AMMAN — Over 150 men, women and children on Tuesday staged a sit-in demonstration in front of Parliament, calling on the government to grant full citizenship rights to children of Jordanian women married to foreigners.

“We are here because we want to protest the stalling of government agencies in handling official documents when it comes to children of Jordanian women married to non-Jordanians,” said Rami Wakeel, who organised the event on behalf of “My Mother is Jordanian and her nationality is a right for me” campaign.

On February 22, the Council of Ministers gave the concerned authorities 48 hours to process official documentations of children of Jordanian women married to non-Jordanians in line with previous Cabinet decisions and the recommendations of the concerned ministerial committee in 2014.

The call was made during a Cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Hani Mulki on government services granted to Jordanian women married to foreigners.

Attending ministers noted the importance of facilitating the provision of services to the children of these Jordanian women, especially when issuing residency permits, applying for driving licences and real estate ownership, as well as availing of benefits in the educational, health, labour and investment sectors.

“Every time we go to a government entity for official documents, they tell us ‘we did not receive anything in written form from the government’. It was all verbal instructions that are not acknowledged by any government institute. Obviously there is a big gap here,” Wakeel told The Jordan Times.

The demonstrators have staged 75 sit-ins in various parts of the country since the late Nimeh Habashneh started the campaign on Facebook in 2009. Protesters said they returned to the streets on Tuesday to demand full citizenship rights because “the government did not honour its pledges to ease the procedures and because they want full citizenship rights”.

A majority of demonstrators complained about their difficulty to obtain work permits or work in many professions, obtain driving licences or to own property.

Others complained about their inability to donate blood to their loved ones, to enrol in public universities, forcing them to enrol in pricey private universities, and highlighted the hurdles and restrictions they face when travelling abroad and reentering the country.

Most protesters said that the identification documents issued by the Civil Status and Passports Department (CSPD) were “useless” and “not acknowledged in many government institutions”.

Some explained they are facing psychological trauma because their children are unable to perform their duties as citizens and end up taking it on their relatives as well as strangers. Many women complained of remarks constantly heard when visiting government institutes such as “why you chose to marry a foreigner? You should have married a Jordanian”.

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