Legal Aid and Human Rights Education: A Grassroots NGO’s
Approach to Empowering the Poor in Jordan

Justice Center for Legal Aid*T

here is no institutionalized legal aid system in Jordan.
Under the Criminal Procedures Law of 1961 (Article 208[2]) government-funded legal aid is only provided to those accused of crimes
punishable by life imprisonment or execution. The law does not extend legal
aid services to persons with lesser criminal charges, or involved in mattersrelating to civil law or Sharia law. Another law also requires legal representation for civil matters brought to court. Under the Magistrates Court
Law of 1952 (Article 9[2]) a person cannot participate in court proceedings
on civil matters involving more than one thousand Jordanian Dinars (jods)(around one thousand four hundred us dollars) without legal representation.1 In addition, while Article 100A(7) of the Jordan Bar Association Law(1972) states that the president has the discretion to assign one pro bonocase to each Jordan Bar Association (jba) member each year, in practice thenumber of pro bono cases is minimal.2
With the ongoing regional turmoil and influx of refugees, most recently
from Syria, the number of poor and vulnerable people in Jordan continues
to grow.3 For many who make up the growing population of poor and vulnerable people in Jordan, access to legal information, advice or representation lies far beyond their means.
Taken together, this reality poses a significant barrier to the ability ofthe poor and vulnerable to access the justice system in Jordan. The vast majority of poor Jordanians are required to represent themselves, despite theirlack of knowledge of the laws and the complex court procedures. For example, the 2012 research conducted by Justice Center for Legal Aid (jcla) on* Written by Bayan Quteshat (Monitoring and Evaluation Officer), Tiffany Henderson and
Glenn Geerts (Organizational Development Consultants), Mohammad Faoury (Monitoringand Evaluation Officer) of the Justice Center for Legal Aid, Jordan. See www.jcla-org.com.en.
The information and views set out in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Justice Center for Legal Aid. Neither the Justice Center for
Legal Aid, nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may
be made of the information contained herein.

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i ccriminal cases with final judgment in Jordan found that during the criminal
investigation and pre-trial stage, 83 percent of accused persons were unrepresented, and when a matter was brought to court, 68 percent of defendants
were unrepresented.4 Research conducted by the Department of Statistics
also found that, in 2011, 98 percent of the people surveyed had never heardof legal aid.5
The Justice Center for Legal Aid: Enhancing Access to JusticeIn the absence of an institutionalized legal aid system in Jordan, civil society provides crucial legal aid services to the poor and vulnerable. In 2008,
three Jordanian women who worked in the justice sector and saw a need formore legal aid services in Jordan established the Justice Center for Legal Aid(jcla). Jcla began with one volunteer lawyer and one local partner organization, Ruwwad, which provided office space for the legal aid services.
Jcla’s vision is to empower all poor and vulnerable people in Jordan, witha view to realizing a society where everyone has equal access to justice. Jcla
does this by providing poor and vulnerable people in Jordan with access toessential legal aid services, including legal consultations and legal representations with legal consultants. Through awareness sessions, jcla informs
the community about legal aid and the law. Through advocacy for the enhancement of Jordan’s legal aid system, jcla strives to uphold the right of all
to access the justice system in the country.
Since 2008, jcla has grown from one legal aid clinic in Amman to become the largest legal aid provider in Jordan, providing legal aid services attwenty-three clinics located across all twelve governorates. Jcla utilizes a
network of over seventy local partners to reach out to poor and vulnerable
people throughout the country, including various government ministries,
and international and community-based organizations. Each month, jcla
assists approximately three hundred seventy-five beneficiaries through legal
consultations, provides legal representation to approximately one hundred
fifty beneficiaries across two hundred cases, and reaches approximately three
thousand six hundred vulnerable people through its awareness sessions.
Young people are a growing caseload for jcla. In 2015, following amendments to the Juvenile Law enshrining access to legal aid, jcla entered intoa partnership with the Ministry of Social Development (which deals withjuveniles), leading to an increase in referrals of juveniles to jcla for legal

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help. In 2015 alone, jcla provided young people with two hundred eighty
five legal consultations and three hundred sixty seven legal representation
services. The legal issues experienced by young people that constitute a significant portion of jcla’s juvenile caseload relates primarily to criminal law
matters, including fraud and theft, drug offences, and violence.
Women, however, constitute jcla’s largest beneficiary group: approximately 70 percent of awareness session attendees and beneficiaries of legal
aid services. In 2015 alone, jcla served vulnerable women and girls throughover three thousand legal consultation sessions and over one thousand
seven hundred free legal representation services. The majority of womenseeking jcla’s legal aid services have Sharia law issues, including marriage,
divorce, alimony, child custody and inheritance. Jcla’s predominant caseload involving women also aligns with a 2011 national household survey conducted by the Jordanian government, which found that women are more
likely than men to avoid the court due to customs or a lack of funds, and beunrepresented when appearing before a court. 6 The survey also found thatwomen were more likely to be exposed to Sharia law issues: females constituted 56.7 percent of those surveyed who faced Sharia law issues, compared
to 17.1 percent on civil law issues, and 19.2 percent on criminal law issues.
Despite efforts by jcla, the demand for legal aid in Jordan is far greaterthan the services currently provided under the law by the JBA and by all
Legal Aid Organisations (laos) combined. A 2011 household study by the
Jordanian Government (Department of Statistics) found that approximately
52,608 people in Jordan encountered 68,485 legal issues. Of those reportinga legal issue, 25.9 percent (13,625 persons) had an income of less than jod
250 per month (353 us dollars) and 44 percent (23,147 persons) an income
between jod two hundred fifty to jod five hundred (around seven hundred
us dollars) per month. The study estimated that close to 17,000 people needlegal assistance each year. Yet on an annual basis laos provide legal assistance to poor and vulnerable people in only about three thousand cases.
This leaves more than ten thousand people each year without access to essential legal aid services.
JCLA’s Human Rights Education Program
The need for legal awareness efforts targeting the poor and vulnerable
A 2011 household survey conducted by the Jordanian Department of
Statistics in collaboration with jcla found that poor people are more likely

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to face legal issues, while only 2 percent of the respondents were aware of theavailability of free legal assistance.7 Anecdotal evidence collected throughjcla’s awareness sessions confirms the lack of legal awareness particularly
affects already marginalized or vulnerable groups, including women andchildren.
The government-approved secondary school curriculum in Jordan
lacks a solid legal awareness program that informs school-age children
about their rights and duties under Jordanian and international law. Lacking
a clear learning objective on legal awareness, the educational material inapproved secondary school textbooks does not promote a culture of humanrights among Jordan’s youngest citizens. The United Nations Global Survey
on violence against children considered awareness raising as a tool for preventing violence against children.8
To fill this gap, jcla and other laos in Jordan started delivering legal
awareness programs to poor and vulnerable women, men, boys and girls. In
this section, we review jcla’s non-formal curriculum, the methods used todevelop the materials, the best ways to address the target groups and how toassess the impact of those programs.
Designing awareness campaigns and educational awareness programs
Jcla’s awareness sessions usually follow the same structure. After an
initial assessment of the participants’ knowledge and attitude, the trainer
provides information on rights and obligations in relation to a pre-determined topic, before providing tailored information about how and when
they can access jcla’s legal assistance. Participants assess each finished session to measure improvement in knowledge and attitude.
In the first years of implementation, jcla predominantly relied on its
partners in identifying topics for legal awareness sessions that were most
relevant to the poor and vulnerable groups. The jcla partners, civil society organizations (csos) with strong roots in local communities acrossJordan, have specialized knowledge of the issues faced by their beneficiaries.
Usually, partners would approach jcla with a request to deliver legal awareness sessions to their beneficiaries on identified topics.
Throughout the years, jcla has enhanced its approach in identifying legal awareness needs in local communities, and in delivering legal awarenesssessions. Currently, jcla develops annual awareness strategies that identify
awareness campaigns on strategic topics, and has uniform curriculum on a

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number of key awareness programs. Jcla’s strategies and campaigns are developed on the basis of field assessments, including meetings with relevant
partner representatives, and seeking out feedback from beneficiaries. These
assessments have allowed jcla to identify legal issues prevalent in certain
geographical areas.9 Field assessments also help jcla to develop the awareness material for each campaign. Jcla’s awareness team designs simplified
awareness material tailored to the target beneficiaries, which are disseminated during awareness sessions.
Child Rights: A Snapshot
Jcla has three awareness programs targeting children. First, Al Qanoni
Al Sagheer (The Little Lawyer) is a three-day program aimed at educating
children about their human rights under the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child. Jcla designed an activity book, Hokoki (“Myrights” in English), in which two cartoon characters, Adel and Ensaf, explain the child rights in a humorous and simplified way (see Box 1 for a
detailed overview of the Hokoki resource. Second, Ehmini (Protect me) is a
program aimed at protecting children from domestic violence and violenceat schools. The program explains to children what acts constitute abuse,
how to protect themselves from abuse, and who can help them in case theyexperience abuse. Third, Himayeh (Protection) covers a wider range of topics relevant to child protection, including early marriage, emotional abuse,gender-based violence and bullying.
These programs and resources are being utilized and implemented inschools and community centers across Jordan. At the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (unrwa) schools alone, jcla wasable to reach out to more than eight thousand students in 2015 covering several topics such as child labor, drugs, early marriage and domestic violence.
Analysis of the data on jcla’s delivery of awareness sessions to children at
unrwa’s schools between 2012 and 2015 revealed three programs clearlystanding out: general child rights programs, and two tailored sessions on
drug awareness and sexual harassment (see Graph 1, page 93).
Jcla’s drug awareness program accounts for the highest number of sessions and attendees between 2012 and 2015, totalling one hundred seventy
eight sessions to 5,536 girls and boys. This program was designed as a result of jcla’s engagement with the Narcotics Department, which identified
drugs as a growing issue among children and young people in Jordan. In

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Box 1. The Hokoki Exercise Books: A resource forpromoting and understanding of child rights amongchildrenIn 2015, JCLA set out to develop resource materials to assist its trainers indiscussing child rights issues with the young people it was reaching out to during
its awareness sessions. Hokoki, which means “my rights” in English, was developed
by JCLA staff a short while later. The material resources consist of two books, eachtargeting a different age category: young children (around 5-8 years) and older
children (around 8-11 years). Below is the inside illustration for the latter age category.
Photo 1: About Hokoki exercise books – “Let’s Learn About Our Rights Together”

Translation: (Boy: “Hi. My name is Adel”) (Girl: “Hi. My name is Ensaf”); “A child is
every person below the age of 18. All children have rights just like adults. The state
and all the institutions must respect those rights. We have also to respect the rights
of others.”
Many of the exercises in the Hokoki books aim to generate discussion among theEmpowering the Poor in Jordan

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children on the rights of the child set out under international human rights conventions,
including the rights of the child. Photo 2, for example, aims to generate discussion
among children on the rights of children with disabilities.
Photo 2: Exercise for young children: Understanding the rights of persons with adisability

Translation: Children with disabilities - As a child with disability, I have the rightto be engaged in the community and receive all the needed care and services. The
exercise: Write whether you agree or disagree under each photo. (Boy on the right:“My neighbour cannot speak, therefore, I have to learn sign language to communicate
with him”); (Girl in the middle: “Having special lanes for wheelchairs have helped
my friend to come to school”); (Boy on the right: “They do not let me play with thembecause I cannot hear what they are saying”).

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Photo 3: The rights of child refugees and the rights of children in armed conflict.

Translation: “Draw a smiley face under the picture that represents the place thatyou prefer to live in.”
The Hokoki books have been distributed widely among UNRWA schools by JCLA’s
trainers, and are used to assist in the learning outcomes among the participating
students. JCLA has received positive feedback from students who have utilized thesebooks and aims to continue using and distributing them more widely in the future.

2015, as a result of jcla engaging with unrwa staff on the identified needsof their beneficiaries, jcla developed a tailored awareness program on sexual harassment which was rolled out on a large scale (sixty three sessions to
1,902 girls and boys in 2015).
Jcla’s general children’s awareness programs, discussed above, accountfor the second highest number of sessions and attendees, totalling one hundred seventy three sessions to 5,358 girls and boys between 2012 and 2015.
At unrwa schools, the total number of general legal awareness sessions tochildren slightly dropped in 2015, in favor of the tailored awareness program

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Graph 1on sexual harassment. Jcla expects the 2015 numbers to remain consistent,
as there is a need for general legal awareness sessions on child rights in addition to targeted interventions in line with unrwa’s protection priorities(e.g., drug awareness and sexual harassment).
Jcla hopes to be able to expand its awareness programs targeting children in the public school system.
Women’s Rights: A Snapshot
Over the years, jcla has delivered awareness sessions to women andgirls on a broad range of topics. In early 2016, jcla designed an awareness program, Ensaf, which encompasses topics identified by beneficiaries
as most relevant to their empowerment. The program discusses women’s
rights under Jordan’s Personal Status Law (which covers marriage and divorce), sexual and gender-based violence, and labor rights.
Overall, women make up over 70 percent of jcla’s attendees at theawareness sessions. An analysis of the jcla sessions conducted solely towomen and girls (i.e., not including sessions for mixed audience) between
2012 and 2015, revealed that jcla reached 73,192 women and girls through2,911 awareness sessions. Jcla dedicated those sessions to women attendees
only, in order to create a safe environment for women participants, as manyof them are being subjected to violence from male relatives. Having those92

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cmale relatives present at the sessions will prevent women from effectively
engaging in the sessions or from even participating. Moreover, in some areas, women cannot sit alongside their male counterparts and prefer women
only sessions.
In the period between 2012 and 2015, the most common topics include
drug awareness, domestic violence, personal status law, women’s rights ingeneral, child rights in general, Jordanian laws and regulations in general(targeting the refugee population), and sexual harassment (see Graph 2
below).
Graph 2

Similar to the sessions targeting children, drug awareness stands out
as a key topic in sessions on women and girls. The drug awareness sessions
were developed at the request of the Anti-Narcotics Department (within
Jordan’s Public Security Directorate), which identified drugs as a growing
issue among the people they were encountering. The Department soughtjcla’s assistance to reach out to the female family members of predominantly male drug users and traffickers. The awareness sessions are always
delivered by a team of two trainers: one from the department and one fromjcla. Jcla’s trainer provides information on the legislative frameworkaround drug use and trafficking, as well as how drug users can seek help. The

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trainer from the Department is also present to reinforce the latter message:
under Jordanian law, the police will not prosecute a first-time drug user if
he or she voluntarily presents him or herself for rehabilitation at the AntiNarcotics Department. The trainer from the Department also provides information on how relatives can identify who among the family members use
drugs. This strategy has worked, and the Narcotics Department estimatesthat since 2012, there has been an increase in first-time drug users seeking
the assistance of the Department to overcome their addiction after hearing
about the program through jcla drug awareness sessions.
Tailored and general sessions on women’s rights issues take the lion’sshare of the overall numbers: more than half of all sessions targeting womenrelate to women’s (human) rights generally, and early marriage, personal
status law, and sexual and other forms of gender-based violence (sgbv)
specifically.
From the very beginning, jcla has established strong partnerships
with both government agencies and local non-governmental organizations(ngos) and csos in order to implement its awareness programs in Jordan.
This has been a natural development for jcla, and it has allowed jcla toprovide services in a safe environment close to homes of jcla’s target beneficiaries, while reducing the cost of venue and catering (see Graph 3 below).
Graph 3

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While jcla has also successfully engaged with UN agencies and international ngos (ingos) on awareness-raising (in particular with unrwa,
Norwegian Refugee Council [nrc] and Danish Refugee Council [drc]),these partnerships are quantitatively less significant. Jcla’s partnership withunrwa has the deepest roots, and was a natural fit for jcla as unrwa isa significant service provider to millions of Palestinian refugees in Jordan,
with installations across the country. More recently, and following a shift in
the government’s strategy to the Syrian refugee influx (emphasis on “resilience” of host communities) in the 2016-2018 Jordan Response Plan, jcla
has more actively pursued partnerships with ingos targeting Syrian refugees in Jordan.
JCLA’s Awareness campaigns
In addition to the above-mentioned programs, jcla organises yearly
awareness campaigns to promote the rights of children and women. Whileawareness sessions are a key component of awareness campaigns, the campaign seeks to use a number of tools to maximize outreach. For example,
in cooperation with partners and stakeholders and as part of the “United
Nations 16 days of activism against gender-based violence” campaign, jclaorganizes an intensive awareness campaign about women’s rights eachyear.10 During the 2015 campaign, jcla conducted awareness sessions,
meetings with stakeholders, and legal information days, in addition to appearing on tv & radio shows, and trialled a “tweet-up.” In celebration of theInternational Day on the Rights of the Child (November 20), jcla conducts
legal days at schools and partner ngos each year, and holds sessions, plays,
drawing activities, and distributes the Hokoki book.
Successes and Challenges
Jcla’s human rights education program, which falls within the broader legal awareness program being undertaken, has notable successes and clear
challenges. Where jcla has far exceeded its goal is in the area of outreachthrough awareness activities: in 2015 alone jcla reached out to close to
50,000 beneficiaries; and since 2008, over 120,000 have had access to legal
awareness sessions.

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Box 2. A Snapshot of the Positive Impact of JCLA’s
Awareness Activities
Empowering Amal to Defend Herself
JCLA has helped a beneficiary to successfully represent herself before an
investigatory committee. Amal (not her real name) is a student counselor who has
worked for many years in the public school system. In recent times, Amal began toexperience bullying by her supervisor, causing her stress and anxiety.
As the bullying continued, Amal became frustrated and submitted a formal
complaint to the school’s administrator, asking to be moved to another public school.
An investigation commenced, during which time the administrator asked Amal towithdraw her complaint and stay at the school.
A relative of Amal’s, who previously attended a JCLA awareness session, told her
about legal aid and suggested she get in contact with JCLA. Amal contacted JCLA
and, as she is a single mother earning less than 250 JODs a month, she was assessed
as eligible to access JCLA’s legal aid services. As Amal recounted: “I cannot afford alawyer. Finding out that there is an entity such as JCLA was something I didn’t expect.”
Amal was assigned a legal consultant, who reviewed her case and provided her
with ongoing advice on how to represent herself before the investigatory committee,
including her rights and obligations while participating in the investigation.
Following the investigation, the administrator accepted Amal’s request and moved
her to another school.
Conclusions
The classification of Jordan as an “upper middle income” country according to various international instruments belies the growing number of poorand vulnerable people in need of basic services, including legal help. In theabsence of an institutionalized legal aid system, the provision of essential
legal information and legal services to those in need falls primarily on nongovernmental organizations like jcla. In line with international best practice, jcla places emphasis on the ability of its legal awareness sessions toempower the poor and vulnerable to address their legal problems. Througha network of experienced trainers and partners, jcla has reached out toclose to 120,000 people in Jordan since its inception in 2008. The majority

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c(approximately 70 percent) of people who attend these sessions are women,
and the legal issues discussed are primarily related to Sharia law, including
divorce, alimony, and child custody. Interrelated to this is the issue of family and domestic violence experienced by female beneficiaries. Despite thegrowing recognition by the government of the obstacles faced by female
victims of violence, much work needs to be done to enhance their access tothe justice system in Jordan. Information on their human rights and accessto legal aid services is an essential tool to empowering and enabling them toseek out this justice.
Jcla’s single biggest partner-recipient of awareness services is unrwa,
where over two hundred awareness sessions were provided in 2015 alone.
Jcla’s human rights education program targets children at the unrwa
schools, and looks at the issues of child rights and, in recent years, has focused on the topic of drugs and sexual harassment. Jcla’s growing caseloadof juveniles within the justice system has enabled the organization to better
analyze the legal information needs of young people, and more work needs
to be done to formalize and expand the curriculum used by jcla’s trainers.
In jcla’s experience, resources such as Hokoki, which have been elaborated
in this article, work well at engaging young people on human rights issues.
The need for legal information, particularly among the growing number of vulnerable refugees entering Jordan, far outstrips the legal awarenesssessions currently being provided. Yet such services are imperative to thelegal empowerment of poor and vulnerable people. Through targeted, grassroots education programs, jcla has helped empower people, but morework needs to be done, not just on an organizational level at jcla but more
broadly through institutionalized, funded legal aid services provided by thegovernment. Through advocating for the enhancement of the Kingdom’s
legal aid system, jcla strives to uphold the right of all to access justice in
Jordan.
Endnotes
1 At the time of writing, 1 jod is equivalent to 1.4140 usd.
2 Note that at the time of writing there are no publicly available statistics on
the number of pro bono cases dealt with by the Jordan Bar Association on an annual
basis. However, based on anecdotal accounts from members of the Bar Associationand the legal community, jcla is able to gauge that the amount of cases is minimal
and in the approximate realm of a handful to about two hundred cases per year.

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3 For example, in 2010 the United Nations Development Program, in conjunction with Jordan’s Department of Statistics, found in a national “Household
Expenditure and Income Survey” of that year that the “number of poverty pockets(defined as districts/sub-districts with 25 percent population or more below the national poverty line) increased from twenty-two poverty pockets in 2006 to thirty-two
poverty pockets in 2008.” See undp and the Ministry of Planning and International
Cooperation, Thinking Differently About the Poor: Findings from Poverty Pockets
Survey in Jordan, (2012), available at www.undp.org/content/dam/jordan/docs/
Poverty/Jordan_Poverty%20Pocket%20Report.pdf.
4 Justice Center for Legal Aid, Closed Case Survey of Criminal Cases in Jordan(2012) (in Arabic only).
5 Statistics taken from a 2010/2011 national legal aid survey; see jcla andDepartment of Statistics, Statistical Survey on the Volume of Demand for Legal Aid(Justice Sector Household Survey) (2012). A discussion on the survey can also befound in World Bank Legal Review, Volume 5, “Fostering Development through inclusion, unity and equity” (2014), pages 247 – 254.
6 See World Bank (Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Department,
Middle East and North Africa), “Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - Country Gender
Assessment - Economic Participation, Agency and Access to Justice in Jordan,” July
2013, Report No: ACS5158, page 14.
7 Ibid., pages 79-80.
8 United Nations, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-Generalon Violence against Children, Toward a world free from violence: global survey on
violence against children, October 2013, page 99.
9 For example, child labor issues are a major concern in Alghor area while involvement of children in drug use and trafficking is problematic in Amman.
10 The United Nations Secretary-General’s Campaign unite to End Violenceagainst Women, see www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-againstwomen/take-action/16-days-of-activism#sthash.mQqDUVzN.dpuf.