London Moot: Civil society submits suggestions

KABUL groups on Wednesday presented a set of suggestions to the Afghan government and the British Embassy in Kabul for consideration ahead of the London Conference slated for Dec. 4.

Bari Salam, spokesperson for the Afghan Civil Society Network, told a press conference here the suggestions covering seven areas had been prepared in consultations with 1,500 civil society organisations.

He said the recommendations focused on areas such as democratic reforms, rule of law and human rights, government’s revenues, budget implementation and good governance on provincial level, economic development, effective use of aid and continued participation of civil society in anti- corruption campaign.

He said civil society considered the seven areas as vital for Afghanistan’s development and hoped that the international community would consider them in the upcoming conference. “Our suggestions are based on current needs of the Afghan society,” he added.

Frishta Karimi, a civil society activist, said enforcement of the law on Elimination of Violence against Women and adoption of the Child Rights Act were their main demands.

Acting Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, while receiving the set of recommendations, said the upcoming London conference was important for Afghanistan. Foreign donors would renew their pledges of assistance to Afghanistan amounting to $4 billion in aid per year for another decade, he added.

British Ambassador in Kabul Richard Stagg promised his country’s assistance to Afghanistan would continue beyond 2014 until the war-torn stood on its own feet.

The London donor conference will take place on December 4 and 5 and is jointly organised by the governments of Afghanistan and the UK.

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