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Opinion

4 Aug 2020

Author:
Mouhanad Sharabati, Jordan & Lebanon Researcher Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, Salma Houerbi MENA researcher Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

Jordan’s agriculture sector needs human rights regulation to create jobs and protect women workers and refugees

pikist.com

The agriculture sector in Jordan is considered to be one of the most vital sectors in the country. It contributes to creating a large number of job opportunities and providing a significant source of income for the most vulnerable segments of society, including migrant workers, refugees and women.

Nearly 3.08% of workers in Jordan are employed in this sector according to statistics from 2019. The importance of this sector is also apparent with regards to protecting food security, supporting Jordanian exports and contributing to the Jordanian GDP with 5.63%.

However, workers in this sector are subjected to poor working and living conditions and there is an absence of workers’ unions as well as widespread abuses of labour rights. This includes a lack of employment agreements, minimum wage protection, social and health insurance, occupational safety and health procedures, and an absence of unemployment compensation and pensions.

In 2008, Jordanian labour law was amended and agriculture workers were included in its provisions. Article (3)(b) provides that a special regulatory framework shall be issued to regulate work in the agriculture sector. However, no regulatory framework has been issued to date. On the contrary, a number of judicial decisions have explicitly ruled that labour law does not apply to agriculture workers. Consequently, the failure to issue a regulatory framework for agricultural workers is preventing them from enjoying labour rights similar to workers in other sectors.

The importance of agriculture has become more evident during the COVID-19 crisis as the sector continues its production to meet the local market needs and protect the food security of the country. Yet no measures have been taken by the Jordanian government to protect agriculture workers during the pandemic.

A number of local organizations including the Anti-Violence and Harassment in Workplace Coalition have expressed their concerns regarding the situation of agriculture workers during the crisis. They claim that poor working conditions within the sector have been exacerbated due to the pandemic’s adverse impact on the economy, fuelling labour abuses faced by agriculture workers, especially women.

The coalition has made a draft proposal to the government that agriculture workers should be included in the labour law. The draft aims to improve the poor working conditions in the agricultural sector and provide protection to all agriculture workers including Jordanian nationals, refugees and migrants regardless of whether they have temporary, short-term or long-term work agreements. 

In light of the urgent need to introduce a framework to regulate work relationships in the agriculture sector, the importance of the legal framework provided by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) is clear. The UNGPs are a set of guidelines for states and businesses to prevent, address and remedy business-related human rights abuses. 

The guidelines are based on three main pillars, namely the state’s duty to protect human rights, businesses’ responsibility to protect human rights and the access of victims of business-related human rights abuses to effective remedy. The state's duty to protect requires that the Jordanian government ensures working conditions in agriculture are decent, and that all workers are protected, regardless of nationality (Jordanians, migrants, and refugees) or legal status (regular and irregular), against abuses by third parties such as businesses.

As such, the government is required to take appropriate measures to prevent, investigate, punish and redress business-related abuses in the agriculture sector. This will not be achieved unless there is a legislative and regulatory framework that promotes human rights; which makes the issuance of such a framework for agriculture workers an urgent matter. 

On the other hand, the businesses’ responsibility to respect means that businesses in the agriculture sector should have their business activities and operations designed in line with international human rights law. As such, businesses in the sector should, regardless of their size, avoid infringing on the human rights of their workers and others, respect environmental rights, and address any adverse impact resulted from their activities and operations when it occurs. 

In addition, businesses may need to take additional measures to protect the most vulnerable groups such as migrant workers, refugees, women and children. Even in the absence of a domestic legal framework that protects the rights of agricultural workers, businesses remain responsible for respecting the rights of their workers and providing them with protection in accordance with international human rights law standards.

Finally, the access of victims to remedy entails that the Jordanian government, as part of its duty to protect human rights, must take appropriate steps, whether legislative, judicial or administrative, in order to ensure that agriculture workers have access to appropriate remedies should they be subjected to abuses. Accordingly, the failure of the Jordanian government to investigate, punish and remedy business-related abuses faced by agriculture workers very likely amounts to a breach of its duty to protect human rights. 

The Jordanian government has a real opportunity to invest in the agriculture sector as an important one for the country’s economy and development, with the potential to create job opportunities for migrant workers, refugees and women.  However, this requires that the government urgently develop a regulatory framework for agricultural workers that takes into account the internationally recognized human and labour rights standards, including the UNGPs. 

Moreover, there is a need to build real partnerships between the government, the private sector and civil society in order to improve working conditions and support the establishment of agricultural workers’ unions that provide them with legal representation.