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### Viewing cable 09AMMAN1022, CHANGES AFOOT IN JORDAN'S PERSONAL STATUS LAW

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09AMMAN1022 | 2009-05-04 10:15 | 2010-12-28 21:30 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Amman

`

    VZCZCXRO5483
    RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
    DE RUEHAM #1022/01 1241015
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    R 041015Z MAY 09
    FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5019
    INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001022

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2019
    TAGS: PGOV KWMN KISL KDEM JO
    SUBJECT: CHANGES AFOOT IN JORDAN'S PERSONAL STATUS LAW

    REF: A. 08 AMMAN 1834
    ¶B. 04 AMMAN 6160
    ¶C. 02 AMMAN 6528

    Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft
    for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

    ¶1. (C) Summary: The head of Jordan's Islamic courts is
    working on a package of amendments to the personal status
    law, which governs marriage, divorce, the status of women,
    and inheritance issues. The initial read on the amendments
    is that they would represent a step forward in the promotion
    of women's rights. Yet if the handling of past amendments to
    this law is any benchmark, passage of the new amendments may
    prove difficult. End Summary.

    The Personal Status Law
    -----------------------

    ¶2. (U) Jordan's personal status law governs the legal side
    of family life. It lays out the rules on marriage, divorce,
    the status of women, child custody, and inheritance issues.
    Many provisions of the law grant effective control over these
    issues to men, leaving women with limited recourse. While
    the law's restrictions are often less severe than those in
    many other Middle Eastern countries, they still prevent
    inheritance flows to women in certain circumstances, allow
    men to place effective travel holds on women and children
    without justification, and make divorces initiated by women
    difficult. The personal status law is implemented by
    Jordan's religious court system. For most Jordanians, this
    means that shari'a (Islamic law) courts are the ultimate
    authority over legal issues that impact the family. Note:
    Christian denominations have separate religious courts, but
    they are also bound to implement the same personal status
    law. End Note. The shari'a courts, which are completely
    separate from the civil and criminal court system, are headed
    by a Chief Justice (Qadi Al-Qudah in Arabic), who is
    appointed directly by the King. The personal status law
    impacts the family life of every Jordanian, and as such it is
    highly sensitive. The law is connected to Islamic legal
    codes and tribal traditions, and its substance and
    implementation are closely monitored by Islamist and tribal
    conservative politicians.

    New Amendments in the Works
    ---------------------------

    ¶3. (C) A new set of amendments to Jordan's personal status
    law were recently commissioned by Shari'a Court Chief Justice
    Ahmad Al-Hilayel. A first draft has been produced, and is
    now being quietly circulated through the government and
    quasi-governmental bodies which deal with family affairs for
    comments and suggestions. Contacts suggest that the
    amendments could appear as early as parliament's ordinary
    session in October, although Hilayel told poloff that his
    office was "taking its time" with the proposed changes so as
    to build consensus around them within the government before
    moving forward. Hilayel told poloff that the ultimate goal
    of the personal status law is to strengthen families. The
    proposed amendments, in his view, aim to modernize the law to
    keep pace with changes in societal attitudes while creating
    further equality between the sexes. Whether he has any
    further political motivations in their introduction is
    unclear.

    ¶4. (C) The exact content of the amendments is still under
    negotiation, and we have been told that further amendments
    will likely be added to the package before it is finalized.
    Contacts who have seen the circulated draft say that they
    deal primarily with the rights of women. The new amendments
    would eliminate the requirement that women pay back their
    dowries before divorcing their husbands -- a significant
    barrier to divorce for many women. They would also add
    something akin to "irreconcilable differences" to the list of
    official reasons that a woman can divorce her husband. Other
    amendments would expand the rights of granddaughters to
    receive inheritances and require that alimony be paid for
    children who opt to stay with their mothers after a divorce.

    2001 Amendments Hang in the Balance
    -----------------------------------

    ¶5. (C) A previous set of changes to the personal status law
    were highly controversial and never passed by parliament.
    These amendments, put forward in 2001, raised the legal
    marriage age and allowed a woman to initiate divorce
    proceedings against her husband without his consent. They
    were a very public pet project of Queen Rania, who angered
    Islamist and conservative figures by taking an overtly
    political stance on such a controversial issue.

    ¶6. (C) Since there was no parliament from 2001 to 2003, the

    AMMAN 00001022 002 OF 002

    amendments were put forward as a provisional law. (Note:
    Provisional laws are placed into force by the government
    directly when parliament is dissolved or out of session.
    They remain in legal force until parliament considers them
    (Ref A). End Note.) Following elections in 2003, the
    personal status law amendments were placed on the agenda of
    the lower house with a personal appeal by the Queen for their
    passage. A coalition of tribal, conservative, and Islamist
    legislators in the lower house twice rejected the amendments
    (Ref C). Since 2004, the senate (which is composed entirely
    of royal appointees) has refused to place the amendments back
    on the agenda for discussion, effectively keeping them in
    force and freezing the debate over their passage.

    ¶7. (C) Hilayel recognizes the risk that both sets of
    amendments could be defeated if bringing forward a new set of
    amendments re-opens debate on the legal status of the
    previous package. Still, it is unclear if he has a concrete
    strategy to deal with that risk. Asma Khader, head of the
    Jordanian National Council for Women, sees the proposed
    amendments as a positive step forward and hopes that the
    political weight of a Chief Justice in Islamist circles will
    resolve the legal status of the 2001 amendments through an
    affirmative vote in parliament and help the new package
    overcome expected conservative opposition.

    Comment
    -------

    ¶8. (C) As the current drive to amend the personal status law
    goes forward, the unresolved fate of the 2001 amendments will
    inevitably be part of the debate. Civil society contacts
    acknowledge that any attempt to build on the 2001 amendments
    risks the re-ignition of a societal debate on women's rights
    that could ultimately result in the defeat of both packages.
    Activists realize that they are working against the opinions
    of many Jordanians on this issue, and will face a difficult
    task in persuading conservative legislators to accept new
    changes to the law when even the last round of debate was not
    formally brought to a close. They have a solid ally in
    Hilayel who is well placed to bring a new set of amendments
    forward, even if his motivations for doing so are unclear.

    Visit Embassy Amman's Website:
    http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/
    Beecroft

`