Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) has issued its monthly parliamentary monitoring report of September. The National Assembly (Wolesi Jirga) has had an active month, with discussion and approval of the draft law on composition, duties and mandate of the Independent Election Commission being the most prominent development. Now the draft law has to go to Senate and eventually to Presidential approval becoming a law with guarantees of IEC independence. Below are excerpts from the FEFA report with highlights of important development at the National Assembly.
-Wolsi Jirga approved the law on Composition, Duties and Mandate of the Independent Election Commission. After the 18 committees of Wolsi Jirga discussed the proposals on the amendment of the law on IEC's composition, duties and mandate, the committees presented the draft law to the plenary session held on September, 24, 2012 chaired by Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi speaker of house for approval.
At the beginning of the session Mohammad Mohaqeq head of the Judicial and Justice committee of Wolsi Jirga introduced the mentioned draft law to the session.
The MPs debated on the draft with the presence of two representatives of the United Nations as temporary members of the Electoral Complaints Commission.
Kamal Naser Osoli a representative of Khost province said, "The presence of two representatives of the United Nation as temp members of the ECC is against the Afghan constitution and national sovereignty.
But most of the MPs agreed with the presence of two representatives of the United Nations at the ECC.
The mentioned law is comprised of 5 chapters and 36 articles and was put in a vote and the MPs approved it by majority of votes pro and 5 votes against.
-Wolsi Jirga approved the law on Hoarding Ban and the Census law
Wolsi Jirga held a session on September 22 to debate on two draft laws (the hoarding ban law and the statistics law). It was presented by Ramazan Jumazada, the reporter of the National Economic Committee to Wolsi Jirga. After the introduction of the draft law, it was put in a vote and the MPs approved it by major votes pro. Afterwards, the MPs agreed on approving the statistics law as well.
-Wolsi Jirga questioned chair of the Local governance
Wolsi Jirga held a session on September, 5 and summoned Abdul Khaliq Farahee the chair of Local Governance to present reports on their performance. Mr. Farahee presented a performance report. MP Reza Khoshak said, "This report is very basic and the chair of the Local Governance Office must first have a discussion with the governors on their performances and achievements before submitting the report to the Committee. Koshak said, "The chair of the Local governance Office is unable to perform his duties well.
A while back, Herat governor was involved in a verbal dispute with Herat mayor over corruption and Mr. Farahee despite being informed of the situation did not take any action".
-Considering thirty percent women attendance at higher education institutions
Wolsi Jirga held its plenary session on September, 1 and approved the women capacity development program. At the beginning of the session Fawzia Kofi Head of the Committee on Women rights presented the women capacity development draft to Wolsi Jirga for approval. This draft has been submitted by the Ministry of Women Affairs to increase women capacity and pave the ground for women to study at higher education institutions. This draft consists of a preface and 12 chapters. Based on the context of this draft thirty percent of the students at higher education institutions should be women. This strategy will help women pursue their higher education and will therefore enhance their role in the country's development.
The committees of the National Assembly summoned several government officials and held discussions on several issues.
-The Committee on Judicial and Justice Affairs
The Judicial and Justice Committee of Wolsi Jirga named the law The IEC and ECC's Composition, Duties and Mandate Law. While reforming some articles of the law, MPs changed the fourth paragraph of the 8th article from two qualified women should be suggested as members of the Independent Elections Commission to the president appoints nine members of the IEC for six years, out of which at least two members are women.
-The Committee on Women Affairs
The committee discussed following issue: The Independent t Election Commission's sessions must be open to all members of political parties, civil society and national and international observers. Paragraph three: competences allocated to the commission's deputy and secretary is mentioned in their job descriptions and is approved by the Elections Commission's members, Paragraph four: the Commission's sessions are open for all the representatives of the political parties, civil society, national and international observers.
Also paragraph two of the fifteenth article was amended to read as follows: Head of the commission secretariat is introduced by the commission members to the president for approval, other staff members of the commission's secretariat are recruited according to the civil services law.
This text was also added to the mentioned article: The secretariat performs its duties according to the procedure approved by the Independent Elections Commission. The debate on the remaining articles of the law was postponed and will be debated in future sessions of the committee. At the end of the session head of the committee appreciated the participation of FEFA's representative at the session.
-The Committee on Women Affairs
Women home-escape is not a crime: In a session chaired by Fawzia Kofi head of the Committee, Habibullah Ghalib Minister of Justice, Hussn Bano Ghazanfar Minister of Women Affairs and the Administrative Deputy Minister of Ministry of Interior Affairs were summoned to discuss the issue of women escape.
At the beginning of the session Fawzia Kofi emphasized on the fact that home-escape is not considered crime under the laws of Afghanistan and said, " In Afghanistan about 700 to 800 women are imprisoned and 70% of them are imprisoned due to running away from home and The Commiittee on Women Affairs 15 Monitoring Report of Wolesi Jirga | 10/21/2012 only 30 % of them are involved in other social crimes".
She then added "if home-escape is not a crime, then why these women are imprisoned?
In respond to this question, the Administrative Deputy of the Ministry of Interior Affairs said, "We believe that home-escape is not considered crime but many cases show that the detainees who had escaped home due to forced marriages or other domestic problems, they also committed crimes along the way and that's the reason why the police have imprisoned them" He added "We have taught our police forces not to review the dossiers related to women home-, because of its recognized as a crime".
Then Asadullah Ghalib the Minister of Justice said, "Running away from home is not a crime and the Supreme Court is guided to send a letter to all the judges and law enforcement authorities to take this issue seriously and do not arrest, detain or prosecute any further cases of "home-escape".