Crown Princess Mary of Denmark Visits Jordan: August 20-22, 2013


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Mary's visit can also help in other aspects than just people donating money.
It can be a source of motivation to the danish aid-workers there in the refugee camp to know that people value their work. Like when royals make short visits to their military people stationed in places like Afghanistan.
I'm sure the danish aid-workers also have complaints and maybe ideas about how things work over there and most of all about things could improve in the work done back in Denmark. (There is a whole world of logistics done back at home to keep these guys there and things don't always work perfectly). Complaining to Mary could open them doors, since Mary could be a messenger, and I'm sure those back at home would think more about a complaint done by the Crown-Princess than by one of their many workers there. Mary can do a lot of backstage work.
Mary can also learn lots of things about how refugees camp work,etc, which she can then use to improve her work as Patron of the DRC.

Her visit won't surely solve the problem but there are many reasons that makes it worth it to send her there.
 
This is not against Mary, because she is invited by her patronage/government but I dont like the idea of royals going 'global', what the point of such visits other than PR because the representants mostly don't have a clue, they go with their designer dresses, high heels & diamond rings, its all about posing and photo ops and I sometimes feel sorry for the refugees/victims of all kinds that they are being exposed/used again like that.

Its sad that we need 'royals' to go there because only for that reasons the pictures will end up in certain magazines, so Mr Bach or the organisation will have extra coverage because of Mary, because if the experts on the issue go on their own nobody will notice.

Especially Mary is hardly working in Denmark any longer but increasingly going for a 'Rania-like' role, Africa, now Jordan, next week Morokko, I am a bit clueless why a Danish or whatever country's CP has to go there to promote what kind of interest again? But maybe its just the world we are living in, you need a pretty woman with a certain social standing to 'raise awareness' which means what, looking at the pictures afterwards, and Mary is a good candidate to fit such a role.

It is sad that we need "royals" to make these visits, but that seems to be the reality. I don't see why it's such a horrible thing for them to to.

Don't agree that Mary is hardly working in Denmark anymore. She is making overseas trips, but she certainly seems to work just as hard at home.

Since Diana was mentioned above, I must say that back then at least we learnt a thing or two about Angola, for example. That was a fact, people in the West didn't even know where Angola was, let alone about the landmines and so on. Now what is the purpose? Tell me, who hasn't heard YET that there's a civil war in Syria and thousands of refugees and famine, diseases and so on? Know what, I would be hugely insulted by this visit if I were one of these women.

Thankfully for you, you are not one of these women. And they don't seem the least insulted by her visit.
 
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While people generally do know there has been a civil war in Syria, there has been precious little coverage about Syrian refugees in Jordan, their numbers or their living conditions and much less about the strain refugees put on their host country so I would think any such efforts to raise awareness would be applauded.
It seems many posters believe in times of crisis it is better to ignore the problem, no need to being attention to those in need as the problem will either not be solvable or will I guess miraculously solve itself. With thinking like that it is amazing man ever moved out of the caves.I really pity such people.
I am not sure if their animosity towards the Crown Princess and the Danish Refugee Council is the result of jealously or if these people are just all round nasty to begin with. I certainly hope they are never in need of anyones help or assistance or need a spotlught on a cause that might aid them.
 
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The whole premise in this argument about needing royal ladies to publicize international crises is illogical.
Just because some posters were unaware of Angola and landmines before Diana publicized them, doesn't mean that everyone was unaware and therefore her role was useful . I was aware of the problem.
Just as now I was already aware of the refugee crisis from Syria.
Because I'm already aware doesn't mean there aren't others who are, in the 90's and now. Ignorance is out there, and imo people are less informed now than ever.
 
Does it really matter if attention is brought to the issues by a Crown Princess or by a UN Goodwill Ambassador/movie star? Is it not better that these people use the media attention they get to try and aid those who need help? Would posters rather they ignore such situations? If people contribite more aid funds because they saw a story about Mary in Jordan on the evening news is that such a bad thing? Should she or anyone else in a like position really be criticized for trying to help? You might very well know everything about what is going on in Syria and in the refugess camps. Good for you if that is true, but it may not be true of others. If it is true of you have you done anything to try and help these refugees or did you just turn the page of your newspaper or change tv channels and move on?
 
... Especially Mary is hardly working in Denmark any longer ...

What an odd thing to say. She rarely work outside of Denmark and in the majority of the time when she does work outside of the country, she is working for Denmark. The comments on this thread are just getting more and more ridiculous.
 
I never understand why people criticise these type of visits. Surely people see that the whole point of visits like this is to show support for the refugees and encourage the people/aid agencies working to help the refugees. Just as when Charles and Camilla visited a refugee camp Mary is there as a representative of her country showing/symbolising her counties support for the refugees and aid agencies and their staff.
Do these trips costs money? Of course they do, but let’s be real it’s not as if the money is being taken away from the refugees.
Then take in to account the fact that Mary being there will have raised awareness, this does not have to mean first informing people but simply reminding them of the effects of something people may already know about. This will likely lead to at least some extra donations to charities helping the refugees so what ever the cost its really similar to charities spending money on galas etc as a fundraising tool.
This is what royal visits are all about, recognising what is going on and the recognising the good work of people. Its not as if the Queen gets criticised for visiting hospitals and not helping out, "oi Daisy get a mop and bucket and clean the floor while you’re here..." As if. I think IMO that some people just don't like Mary and are using this to have a go at her even though she is only doing exactly what other royals do.
 
Syria has been in the front pages of the online version of my newspaper every week since the conflict started. i presume this has been the case in other european media also.

a UN committee is over there at the moment judging on the use of chemical weapons. if 99% of the people around the world heard about syria this week, it is because of this UN field trip and NOT because of mary's visit.

personally, i like seeing royals visiting other countries and that's why i visit this thread. but i certainly DO NOT believe, like the previous posters here, that this visit had much impact in the people's perception of the syrian conflict or on its refugees. with this being said, maybe a donation of money directly to the UN would go a much longer way than this visit: particularly considering the costs of security, of plane and hotels for mary and all her staff, of her designer clothes. just that amount of money would make these refugees happier than a visit by yet another diplomatic representant who comes, smiles, takes pictures and leaves back to his/her 5 star hotel.

If this visit has had the effect of bringing attention in Denmark to the plight in Syria. If this also means donations can be made or the social conscious of the Danes puts pressure on the government to do something. If ONE person is now wiser to what is happening in Denmark. Then as far as I am concerned the Danish Crown Princess has been successful in Denmark of letting the Danes know this crisis is not over. If at the same time as her visit the gassing of over a thousand innocent civilians is made a little more poignant in Denmark as it has occurred the same time their Crown Princess was there, then it makes it more real and a little scary.

Don't lose sight of who this was aimed at and why. The fact we are talking about this means Mary has had an inadvertent affect on people outside Denmark, it has made us talk, wonder and consider. The more you complain the more attention you bring to this situation and you make everyone here want to be better than you by not running a good intention down. Your comments have made me donate money to the Red Cross and start a fund at work to donate, your attitude has shamed me into giving a damn, so thank you for your insensitivity :)
 
If this visit has had the effect of bringing attention in Denmark to the plight in Syria. If this also means donations can be made or the social conscious of the Danes puts pressure on the government to do something. If ONE person is now wiser to what is happening in Denmark. Then as far as I am concerned the Danish Crown Princess has been successful in Denmark of letting the Danes know this crisis is not over. If at the same time as her visit the gassing of over a thousand innocent civilians is made a little more poignant in Denmark as it has occurred the same time their Crown Princess was there, then it makes it more real and a little scary.

Don't lose sight of who this was aimed at and why. The fact we are talking about this means Mary has had an inadvertent affect on people outside Denmark, it has made us talk, wonder and consider. The more you complain the more attention you bring to this situation and you make everyone here want to be better than you by not running a good intention down. Your comments have made me donate money to the Red Cross and start a fund at work to donate, your attitude has shamed me into giving a damn, so thank you for your insensitivity :)

I doubt there is a single Dane that has now discovered the Syrian crisis because of Mary. I have found Danes to be very aware of international politics and events and very well informed just like their Nordic neighbors. If Mary wants to be travelling around that is her and the Danish people's business but let's not think that she brings any new attention to the crisis.
 
Surley the fact that there is a 4 page thread dedicated to this trip means this has raised attention, though some people are more interested in critising Mary than talking about the issues she is promoting here. What does it matter if her trip hasn't educated people who didn;t know about it, many people who already knew about Syria and the refugees will have been reminded of the issue and that is a good thing.
Maybe we should focus on the actual, life threatening, issue and not start making up issues of our own.
 
Since she was there in her capacity as Patron of the Danish Refugee Council she was presumably there because that is where Danes wanted her to be. I am sure left to her own wishes she might have found a more enjoyable way to spend the day. I fail to understand why her presence in a refugee camp has caused such a negatove reaction, although perhaps for some posters everything Mary does causes such a reaction.
I would bet there are some posters on here who have given little to no thought about the Syrian civil war or the refugee problem until they had the chance to take a run at the Danish Crown Princess and by extension the Danish Refugee Council.
 
Since she was there in her capacity as Patron of the Danish Refugee Council she was presumably there because that is where Danes wanted her to be. I am sure left to her own wishes she might have found a more enjoyable way to spend the day. I fail to understand why her presence in a refugee camp has caused such a negatove reaction, although perhaps for some posters everything Mary does causes such a reaction.
;) Isn't this what it's all about? I doubt there would have been similar reactions if some other Crown Princess had been to that camp....
Quite opposite, actually.

One of her patronages, the Danish Refugee Council, invited her to visit Jordan and the camp where they work. She also visited UNFPA, a second patronage, also working in the camp. The local shelter for battered women is supported by and a partner organization of Danish organizations. Violence against women being a theme for MaryFonden and something she's worked with before and she's also patron for LOKK, the National organisation of women’s shelters in Denmark.

It seems pretty logic, that she would go on a trip like this. I hardly think Mary's main objective is to "save the world".... How someone can come op with a word like "disgusting" in connection with a visit like this, I really can't understand....

IIRC, some years ago, when Mary had taken on these patronages, she was heavily criticised by some posters for NOT travelling abroad to get to know the work they do in camps etc....
 
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I´m really upset about this debate! No matter if she brings attention to refugee-causes or not, no matter if posters here were aware of syrian refugee suffering or not does not matter a thing! The CPss was invited to go to Jordan and politely she accepted. She is a patron of an organisation dealing with (women)-refugees, so it´s nothing but natural that she HAS to go to some crisis areas of this world to get a personal impression of the terrible circumstances these people suffer! Thirdly, it is very obvious to see that she brightend the day of these poor people! Either women or children seemed to be very happy that a beautiful princess from abroad came to talk and listened to them! Just look at the photos again and you´ll see nothing but joy and happiness in their faces to see Mary. Is that alone not the visit worthwhile?!
 
Wow, well I think this has all gone to far. I think we should move on.

Is Mary still in Jordan or has she returned home? Does she have any more engagements in the country?
 
Wow, well I think this has all gone to far. I think we should move on.

Is Mary still in Jordan or has she returned home? Does she have any more engagements in the country?

Yes, I guess she has returned back home to Denmark. She has official events in the coming week. She and Christian Friis Bach's visit was of good reasons not publicly made​​, but several newspapers reported that their last day in Jordan was Thursday.


A couple of unseen pics of Mary with a charming little boy in one of the crisis center

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSVqxRwCQAERhJ0.jpg:large

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/q79/575175_530922366979532_2058866179_n.jpg
 
Thanks! I thought she would have returned home but as there was no end date on the thread title I wasn't 100% sure. I wonder if she visited the king & queen while she was there even if it was privately.
 
This is not against Mary, because she is invited by her patronage/government but I dont like the idea of royals going 'global', what the point of such visits other than PR because the representants mostly don't have a clue, they go with their designer dresses, high heels & diamond rings, its all about posing and photo ops and I sometimes feel sorry for the refugees/victims of all kinds that they are being exposed/used again like that.

Its sad that we need 'royals' to go there because only for that reasons the pictures will end up in certain magazines, so Mr Bach or the organisation will have extra coverage because of Mary, because if the experts on the issue go on their own nobody will notice.

Especially Mary is hardly working in Denmark any longer but increasingly going for a 'Rania-like' role, Africa, now Jordan, next week Morokko, I am a bit clueless why a Danish or whatever country's CP has to go there to promote what kind of interest again? But maybe its just the world we are living in, you need a pretty woman with a certain social standing to 'raise awareness' which means what, looking at the pictures afterwards, and Mary is a good candidate to fit such a role.
[my bolding]
I am in full agreement with you and you pose a very good question. Queen Rania cut down her glamorous international presence after the troubles started looming in Jordan. All these feelgood PR trips yield no tangible results in the end. Raising awareness means to facilitate cash flow in the form of donations, which will be mostly spent on various administrative expenses.
 
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[my bolding]
I am in full agreement with you and you pose a very good question. Queen Rania cut down her glamorous international presence after the troubles started looming in Jordan. All these feelgood PR trips yield no tangible results in the end. Raising awareness means to facilitate cash flow in the form of donations, which will be mostly spent on various administrative expenses.

Then let's go through it again.
In the wake of the Arabic Spring the Danish government supports human rights organisations in Arabic countries. Among these organisations are some who work to improve womens rights.
The purpose of Mary going is of course to create awareness in Denmark, but also very much to be a tool for the Danish government. I.e. in creating attention in Morocco and the rest of the Middle East among primarily the womens rights organisations that have sprung up there, by Mary being such a high ranking and highly profiled person and representative for Denmark. Also that Mary through her position opens doors and create attention a minister is unlikely to be able to.
Abuse of women is also very much a subject Mary has involved herself in, in Denmark, through the Mary Foundation.
 
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Alright, that's enough guys.
Obviously some members are incapable of carrying on a discussion without insulting other members. The offensive post in question and responses have been deleted.
Let's move on because we're obviously going in circles.

Humera
Jordan Forum Moderator
 
Questions to our Jordanian posters; has Mary's visit been covered in the Jordanian press? Are the conditions in the refuge camps written about in the local press or has Mary's visit drawn attention to conditions of which local citizens are not aware?
 
Summary of a number of articles and an interview in Billed Bladet #35, 2013.
All written by Ulrik Ulriksen.
Part one.

Before the situation became even more dramatic in the region Mary visited a refugee camp in Jordan, as patron for Danish Refugee council. (*) The camp she visited is the largest camp in Jordan and the second largest refugee camp in the world, housing at present some 120.000 refugees. (**)
Here Mary was taken on a tour of a part of the camp. Jordanian security and military presence was heavy as a demonstration had turned violent just the day before. As such it made Jordanian security very nervous when Mary, who was going from one part of the camp to another, decided to go down a kind of main street and came face to face with refugees who had not been vetted in advance.
A crowd gathered around her as the refugees quickly realized that Mary was an important (foreign) person. It was also here a mother somewhat surprisingly put a child in the arms of Mary. A six month old girl named Tuchtuch. Unsurprisingly the girl cried and Mary handed her back to the mother: "You'd better taker her back, after all she doesn't know me".

Mary also met a number of mothers in a centre in the camp labelled: Child friendly space". Basically a place where women in relative calm and neutral surroundings can meet and talk with other mothers or just get away from it all for a short while. (Things can understandebly become very stressful within the families from time to time).

Mary also met some children in a kind of school tent. Even though there is no schooling to speak of it has some therapeutic effect that the semblance of a school give the children a little sense of normality and of the daily routine, that has been disrupted. - And it's also a way for the children to get away from it all for a couple of hours. And drawing in particular is good way for the children to went the feelings penned up inside them.
She also had an opportunity to talk to or rather listen to the stories by some of the women, something that visibly moved Mary.

Cutting the stay in the camp short due to a demonstration the delegation drove back to the Jordanian capital Amman, and to a women's shelter there.
Here Mary and the Minister for Development, Christian Friis Back, watched a local adaption of a Danish play called: Mothers and daughters. With women from the shelter as actors. The play is about women being abused in various ways and how to deal with it.

At the shelter Mary had a long chat with a number of the women, many if not most were foreign some coming as far away as Bangladesh. And it's the usual story with women in a foreign country, with limited knowledge of the culture and the language being mistreated. Jordan is not the only country where "import-wives" risk being treated worse than dogs. That's a global problem. And the stories were just as well known as they were horrific.
The centre is working closely with the Danish organisation KVINFO. (For: KVinde INFOrmation = information for women).

Later on the delegation visited a ressource centre which offer financial support to Syrian refugees. As mentioned in my note below many Syrian refugees can't even find room in the rapidly expanding refugee camps, but must fend for themselves. Among the refugees they met here and whose stories they learned about was 80 year old Aysha, who wept at Mary's shoulder. All in all a sobering experience!

The visit ended with a visit to the Jordanian Ministry for Development and the Foreign Ministry where Mary had lunch with the Foreign Minister, Nasser Joudeh.

- To my surprise Mary did not meet members of the JRF, but perhaps they have a different set of protocols?

The interview follow in the second part.

(*) Danish Refugee Council and Danish Red Cross are among the very few relief organisations allowed to work inside Syria. - Which makes it an even more brilliant idea that the Danish government still to this moment appear willing to take part in a military action against Syria. Because we all know that bombs are much more helpful for civilians than relief organisations...

(**) I understand that only one fifth of the Syrian refugees in Jordan live in camps. The rest live with relatives, are housed privatly, live in rented homes or simply living in the streets.
 
Part two.

This is an excerpt of an interview with both Mary and the Minister for Development, Christian Friis Bach.

Let me start out with Mary's comment to the then alledged gasattack in Damascus, which I now believe really was perpetrated by the regime. I was very sceptical because I could not believe anyone would be that stupid...
Mary: "You can clearly see the fear in people. They shake from worry. The latest dreadful things in Syria means that you can clearly feel the tension in the refugees we sit face to face with".

Q: Crown Princess Mary try to describe your experience of the meeting with the many Syrian refugees here in Jordan?
Mary: "We have experienced a very desperate situation. The consequences of the Syrian conflict are very severe and it's very difficult to watch. The individual stories we have heard touch you deep in the heart. And you can say the positive thing in all the horror is that the international community stand together in order to help the thousands of people who have had to flee the conflict and from their homes. They have lost everything. Also relatives. And then they come to a refugee camp.
The local communities who recieve the refugees are also subjected to a severe pressure. Here after the visit to the Za'atari camp it has become really clear to me how terrible the situation is in Syria".

Q: Crown Princess Mary, what do you as a royal and in a delegation with a Danish minister think you can achieve with such a marked/high profile trip as this?
Mary: "It's very important to focus on the plight and situation of the refugees, but it's also to put focus on Jordan as the country that is going to recieve so many thousands of refugees (*) and see how efficient they handle this situation and this crisis which is so unimaginably complex and so different from what I have experienced elsewhere.
Therefore we have to think along new lines and be innovative in order to return to the Syrian refugees some of their lost basics of life back. And in that context Denmark plays a role with the help offered by among others Danish Refugee Council".

To a question on how Mary will follow up on the visit, she responds: "I will among other things continue to put women's rights and health on the global agenda. It's important to direct focus on the groups who are most vulnerable. And experience shows that big humanitarian disasters hit women and children the hardest".

(*) Yes. Because you don't need a univerity degree in fortune telling to predict that the civil wat and thus the refugee situation will continue for quite a number of years more. This is merely the first phase of the war.

A little detail: The journalist (naturally) address Mary with formal you, while the minister is addressed with informal you.
 
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