Ministry of Justice Allows Entrance of 116 Individuals for the Third Round of Legislative Stage

May 9^th 2019

The third round of the legislative stage of Ministry of Justice commenced via an official ceremony, today. In this program, around 116 Law and Sharia graduates as well as the legal and legislative affairs staff members of the government departments were enrolled, approximately 50% of which are constituted of females.

His Excellency, Dr. Abdul Baseer Anwar, the Minister of Justice of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, termed the convening of this program important and spoke on its significance in the field of legislation. He wished success for the participants of the program and asked them to take the most out of this opportunity.

He said, “The Legislative Stage of the Ministry of Justice, established within the framework of the Institute of Legislative Drafting and Legal Research, is organized every year in order to upgrade the legislative knowledge level, and providing opportunity to obtain expertise and professional skills in the fields of drafting, scrutinizing and processing of legislative documents”.

He wished that at the end of this round, the stagers, as the specialists of legislation, obtain appropriate understanding of the importance of legislation and its requirements, and full knowledge of Afghanistan’s legal system, are able to further the perfection of this system, and play an effective role in tackling the challenges.

The Legislative Stage Program, so far, completed two rounds in 2016 and 2018. In the first round a number of 27 individuals and in the second round 100 stagers successfully completed and obtained their certificates.

The Minister of Justice, considering the legal obligation of the Ministry of Justice, promised that an in-service legislative stage program will be started by Institute of Legislative Drafting and Legal Research to enhance the capacity of the professional staff members of the State Cases and Hoqooq Departments.

The Minister of Justice expressed gratitude for the financial and technical assistance of the donors and requested the continuation of their cooperation in this regard.

Assistant Professor Abdul Majid Ghanizadah, Director General of the Institute, also mentioned the importance of this program and said: “Preparing drafts of legislative documents is one of the responsibilities of the relevant departments, but due to lack of professional and capable persons, the drafts submitted have many gaps and are not acceptable, which is big challenge in the area of legislation”.

He further said that the cabinet of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, in its approval No. 18, dated Dec 27^th 2018, in order to support and encourage the graduates of the stage program has stipulated that the ministries and other government agencies, while employing their legislative staff members, are obliged to give priority to the graduates of law and Sharia who have obtained the certificates from the Legislative Stage of the Ministry of Justice. And during the employment of Legislative Stagers from the Ministry of Justice, should be given a one year work experience advantage.

The Ministry of Justice, for the purpose of making the legislative process easy, and in order to employ, quality and quantity wise capable persons in preparing legislative documents in the departments, has organized the Stage Program. With the employment of the graduates of the legislative stage in the government departments, the process of drafting of laws will become more professional, which will help the legislation in turn.