As Jordan maintains that the requirement for approval of foreign funding for local organisations is "not meant to" limit the work of civil society, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's latest decision on Jordan highlights the urgent need for reform of laws and policies governing freedom of expression, association, assembly and the media. In its Opinion No. 53/2013, the expert group speaks of systematic violations in cases of detention for political expression.

A key mechanism of the security apparatus remains the State Security Court (SSC), an exceptional jurisdiction that uses vague definitions of a number of crimes to prosecute critics of the Government. While recommendations to abolish the court were accepted, Alkarama continues to be informed of cases where demonstrators or journalists are brought before the SSC, which again demonstrates the absence of resolve to effectively improve the country's human rights record.

Concerns around the practise of torture, women's rights, political representation and the rights of refugees and migrant workers also remain, as was highlighted in statements by the Amman Centre (Statement No. 16) or UNICEF (Statement No.6).

We have participated in this most review amongst others by submitting a stakeholders report in March 2013.

Alkarama will continue to follow Jordan's progress towards improving the human rights situation on the ground, and looks forward to working all stakeholders towards this goal.