On the Way Towards Self Determination: Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech and Electoral Self Determination - A Fieldwork on Human Rights in Jordan

Abstract

Even if from King Abdullah on down, Jordanian officials pride themselves on a better human rights record than their neighbours, the kingdom has barely advanced rights protections over the past decade, and their issue continues to be a matter of concern for many in and outside of the country. This work represents the culmination of a research project aiming to provide instruments which allow for the evaluation of the actions undertaken in Jordan, in order to promote human rights respect and, then, human development. In the course of fieldwork in Jordan, information was collected by interviewing, in each Jordanian governorate, international and local organizations engaged in different fields of human rights; afterwards, the data were processed so to obtain synthetic measures.The result was a set of six meaningful indicators (pertaining to the human rights dimensions of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, electoral self determination, freedom of movement, freedom of association and workers’ rights), aggregated into a final composite index. Such multidimensional indicators – inspired by the CIRI Empowerment Rights Index -allow for a comparison among the levels of fulfilment of human rights achieved by different geographic areas in the country and facilitate the suggestion of public policies useful for the complementary promotion of human rights and human development in the country.