1. The various competent governmental institutions participated in the preparation of this report by providing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the requisite information and statistics. In this connection, it should be noted that there is a national committee which coordinates the contributions of the various institutions during the preparation of national reports. This particular report was prepared mainly on the basis of information received from official governmental institutions, although use was also made of some information provided by non-governmental organizations, such as the National League for the Upbringing and Education of Children, in addition to information contained in the reports and recommendations of conferences, particularly those concerning children.

2. The report was distributed among a number of bodies, including official bodies concerned with children, such as the House of Representatives, institutions concerned with women and children and relevant women's organizations. The Jordanian branch of Amnesty International also received a copy of the report. The various information media, including the press, radio and television, prepared articles and programmes on the subject of the rights of the child and have recently commented on the content of the report submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, since it is a governmental document of great didactic importance in this field.

M/CRC/C (Future)

GE.94-16043 (E)

3. The Jordanian bodies concerned, including the ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development and all the nongovernmental charitable institutions, prepare training programmes for all persons working in sectors involving the rights of children with a view to familiarizing them with, inter alia, the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and ways to promote their application within the framework of Jordan's local circumstances and resources.

8. The differences in minimum marriage ages for boys and girls in Jordanian legislation is based on the age of maturity which, in Jordan, is usually regarded as occurring earlier among girls than among boys. This is in keening with local customs, traditions and cultural particularities. Accordingly, the age of maturity is legally set at 15 years in the case of girls and 16 years in the case of boys.

9. The Jordanian Government is committed to the provision of basic education for a period of 10 academic years, i.e. from the first to the tenth grade, so that the minimum age on the student's completion of this stage of education is 16 years. The student is permitted to fail the annual examination twice during that stage and would therefore be 18 years of age in the event of such failure. With regard to the different minimum age for employment, the law seeks to ensure that the child benefits fully from the stage of his mental and physical development, which is not completed until he reaches the age of 18 years, as stipulated in the Civil Code. This is the principal factor that induced the legislature to protect children below that age by regarding then as persons lacking full legal competence.

10. One of the main objectives of the Jordanian social and legal systems is to enable all citizens to participate in all aspects of public life without discrimination. The aim is obviously to prevent any form of discrimination on grounds of sex or disability. To this end, Jordanian legislation, and particularly the Constitution, applies to all Jordanians equally and on a totally non-discriminatory basis. The same principle also applies to children in Jordan. Accordingly, opportunities to participate in any governmental activity are granted to persons under 18 years of age, regardless of whether they are male, female or disabled. Disabled persons are not excluded from such activity unless the nature of the disability with which they are afflicted precludes such participation, in such a case, in the interests of those children, an attempt is obviously made to encourage them to engage in activities that are not incompatible with the nature of their disability, rather than those in which their participation would be impossible and fraught with adverse psychological consequences various governmental institutions are monitoring the welfare of disabled children and promoting their vocational rehabilitation in fields commensurate with their capabilities through, inter alia, highly specialized programmes for severely disabled persons who are totally unable to take part in public activities in which less severely disabled persons can participate or engage.

With regard to children born out of wedlock, the Civil Status Code, which makes no distinction between male and female children, deals with this eventuality in arts. 23, 24 and 25.

Art. 23 stipulates that the name of the father and/or the mother should not be entered in the register of births unless so requested by them in writing or pursuant to a court order. The registrar must choose names for the child's parents. The same article further stipulates that any registration of birth in a manner contrary to the provisions of this article is to be deemed null and void in regard to the identity of the father or mother.

Art. 24 of the same Code states that, prior to the registration of the birth of an illegitimate child the name of one or both of whose real parents has not been declared, one or both of the parents can appear before the registrar and acknowledge the child through a written declaration signed by the acknowledging party and attested by two refutable witnesses, with due regard for the provisions concerning parentage as set forth in the legislation in force.

Art. 25 permits derogations from the provisions of the above-mentioned articles in so far as the registrar is not allowed to mention the name of the father and/or the mother, even if requested to do so, in the following circumstances:

(a) If the parents are related in a degree of consanguinity that precludes marriage, their names are not mentioned;

(b) if the mother is married and her husband is not the father of the child, her name must not be mentioned.

The governmental and non-governmental organizations that cater for the welfare of such children treat them without any discrimination.

13. The Personal Status Code that is currently in force is derived from Islamic jurisprudence and the legal stipulations contained in the Qur'an and the Sunna. The Code has a moral and cultural aspect which Muslims respect and its legal provisions are not intended to be put into actual practice in each and every case. The purpose of art. 150 of the Personal Status Code is to indicate that a mother has an obligation to breast-feed her child and, from the religious standpoint, should feel a sense of shame, quiet apart from her breach of the law, if she fails to do.

Legal texts in Islam are not rigid; they merely express laws of a moral and didactic nature. Their purpose is not to ensure the application of their provisions, as can be seen from the fact that the Code does not prescribe a penalty for a mother who refuses to breast-feed her child. This Code is therefore characterized by a sense of spiritual and physical harmony between the persons covered by its provisions and their Lord.

16. In reply to the question raised in para. 16, reference can be made to art. 16 of the Personal Status Act No. 34 of 1973, which stimulates that: " A birth must be notified, within 30 days from the date of its occurrence, to the registry within the jurisdiction of which it takes place. If there is no registry in the area in which the birth takes place, it must be reported to the senior local administrative official, who must notify the competent registry within 30 days from the date on which the event was reported to him ... ".

Art. 17, para. 1, of the same Code stipulates that the persons responsible for notifying a birth are: the child's father, any relative who was present at the time of the birth, any person living with the mother in the same dwelling, the senior local administrative official, and directors of institutions such as hospitals, maternity clinics, prisons, quarantine stations, etc. Finally, para. (c) of the same article stipulates that "in every case, the physician or other person licensed to assist in childbirth must notify the registry within the jurisdiction of which the event takes

place within one week from the date of its occurrence ... ".

Art. is of the code stipulates that the notification must include the following information:

The day, date, minute, hour and place of birth, the child's sex and blood group, and the first name, surname, nationality, religion, place of residence and occupation of the parents.

Art. 10 stipulates that, after recording the event, the registrar must draw up a birth certificate on the form provided for that purpose.

The penalty for any breach of the provisions of the Code is prescribed as follows in art. 56 thereof: "Any breach of the provisions of this Code for which a penalty is not stipulated therein shall be punished by a fine of not less than 10 and not more than 100 dinars."

18. Jordanian school curricula comprise family education concepts that are promoted through the syllabuses and books prescribed for all grades, although this is not regarded as a separate subject. Plans are being made to produce family education manuals for teachers and to hold training courses organized jointly by the Jordanian Government (represented by the Ministry of Education), UNESCO and the United Nations Population Fund.

20. A disciplinary directive issued by the Ministry of Education categorically prohibits corporal punishment in government and private schools. Art. 8 of this directive stipulates that the following methods must be avoided:

(i) Corporal punishment in any form whatsoever.

(ii) Expulsion of the student from the class, although he may be referred to the administration if his conduct disrupts the educational process.

(iii) Reduction of school marks, or a threat to do so.

(iv) Depriving a student of a meal at the time prescribed therefor.

(v) Humiliating, disparaging or insulting a student in any manner whatsoever.

(vi) Resorting to collective punishment for misbehaviour by one student or a specific group of students.

(vii) Ridicule, mockery or disparagement in connection with a disability with which a student is afflicted.