less than (10) years. In 2013 the courts considered ten
cases committed under the pretext of honor, one of them was sentenced a death penalty,
and in the other was sentenced (20)years of hard labor imprisonment, while the remaining
cases are still under consideration .And the Act amending the Penal Code for the year 2011
increased the punishment on the perpetrators of physical and sexual violence like the
crimes of; rape, the violent affront to modesty, kidnapping and sexual harassment.
The Family Protection Department in collaboration with the Ministry of Social
Development deals with cases of domestic violence through qualified personnel in all of its
branches that exist in most of the Jordanian Governorates, and provides a safe haven that
offers integrated services to women victims of domestic violence through the Rusaifa
Home Shelter for Women, Dar Al Yafiaat (a care home that rehabilitates graduates
of Jordan orphanages who completed 18 years old), and Dar al Wifaq Al Osari Home
Shelter (Family Reconciliation House), which is affiliated to the Ministry of Social
Development, provides integrated services to victims of domestic violence. In 2013 the
Shelter won a UN Public Service Award for Gender, in recognition of its efforts and
achievements. The Shelter’s services include; sanctuary, social, medical and therapeutic
services as well as the psychological counseling. The Shelter recently established a new
affiliated branch in Irbid Governorate. It also worthy to note here that, the Shelter runs a
program that affords protection for the run-away women from their families and precludes
incarcerated them the (CRCs).
11