JORDAN Country Brief UNICEF Regional Study on Child Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa
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Jordan - Regional Study on Child Marriage 1 JORDAN Country Brief UNICEF Regional Study on Child Marriage In the Middle East and North Africa UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Oce This report was developed in collaboration with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The views expressed and information contained in the report are not necessarily those of, or endorsed by, UNICEF. Acknowledgements The development of this report was a joint effort with UNICEF regional and country offices and partners, with contributions from UNFPA. Thanks to UNICEF and UNFPA Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, Morocco and Egypt Country and Regional Offices and their partners for their collaboration and crucial inputs to the development of the report. Proposed citation: ‘Child Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa – Jordan Country Brief’, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Middle East and North Africa Regional Office in collaboration with the International Center for Research on Women (IRCW), 2017. Jordan - Regional Study on Child Marriage 3 4 Jordan - Regional Study on Child Marriage JORDAN Regional Study on Child Marriage Key Recommendations Girls’ Voice and Agency Build the capacity of local organizations Eliminate gendered barriers to to address child marriage through in- education. creased financial and human resources, strengthening referral systems, improv- Implement programmes that of- ing case management for prevention fer vocational training to girls and response, and increasing knowl- ages 15 to18, and raise families’ edge of child marriage laws amongst awareness on their daughters’ service providers. productive potential. Legal Context Household and Community Atti- The National Council for Family Affairs’ tudes and Behaviours Child Marriage Task Force should coordi- Develop holistic, participatory com- munity programming that address- nate campaigns to reform the personal es norms around child marriage. status law’s loopholes on child marriage and change discriminatory nationali- Carefully engage receptive reli- ty laws that prohibit Jordanian wom- gious leaders and support them en with foreign husbands from passing to become advocates for child their citizenship rights to their children. marriage prevention. Evidence Generation Service Delivery Develop context-specific conceptual Design a new child marriage pre- frameworks for understanding the na- vention campaign, based on the ture of restrictive mobility, how it affects Amani campaign model, to pro- at-risk and already married girls’ access mote individual and institutional to services, and how it may vary depend- awareness of child marriage. ing on the local context. Jordan - Regional Study on Child Marriage 5 before the age of 18 and less than 1 per cent had POLITICAL married before 15.7 This figure includes Syrian ref- & ECONOMIC CONTEXT ugee girls, who were purposefully included in the 2012 sampling frame for the first time. Figure 1 shows Due to ongoing political instability in the trends in child marriage in Jordan from 2002 to 2012, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, showing a fairly consistent decline in marriage below Jordan has become a central hub for refu- age 18 and age 15. The percent of women 20 to 24 gees fleeing violence. As of June 30, 2017, who had married before the age of 18 has decreased over 660,000 Syrians have registered as ref- from 11.1 per cent in 2002 to 8.4 per cent in 2012, ugees with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) whilst marriage below 15 declined from 0.9 per cent 8 in Jordan.1 Jordan’s total refugee and dis- to 0.3 per cent in the same time frame. placed person population,2 including Iraqis and Palestinians is 1.5 million, representing Figure 1: Percentage of women 20-24 married by a quarter of its overall population. The influx exact ages 15 and 18 in Jordan, 2002 to 2012 of refugees has strained the country’s infra- structure and led to an increase in social and political tensions.3 It has also had a negative 25 effect on the Jordanian economy, resulting in disrupted trade routes, decreased tourism 20 and lower investments.4 Jordan also faces 15 high unemployment rates and increased 11.1 5 9.6 10.2 competition for jobs. These difficulties 10 8.4 have led the Jordanian public to focus on the negative impacts of the Syri- 5 0.9 1.1 an refugee crisis, hampering the govern- 0.7 0.3 ment’s ability to effectively respond to the 0 2002 2007 2009 2012 influx of refugees.6 in 2017 Percent of women 20-24 married before age 15 Percent of women 20-24 married before age 18 660,000 Source: JPFHS 2002-2012 syrians have Due to its low prevalence, devoting significant re- registered as sources to ending child marriage is not a priority refugees for many of the Jordanian government officials, UN Source: UNHCR in Jordan officials, and non-governmental organization (NGO) experts interviewed for this study. However, there is increasing concern over a potential resurgence of PREVALENCE OF child marriage due to the influx of Syrian refugees. Data collected for Jordan’s Population and Family CHILD MARRIAGE Health surveys cannot show trends in child marriage amongst Syrian refugees because they were not in- The prevalence of child marriage in Jordan is cluded in the sampling frame until 2012.9 However, lower than other countries in the MENA re- trends can be estimated using marriage registration gion. According to Jordan’s most recent 2012 data, as shown in Figure 2. According to UNICEF, Population and Family Health Survey, just 8.4 12.0 per cent of registered marriages amongst Syri- per cent of women aged 20 to 24 had married ans in 2011 involved a girl under the age of 18.10 6 Jordan - Regional Study on Child Marriage This figure increased to 18.4 per cent in 2012, from November 15-23, 2016. All interviews were 25.0 per cent in 2013 and 31.7 per cent in the coded independently by two researchers, using first quarter of 2014.11 Child marriages as a per- NVivo 11 to distill key themes which were then centage of all registered marriages have there- organized through thematic content analysis. fore increased steadily and significantly for Syr- The findings were then organized according ian girls whilst the rates for other nationalities to the Global Programme’s five outcomes (de- have held steady or slightly declined. 12 scribed below) and cross-checked with the local Figure 2: Registered child marriages for researchers to ensure that the data were consis- girls aged 15-17 years as a percentage of tent with their overall impressions during the all registered marriages, by nationality, Jor- field missions. dan, 2011-2014 Table 1: Key Informant Interviews 25 Government 20 Supreme Judge Department 15 Ministry of Social Development 10 Ministry of Awqaf & Islamic Affairs 5 UN 0 UNICEF Country Office 2011 2012 2013 UNDP Regional Office Syrian Iraqi UN Women UNFPA Palestinian Other Jordanian NGOs Source: UNICEF 2015 13 Institute for Family Health Despite the rise in the proportion of all Syr- National Council for Family Affairs ian marriages in Jordan that are registered to girls less than age 18, the vast majority of International Medical Corps girls who married below the age of 18 in Jor- Mizan Law Group for Human Rights dan are still Jordanian nationals. Syrian girls Jordanian National Commission for Women accounted for just 0.5 per cent of all child marriages in Jordan in 2011, 1.7 per cent in Sisterhood is Global Institute 2012 and 7.6 per cent in 2013.14 Arab Women Organisation Arab Renaissance for Democracy and METHODOLOGY Development The data presented here was collected via LIMITATIONS key informant interviews with staff in three This report presents the main findings strictly based governmental institutions, four UN agen- on the interviews conducted in Amman and is, cies and eight non-governmental organiza- therefore, limited to those categories of respon- tions. A total of 15 interviews were conduct- dents. Considering the study’s goals and focus on ed in person by a national researcher, from scaling up promising programmatic approaches, November 15-23, 2016. All interviews were the study focused on service providers, government coded independently by two researchers, officials, multilateral agencies, and donors—all of Jordan - Regional Study on Child Marriage 7 whom would be able to identify ‘best prac- Many key informants noted that restricting the tices’ to end child marriage. As a result, the freedom of movement of girls at risk of and affect- findings are only representative of these re- ed by child marriage is common in Jordan, and is spondent’s views of promising approaches further reinforced in the context of the Syrian ref- to end child marriage in Jordan. ugee crisis. Interviews with child marriage experts indicated that mobility restrictions have import- ant implications for girls’ access to education and KEY FINDINGS health services. The key findings are outlined within the Box 1: Quote from NGO Expert framework of the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Pro- gramme’s five outcomes:16 Adolescent girls at risk of and affected by Pregnant girls and young mothers can go to school if the family will care for them, but child marriage are better able to express chances of girls returning to school after and exercise their choices. childbirth is slim. Households demonstrate positive atti- tudes and behaviours regarding gender equality and equity. In education, for example, systems can constrain Relevant sectoral systems deliver quality married girls from attending schools. A combina- and cost-effective services to meet the tion of stigma with respect to being married (re- needs of adolescent girls. lated to the assumption that the girl has engaged in a sexual relationship with her husband), gender National laws, policy frameworks and norms affecting household responsibilities of mar- mechanisms to protect and promote ried girls, financial constraints, and early pregnan- adolescent girls’ rights are in line with cy still prevent most pregnant, parenting or mar- international standards and properly re- ried girls from returning to school.