KABUL - Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) head Sima Samar on Wednesday said corruption challenged peace and stability in the country and the phenomenon needed practical action to be curbed.
Samar, addressing a conference “National human rights and anti-corruption conference,” said that establishing peace in the country was related to fighting corruption.
“The impunity culture paves ground for more corruption, a phenomenon that expands when there is no accountability”, she said, stressing a serious commitment for eliminating the problem was direly needed.
Samar said fighting corruption should not remain confined to slogans but needed a serious and practical action.
Deputy Attorney General Ghulam Haidar Alama said corruption was harmful in all aspects to people’s lives and there was the need for all groups of people including civil society and the government to join hands in dealing with the stigma.
Danish envoy to Afghanistan, Jakob Brix Tange, who also attended the conference, said that corruption was the only major obstacle to development and good governance in Afghanistan.
“Anti-corruption efforts should begin in a framework and cooperation from the bottom to the height as well as investigative journalism should be also strongly supported”, he said.
The result of an investigation named, ‘People’s access to justice assessment’ was also presented at the event.
The investigation showed there were still serious problems in people’s access to justice, with bribery remaining a serious challenge.
According to the report, 41 percent of Afghans were victim of bribery while 53.6 percent complained about tribal discrimination. (Pajhwok)