US embassy cable - 05AMMAN2286

UNCLAS AMMAN 002286 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR G/IWI (L KHADIAGALA) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, ELAB, ECON, PGOV, SCUL, SOCI, KWMN, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN: CHILD MARRIAGE 
 
REF: STATE 36341 
 
1.  Responses to reftel questionnaire on child marriage in 
Jordan are provided below: 
 
2.  The Jordanian government introduced a provisional law in 
2001 in the absence of parliament that, among other things, 
raised the legal marrying age for both men and women to 18 
years old.  Islamic shari'a court judges, who have authority 
over decisions in marriage and divorce, have the ability to 
grant an exception in certain circumstances, but in no case 
can one marry in Jordan under 15 years of age. 
 
3.  This provisional law, formally known as "number 82" but 
dubbed the "personal status law," is currently under 
consideration in the Jordanian parliament.  In 2004, the 
Lower House of Parliament rejected the law, although the 
Upper House/Senate had approved it.  It now must be 
re-considered by a joint session of the Upper and Lower 
Houses, but no date for this session has been set.  However, 
according to Jordanian law, provisional laws are in full 
effect and legally enforceable unless both chambers of 
parliament vote to reject the law. 
 
4.  According to Jordanian government statistics, the average 
age of men who married between 1998 and 2004 was 29 years of 
age; for women it was 26 years of age.  Of the total number 
of women who married in 2004 (33,365), 15.4 percent of them 
(5,150) were younger than 18 years of age.  In 1998, 20 
percent (7585) of the total number of women who married 
(37,681) were younger than 18.  Contrary to the common 
perception, child marriage does not appear to be more 
prevalent in rural areas than urban areas of Jordan. 
 
5.  Organizations advocating women's and children's rights 
have included the issue of early marriage among their 
priorities and credit the decline in child marriages to the 
above-mentioned legislation.  NGOs worked with the GOJ to 
draft, introduce, and lobby parliament on the legislation, 
and remain committed to seeing the legislation approved by 
both chambers.  Jordan is already party to most of the 
international agreements regarding women's and children's 
rights, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child 
(CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of 
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and advocated the 
personal status law to complement its international 
obligations.  Post contacts acknowledge that the biggest 
challenge is changing the cultural tradition that accepts 
marriage at a young age.  Their priority is to increase 
public awareness about the detrimental effects of child 
marriage.  They are working with the Ministries of Awqaf and 
Religious Affairs, Health, and Education, among others, 
towards this goal. 
 
6.  There are currently no U.S.-funded initiatives in Jordan 
that specifically aim to reduce the incidence or address the 
negative effects of child marriage. 
 
7.  Minimize considered. 
 
Please visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at 
http://www.state.sgov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site through 
the Department of State's SIPRNET home page. 
HENZEL