Jordan – annual report 2022

Details
Published: September 4, 2023
Training of trainers: Workshop in Amman on establishing facts in court and techniques for the questioning of witnesses and defendants in criminal proceedings, December 2022.
Training of trainers: Workshop in Amman on establishing facts in court and techniques for the questioning of witnesses and defendants in criminal proceedings, December 2022.

Strategic Framework

Legal Policy Starting Point

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is an important partner to the European Union and a key player in the region, maintaining good relations with both the Palestinian leadership and Israel and in doing so playing a significant role as a mediator in the Middle East conflict. Despite some domestic tension, it is one of the most stable and secure countries in the region, providing a refuge for people from neighbouring conflict areas.

In response to the “brief Jordanian spring”, King Abdullah II initiated a long-term reform process that continues to this day. The year 2022 was accompanied by numerous changes as well. Recent amendments to the Constitution, the Political Parties Act and the Electoral Act have brought progress to the modernisation of the political system envisaged by King Abdullah II. Moreover, there was another reshuffle of Prime Minister Al-Khasawneh’s cabinet in October 2022.

Jordan enacted a new Investment Climate Law in October 2022 to address the continuing high levels of unemployment. It entered into force in January 2023 and replaced the previous Investment Law from 2014. The new provisions aim to improve the conditions for investment by defining the rights and obligations of investors, guaranteeing their equal treatment, ensuring a stable legal framework and by cutting red tape to facilitate administrative and judicial procedures.

Digitisation of the judiciary and public administration are key issues, and Jordan has achieved some important progress in these areas. A recent study by the European Investment Bank indicates that the country’s digitisation process largely took place within the banking sector. The progress achieved in the area of e-services – so all services delivered via the internet by means of information and communication technologies – is also remarkable. Jordan is ranked 100th in the United Nations 2022 E-Government Survey (E-Services Index), an improvement of 17 places compared to its position in 2020.

The ongoing digitisation process also continued in the judicial sector. Jordan made changes to the Penal Code in 2022 – Art. 25 in particular – to include alternative sanctions and alternatives to imprisonment. They include in particular the obligation to complete rehabilitation programmes, to do community service and to wear an electronic tag.

Overall Concept

IRZ has supported various institutions of the Jordanian judiciary by providing further education, training and advisory measures since the start of project work in the country in 2006.

The Jordanian Ministry of Justice and the Federal Ministry of Justice signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in September 2022 to strengthen and build on the legal and judicial cooperation between Germany and Jordan.

Aside from cooperation within the framework of institutional support provided by the Federal Ministry of Justice, IRZ is also implementing a project for “Promoting legal certainty: supporting criminal justice reforms in Jordan”, which is funded by the Federal Foreign Office. This project aims to help improve efficiency and transparency in Jordanian criminal proceedings. In this case, the project structure is based on the Jordanian capacity building strategy for the public prosecutor’s offices in the years 2021 to 2025. Its purpose is to increase quality in all phases of criminal proceedings (preliminary, intermediate, main proceedings) as well as to ensure consistent protection and enforcement of human rights. Here, the public prosecutor’s office has adopted a strategic approach that aims to improve the quality of initial investigations in the preliminary proceedings, so that the indictments sent by the public prosecutor’s office to the court and the subsequent criminal proceedings are not rejected by the court due to a lack of evidence or inadequate investigative quality. Besides these and other criminal law issues, cooperation in 2022 focused on questions regarding the process of digitising the Jordanian judiciary as well as the completion of cooperation in the area of consumer protection. IRZ also resumed its cooperation with the Constitutional Court of Jordan following the pandemic-related hiatus.

Focus of Activity in 2022

Constitutional Law, Human Rights and their Enforceability

  • Two online exchanges of experience in cooperation with the Jordanian Constitutional Court on questions of organising and structuring constitutional jurisdiction, on the role of the Constitutional Court in upholding constitutional principles and on the separation of powers in Jordan and Germany
  • Online exchange of experiences on mechanisms to protect human rights and on the right of access to information

Civil and Commercial Law

  • Two online expert talks on cooperation within the framework of the draft law for reform of the consumer protection directives and on the review of the draft law to regulate online e-commerce in the area of consumer protection
  • Online training of mediators in the area of consumer protection
  • Online exchange of experience on cooperation opportunities between the judiciary and forensic medicine in the area of civil law
  • Online exchange of experience on public procurement law and the ­lawful award of public tenders

Administration of Justice

  • Online exchange of experience on “Judicial ethics and disciplinary proceedings”
  • Online seminar on the subject of “Court hearings by video conference”
  • Online exchange of experience on the digitisation of workflows in the judiciary

Criminal and Penitentiary Law

  • Online exchange of experience on cooperation opportunities between the judiciary and forensic medicine in criminal law
  • Online exchange of experience on the use of alternative penal sanctions and alternatives to pre-trial detention
  • Online exchange of experience on the fight against tax evasion and money laundering
  • Training of the psychological service in Jordanian penitentiary ­institutions, face-to-face event in Amman

Within the framework of project support from the Federal Foreign Office on “Promoting legal certainty: supporting criminal law reforms in Jordan”

  • first meeting of the working group in Amman to develop recommendations to promote efficiency and transparency in criminal proceedings
  • hybrid seminar on “Transparency and efficiency in criminal proceedings and promoting cooperation between judicial institutions”
  • “Train the Trainer” workshop in Amman on the topics of “Establishing facts in court” and “Witness interview techniques”

Outlook

IRZ will continue to cooperate with its Jordanian partner institutions in the upcoming year. It will further intensify cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Justice in order to support Jordan in its national reform efforts, especially in the priority areas of criminal and penitentiary law and policy to combat corruption. Other important fields of cooperation include constitutional court jurisdiction and digitisation of the judiciary.

The High Judicial Council and the Jordanian Judicial Institute will remain important project partners as well. Cooperation focuses on basic and further training of the judiciary through the provision of training seminars and courses in the areas of civil and criminal law.

IRZ intends to add new thematic fields and partners to its cooperation in 2023. This includes plans to cooperate with the Jordanian Ministry of Investment on matters relating to commercial and investment law.

Please find the Annual Report 2022 here: Media centre – Annual reports.