The Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of parliament, on Saturday declared as invalid two laws including the Child Rights Protection Law, called for a legal review of the measures.
According to reports, the Child Rights Protection Law was added to the Wolesi Jirga agenda four times over the last four years, but could not be approved due to differences over the article 3 of the law.
On December 9, the Wolesi Jirga approved a legislative decree on the law but some lawmakers opposed the article three of the law and said the quorum was incomplete for the vote.
The article three defines everyone under 18 years a child. However, opponents of the article say the article is in conflict with Islamic rules and constitution of the country.
Following dispute over the Child Rights Protection Law, the lower house tasked a team chaired by first deputy speaker Amir Khan Yar to check whether there was enough quorum on the day of voting on the law or not.
Abdullah Baig, a lawmaker form Takhar province, provided information about the team’s findings to yesterday’s session and said the quorum was incomplete on the day of voting.
Baig said 126 lawmakers were needed to decide about legislative matters while there were only 102 lawmakers present on the day of voting on the Child Rights Protection Law. He said the law was invalid due to lack of quorum.
On the voting day, the Wolesi Jirga asked three times house secretary Karim Attal to confirm if the quorum was complete, but Attal said that there was enough quorum for vote, he said.
Amir Khan Yar, first deputy speaker, who chaired yesterday’s session, also said that internal code of conduct of the house and law were violated on the day of voting and the Child Rights Protection Law was invalid.
He said the law should be legally reviewed and then added to the agenda of the lower house for decision.
The lower house also invalidated the law on regulating local councils. Ghulam Faroq Majroh, a lawmaker from Herat province, said that the law was approved last Wednesday despite some disagreements remained unsolved over some of its articles.
He said some parts of the law were in conflict with the Constitution as local councils and provincial councils were given the authority of supervision in the law. The article 139 of the Constitution says, “The provincial council shall participate in attainment of the development objectives of the state and improvement of the affairs of the province in the manner prescribed by laws, and shall advise the provincial administrations on related issues. The provincial council shall perform its duties with cooperation of the provincial administration.”
Majroh and a number of other lawmakers, asked for a review of the law and said laws which were in conflict with the Constitution should not be included to the Wolesi Jirga’s agendas.
Amir Khan Yar said the law was invalid because it was in violation of the Constitution.
He asked the Internal Security Commission of the house to share the draft law with the committee of heads after controversies over the bill were resolved and then added to the agenda for voting.
Ramazan Bashardost, a lawmaker from Kabul, regretted the house’s decisions and said people’s representatives signed documents without reading them.
