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Integrity Watch Afghanistan called for early amendment of access to info law
Integrity Watch Afghanistan has warned that if President Ghani and National Council do not take any step for amendment of the law, Afghan people will face serious problems.
Officials in Integrity Watch emphasized that due to failure in access to information law, 70 % of Afghanistan population that includes women and disables are deprived of the access to information.
Previously, President Ashraf Ghani has signed the new Access to Information Act, ratifying the 6 chapters and 32 articles that deliver Afghans unprecedented transparency in the state institutions.
The law lives up to international standards and will have major effects in limiting corruption, localising democracy and strentghening the people’s political and social participation in state building.
People will gain access to state and public budgets, and official spokespeople will be inclined to share information with journalists and citizens.
“The access to information law has many gaps and weaknesses and we are afraid of its amendments failure that would cause many problems for Afghan people,” head of advocacy group of Integrity Watch, Habibullah Maqbel said.
“Parliament and the government should amend access to information law and also consider the recomandations of the civil society that the background of information provides,” Samiullah Popalzai, member of advocacy group of Integrity Watch said.
There is, however, still quite some way to go. Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and having a great law on paper does not mean much if it is not implemented in practice.
Implementation of the law is one of the biggest challenges. A joint working force was developed between presidential office and civil society to monitor the implementation of the law.
The law follows the internationally accepted principle of maximum disclosure of information. That is, all information held by the government should be presumed to be public with minimal exceptions.
In Afghanistan’s new law, limitations on access to information are restricted to situations where disclosure poses legitimate harm to public or private interests.
This include cases where national security is concerned, where a citizen’s rights may be violated, where the release of information would obstruct the detection or investigation of a crime, or where the life, property, honor, or prestige of a person would be endangered.
It is hoped that the new rules surrounding access to information will help increase the public’s trust in government.
In a country that was ranked 172 out of 175 countries in Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, the potential benefits of the law are clear.
The lower house of the Afghan parliament (Wolesi Jirga) has approved Access to Information Law with some amendments by a majority of votes in June 30, 2014.
A tripartite meeting between the delegations of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was held in Kabul with the aim of connecting North Asia to South Asia and reducing transit and transportation costs among these three countries, the Ministry of Trade and Commerce said in a statement.
In this meeting, an agreement was reached on the creation of a joint technical committee to continue the talks.
This tripartite meeting was held under the leadership of Nooruddin Azizi, the Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Vice President of Turkmenistan and Srik Zhumangarin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
Earlier, a bilateral meeting was held between the delegation of the Islamic Emirate and Turkmenistan. The ministry of commerce said the participants of the meeting discussed the construction of a large joint logistics center in Torghondi, the trilateral transit agreement between the IEA, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, the expansion of Afghanistan’s railway, solving issues related to Afghan transit and export goods, and a number of other commercial issues.
Acting Minister of National Defense Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid has said that no destructive groups including Daesh have physical presence in Afghanistan, adding the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) will not allow anyone to pose threat to any country in the region from the Afghan soil.
Mujahid made the remarks in a meeting with a delegation from Malaysia in Kabul on Thursday.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Defense, Mujahid highlighted Malaysia’s “good treatment” of Afghan refugees and its long-standing relations with Afghanistan, and said that Malaysia is a powerful Islamic country and visits should increase.
He added that with the establishment of the Islamic Emirate, occupation and war ended in Afghanistan, and the country is fully secure.
Based on the statement, the Malaysian delegation called Afghanistan a friendly country and while emphasizing on comprehensive cooperation, it assured that what they have seen in Afghanistan will be shared with the authorities of their country.
The European Union signed an agreement worth 17 million euros with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to improve access to basic services, increased economic opportunities and protection for Afghans on the move and their host communities in Afghanistan.
The needs of women and girls are a particular focus of the programme, EU said in a statement released on Thursday.
The statement noted that from January 2023 until April 2024, over 1.5 million Afghans returned from Pakistan and Iran.
“I am deeply moved by the hardship returnees face when being deported to Afghanistan. In a country suffering from poverty and climate change, and in a city that just saw devastating earthquakes, this truly is a crisis within a crisis.”, said Peteris Ustubs, Director for the Middle East, Asia and Pacific of the European Commission’s Department for International Partnerships during the signing ceremony at the IOM transit centre in Herat.
Raffaella Iodice, EU Chargée d’Affaires a.i. to Afghanistan, added “The solidarity of the Afghan people towards their brothers and sisters is an inspiration. We must assure that communities hosting and helping new arrivals are supported. The partnership with IOM ensures access to essential services and provides protection for Afghan returnees and their host communities. As women and girls can be particularly affected, we make sure that all members of society can benefit”.
“IOM’s continued partnership with the EU has been critical in enabling our teams to reach hundreds of thousands of Afghan returnees and other vulnerable communities in the country”, said IOM Afghanistan Chief of Mission, Maria Moita. “Thanks to this renewed commitment, we will be able to focus on addressing the immense challenges in the areas of return and contribute to reintegration, social cohesion, and longer-term solutions for those communities.”
This additional contribution is part of a 5-year programme that is being implemented across Afghanistan and in four countries in the region. It builds on the EU’s previous support to IOM to improve the wellbeing of Afghans forced to return to the country, EU said.
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