NCHR, however, is of the view that some traditional notions and cultural heritage make it
considerably more difficult to overcome violence against women, as customs, in certain
cases, condone violence against women and consider it socially acceptable, this is in
addition to the existence of some discriminatory laws that are used to justify violence
against women, besides the failure of the line institutions to give a clear indication of the
magnitude of violence against women in Jordan, as there are uneven figures at these
institutions for cases of violence against women they monitored, or the number of women
victims of violence they received.
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With regards to the legal protection, it is to be noted that the Protection from
Domestic Violence Law no 15 for the year 2017 was promulgated and published in
the Official Gazette on 16/5/2017. The Law aims to preserve the family and promote
the application of alternative penalties in place of the deprivation of liberty. Also
article (92) of the Penal Code states that rape is the sexual intercourse with a woman
(other than his wife) without her consent etc.
Recently Article (308) of the Jordanian Penal Code for the Year 1960, and its
amendments, was repealed, allow rapists to escape punishment if they marry their
victims, in response to the NCHR, the civil society and the treaty-based bodies
recommendations.
A Regulation for Shelters of Vulnerable Women No. 171 for the year 2016 was
enacted and published in the Official Gazette. Also shelters were established in in
more than one governorate.
With respect to the crimes perpetrated under the pretext of the so-called honorkilling, it is to be noted that they were excluded from the mitigation granted under
articles (97) and (98) of the Jordanian Penal Code if they were inflicted on who did
not complete fifteen years old, male or female. This was upheld by the Court of
Cassation, that considered the application of Article (98) of the Penal Code to
offences committed in the name of so-called honor crimes is unlawful, if was done
without the verification of the availability of the requirements of Article (340) that
follows the principle that special law derogated from general law.
8- Counter-terrorism measures (arts. 4 and 9)
The definition of terrorism is characterized by being cumbersome, and far away from clarity
and conciseness. The legislator used a number of synonymous words that are generic and
broad, which broadens criminalization by attributing the terrorism crime to offences that do
not fall within this scope, contrary to the legislative drafting principles.
The legislator after having provided the definition of this crime, it stated the acts that
constitute crimes of terrorism as engaging in acts that would expose the Kingdom to the risk
of acts of aggression or disrupt its relations with a foreign state, or exposes Jordanians to
reprisals against their person or their property.
Since that the legal basis (the legal text) is considered the legal rule that determines the
statutory model of the crime, this model should, in accordance to the general principles of
the legislative drafting, be clear so as to ensure the precise determination of its elements to
enable individuals to regulate their conduct accordingly. Also this violates the principle of
legality, which states that “There is no crime and no punishment without a law", and the
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