Jordan

Jordan is a small Arab country in the Middle East which has faced poverty, hunger issues, corrupt politics, agricultural land degradation, and many more major issues throughout their history. They have not sufficient amounts of water, oil, and can hardly prosper economically, ranking them as a third-world country next to the other Middle Eastern countries. However, recently, a new campaign has changed things around resulting in lower poverty levels.

The government has liberalized the trade regime sufficiently enough to secure Jordan's membership into the World Trade Organization, and they have also establish a free trade accord with the United States, and an agreement with the European Union. These actions have enabled many citizens to enjoy their living status and benefit by giving back to the community. Also, these measures have helped improve productivity and have put Jordan on the foreign investment map.

Given that Jordan’s wet season is only five months and the rest of the year stays dry and hot, Jordan’s agricultural labor force (% total) is a mere 5%; not very healthy. This clearly indicates a weak agricultural system and scarcity of water which ranks Jordan among the 10 most water-deficit countries in the world. In turn, this issue leads to ongoing poverty and lack of food. Still, Jordan is considered as food insecure, due to its very limited resources and the high dependency on imported food and agricultural products.

With insufficient income to meet their basic food needs, many families make up the neediest and most deprived segment of the society. In the recent year, it is estimated that about 30% of the population had incomes below the poverty line. But with the help of many organizations, the country is desperately trying to move up the ladder and alleviate their poverty issues.

Jordan is one of the many Middle Eastern countries, which exercise the death penalty to its full extent without any reasons against it. This has been an issue for some years and still is today. Additionally, many recent cases have reinforced the death penalty where many individuals are rigorously working to abolish this harsh, crucial practice.

Torture on the other hand is even a greater practice that nearly occurs every week. Since King Abdullah came into office, the act of torture has reiterated the freedom and rights of the Jordanians. To some extent, because it is weaker in severity, occurs in greater quantity, and is an easier action to be taken, it is very likely for it to not be abolished by the government authorities.

Jordanian and international human rights organizations have long been critical of the Jordanian State Security Court, with its panels of military judges and procedures that do not meet international standards for fair trials. Moreover, this flawed court with fewer due process safeguards for defendants has often been used to try Jordanians charged with political offences. In recent years, members of Jordanian Bar Association protested the new law’s limits on the right of appeal with a one-week boycott of State Security Court cases.

While Jordan’s government and parliament are discussing new legislation to expand media freedoms and political participation, King Abdullah’s reform agenda has stopped short of addressing the deep flaws in Jordan’s criminal justice system. Access to lawyers, inadmissibility of confessions obtained by torture, and prosecution of rights violators are areas of Jordanian law and practice that the government should address urgently.

Not many cases of HIV/AIDS have been found and studied about in Jordan. Therefore, HIV/AIDS prevalence is ascertained to be at a low level. It is estimated that the number of adults and children with AIDS is only about 700 in the entire country (<1000) of the total population of roughly 6 million. On the other hand, adult HIV prevalence is around .1%, which is a very small number according to international standards. Many studies have been conducted to see which groups are most vulnerable to HIV threat and some numbers have been accumulated. Of those, around 392 cases of AIDS have been found in total and in most cases, those occurrences have hit people between the ages 15 and 34. Furthermore, approximately 8% of those people infected with HIV are under the age of 15.

There are approximately 35% of Jordan’s 6 million people who are under the age of 15. As said before, it is at the age of 15 that many students and/or kids first encounter AIDS/HIV. The problem here is, many young Jordanians only know somewhat about STIs but not much about HIV/AIDS. And in Jordan’s conservative culture, young people such as students lack access to information and guidance about these matters. Because of the country’s economic hardships, many are forced to spend their time in social environments rather than school, which inevitability leads to more spare time. This spare time in turn, transfers to meeting more people of the opposite sex and thereby creates great exposure to potential pressure for risky sexual behavior.

A greater part of HIV studies is to determine not only which groups are involved more frequently, but to find reasons why such groups are at risk. As in Jordan, sexual relations and actions are thought to be in the primary mode of HIV transmission, accounting for 53.5% of all infections in Jordan. 29.5 % of the occurrences are thought to be blood related issues (transactions). Unlike many other countries however, Jordan’s people don’t engage in much drug use through injection, which is a great source of HIV/AIDS. Only about 1% of HIV/AIDS infections are due to injecting drug use in Jordan.

Recently, the United States (USAIDS) Committee has developed and implemented “Surveillance” activities to better their and Jordan’s people’s understanding of the issue and its main sources. Through this, they hope to lower the AIDS count in the entire country and better educate the public to lessen potential future occurrences.

The country of Jordan lies in a somewhat landlocked position, although it has access to the red sea in the southern tip of the country. The country covers 92,300 sq km of mostly desert plateau in east, and highland area in west. Due to the country’s location, the climate is very hot, mostly arid desert but it does have a rainy season in the west which is from November to April.

Jordan’s environmental issues include insufficient water resources, low and erratic annual precipitation resulting in agricultural land degradation, and soil erosion which is caused by overgrazing of goats and sheep, and deforestation. Moreover, deforestation has spurred erosion by removing the roots which keep the soil in place. With little soil stability, much of the topsoil is washed away with rain, thereby speeding desertification.

But of most importance and vitality is water pollution. Water pollution is a major issue in Jordan and its main sources are the sewages, herbicides, and pesticides. The country has .7 cubic km of renewable water resources with 75% used for farming activity and 3% used for industrial purposes. More importantly, many cities produce an average of 1.2 million tons of solid waste per year.

Jordan wildlife has become very distinct in several aspects. Livestock overgrazing alongside with uncontrolled hunting have greatly contributed to this environmental issue. Animals like lions, and Arabian Oryx have gone distinct. Because of this issue, the government has continuously attempted to get rid of unlicensed hunters from hunting the wildlife.

Recently, it is estimated that only about 4% of the country’s land is actually protected. Also, Jordan has addressed the public to these various threats, beginning the process of reversing environmental decline. A true foundation of environmental protection requires awareness upon the part of the population, and a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations are actively involved in educating the populace about environmental issues.

Jordan, somewhat similar to other Middle Eastern countries has faced tremendous barriers in educating its citizens. Whether it’s the lack of funds for education that disables education prosperity, or the structure of the education system, Jordan continues to do it’s best to modify this major issue and recently, it has developed a very strong education system, leveling and informing the public. Today there are 2787 government schools, 1493 private schools, 48 community colleges, and 19 universities. In Jordan, access to basic education has been emphasized in all the country’s development plans.

Jordan's population is young and contains 42.2 percent of citizens who are 14 or younger, while 31.4 percent fall between 15 and 29 years of age- and currently almost one-third of all Jordanians are enrolled in educational facilities. Education is free for all primary and secondary school students, and compulsory for all Jordanian children through the age of fifteen. It is estimated that Jordan has achieved over 95 percent enrollment for its school age children.

After finishing their basic schooling, more and more Jordanians are opting to pursue higher education either at home or abroad. More importantly, they either attend universities or junior colleges to pursue their careers. The great thing about is just like in the United States, the junior colleges in Jordan require less money than do the universities, and because of this, students have more options to decide what they want to do without facing too much financial pressure.

As for the literacy rates, Jordan has managed to greatly improve on providing education for the public. Recently, the literacy rate in the country is in the high 80 percentage points. While the overall literacy rate has risen sharply, a substantial gender gap remains: two-thirds of all illiterate Jordanians are women.