Mrs. Hiyam Kalimat, member of the Greater Amman Municipality Council and responsible officer of the Women Regional Network at Good Governance Department, said on Saturday that domestic violence against women becomes a reality in the Arab and international communities, and it emerges as a dodgy phenomenon that extends beyond the family affairs.
During the seminar that was held about the domestic violence, Kalimat presented a paper in which she defined the domestic violence against women. According to her, it is about using force or aggression that harms women, both physically and psychologically. Such violence is also providing a threat to womans life and its freedom.
Kalimat pointed out that a report by the World Health Organization stated that two-thirds of women in the world are being brutally beaten at their homes. The UNIFEM, an international body caretaking of women affairs and development, issued a report about the Jordanian women in 2004 saying that 41 percent of the surveyed women in the Kingdom have been beaten by their relatives or husbands. And 59 percent of these women have been verbally violated and offended.
Kalimat said that a recent study, by the Partners for Family Health in Jordan, found out that 54 percent of the non-married young women and 46 percent of the married can understand the reasons behind the domestic violence and accept it. The study, which involved more than 2000 families around the Kingdom, presented a shocking result that most women in Jordan will accept the violence against them if they have ignored their responsibilities towards their homes, or if they have left their homes without having permission from their husbands.
Kalimat called on all participants in the seminar to promote the theme "No for Domestic Violence, at Homes and Everywhere". She also emphasized the need to enhance the mutual respect between men and women, based on justice, equality and honest dialogue. She urged all the concerned parties in Jordan to unite their efforts in fighting the domestic violence and change the social trends that support such a phenomenon.
On her part, lawyer Rihab Qaddoumi presented a paper about "Protecting Woman and Child from Domestic Violence", in which she briefed some of the cases that were reported in Jordan on that regard. Qaddoumi said that the lack of evidences and hush-hush trend among people make it hard on the concerned people to get specific facts and data about the domestic violence in Jordan. She also blamed the social and legal barriers that forbid lawyers and human rights activists to have access to these facts.
Though Qaddoumi understands that such a trend aims to protect the family structure, she called on the government to issue a special law that fights domestic violence since there are many loopholes in the current laws and regulations on that regard.
Dr. Maamoun Hadidi, from the Forensic Department at the Ministry of Health, presented a survey about the domestic violence in Jordan. He said that such violence is taking place in different shapes and forms.
Captain Fadel Hmoud, director of the Family Protection Division at the Public Security Department, also presented a paper in the seminar about the procedures that protect women and children from domestic violence. The paper pointed to the actions taken by the government and private institutions on that regard. He said that the Family Protection Division was established upon the instructions by Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania, and its main objective is to preserve the social rights of women, children and family as a whole.