Students Explore Issues of Human Rights and Water Scarcity in Jordan
In January 2025, 13 Johns Hopkins SAIS students and one faculty member travelled to Amman, Jordan for the International Human Rights Law Clinic. This course introduces students to the analysis of human rights-related issues, with new topics of study and a new travel location each year.
This year, the class is exploring whether international law protects the right to water, by investigating the laws, policies, and practices of Jordan, one of the world’s most water-poor countries.
“In the context of its geographical location, Jordan must confront water shortage as a transnational issue, raising questions of compliance and dispute resolution,” said Professor Steven Schneebaum, the faculty lead for this course. “We are also looking into the questions of how marginalized portions of the population (refugees, people living in remote areas, women, people and families of limited means) are able to cope with the scarcity of accessible clean water and whether the allocation of water for agriculture, industry, and domestic consumption makes sense and is consistent with international human rights standards.”
The class met in Amman with a broad array of present and past government officials in the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation (and related public entities), as well as with U.S. Ambassador Yael Lempert and her staff, Senator Ilhan Barakat (Jordan’s former attorney general and Supreme Court justice), the Royal Scientific Society, several civil society organizations, and many of the UN agencies operating in the country. The highlight of the official itinerary was the chance to meet and discuss these issues with HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, the uncle and one of the most trusted advisers of Jordan’s King Abdullah.
“It would not have been possible to obtain from books and websites the kind of insight that we got by talking with people professionally involved in the water sector,” Professor Schneebaum stated.
“Traveling to Jordan gave me the chance to apply what I’m learning in the classroom to the real world,” said Ali Gostanian, a Master of International Public Policy student who participated in the trip. “As a midcareer student hoping to transition into the policy space, the law clinic has helped me to gain experience that I can add to my resume, as well as contribute to an important piece of scholarly work.”
The law clinic will publish a report with its findings at the end of the academic year.
Enjoyed reading about Human Rights and Water Scarcity in Jordan? Explore all that our Washington, D.C. campus has to offer.