Mr. Jean Lieby, Director of the Child Support Unit of the UNICEF, called on His Excellency, Dr. Abdul Basir Anwar, Minister of Justice of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, on 09/05/1395

His Excellency, the Minister of Justice of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, giving information about the Comprehensive Child Act and the modality of work on it, said thatthough he had promised tocompletethe Comprehensive Child Actbefore the end of March, 2016, but because of the joining of Afghanistan in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country hadto develop some 27 legal documents until the end of Saratan 1395, therefore due to increased engagements in the said issues, work on the Comprehensive Child Act, could not be addressed.

His Excellency, the Justice Minister further said: “Following numerous meetings on the development of the Comprehensive Child Act, we have obtained some useful feedbacks, and we shall consider the inclusion of those feedbacks in the said law”.

His Excellency, the Justice Minister, called for the cooperation of the UNICEFin the following issues:

• If possible, extensive cooperation in constructing the educational and correction centers for children
• Financial assistance in employing the legal aids

Meanwhile Mr. Jean Libby assured His Excellencythe minister that he would contact with theirconstruction unit about the women prison in order to evaluate the needs of the prison, thenbased on evaluation, an appropriate decision would be taken

He also said that they had budget only enough for three legal aids, but promised that after consultation with their colleagues, the employment of some further legal aids will also be arranged.

On the drafting of the Comprehensive Child Act, work was in progress in the Institute of Legislation and Scientific-Legal Research, for the last one and a half year. As the Minister of Justice said, efforts were underway to prepare and submit the draft to the cabinet of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, before the opening of the Brussels Conference.