Arab Laws Reform

AMMAN, Jordan — The National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) introduced three codes of conduct for civil society organizations (CSOs) in a seminar entitled “Civil society in Jordan, Democracy and Good Governance”. The seminar was held at the Landmark Hotel, Amman on 21 June 2009 in cooperation with the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF). It comes in the framework of a three year EU-cofinanced regional project on Freedom of Association in the Arab World.

The regional project supported national dialogues in the participating countries, among civil society organisations and between civil society organisations and their governments towards the development of national legislation regarding political parties, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and trade unions, in line with universally accepted international standards.

In parallel, the project has also been active in producing “self-regulatory codes” for the three major actors in order to enhance their respective performance and accountability.

To strengthen the dialogue initiated by this European-Arab project on Freedom of Association and with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness and image of CSOs, the project produced three “Codes of Conduct”; the "Charter on Democratic Principles, a Code of Conduct for NGOs and a Code of Conduct for workers' unions.

The codes were introduced by experts and partner organizations in the national seminar and will be further discussed in smaller meetings gathering political parties, trade unions and NGOs for adoption and promotion.

Produced by Arab experts and endorsed during an international conference held at the premises of the League of Arab States in Cairo in November 2008, the three codes are  also being promoted in Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia.

The first of its kind in the Arab World, the “Charter on Democratic Principles” is a formal pledge of political parties to their constituencies and governments to uphold and safeguard democracy, whether they are in power or in opposition.

Moreover, a Code of Conduct for NGOs, based on Arab experenhances unions’ independence and credibility.

Ralf Erbel, Resident Representative of FNF in Jordan, defined the main challenge faced by the Arab-European project as finding solutions that combine freedom with responsibility - two “inseparable” values shared by all organizations involved in the EU project on freedom of association, among them the prestigious Jordanian NCHR.

Ubab Murad, EU Project Executive Director, emphasized that the project succeeded in initiating dialogue between CSOs and their respective governments in the region, adding that the project would pursue its efforts to build trust between the different partners in development.

Omar Abu Eid, representing the European Commission Delegation to HKJ at the event, stressed that "The EU has made human rights and democracy a central aspect of its external relations". He addressed the participants highlighting the importance of their role saying "I am sure your recommendations (today) will also be extremely helpful in guiding our work and promoting a change."