Another important factor to stabilise Afghanistan is the effective establishment of the rule of law.

Currently the legal situation of Afghanistan is most dissatisfying and contributes to the weakness of the central government. The absence of a nationwide enforceable legal code and the corrupt and inefficient state of the nation's court system has withdrawn wide areas of society from the influence of the government and justice needs are filled out by ad-hoc mechanisms instead.

An enforceable (for both citizens as well as law enforcement agencies) legal code penetrating nation-wide all areas of life, however, is vital in order  to ensure the stability of the government and its institutions as well as ensure a secure environment for doing business which in itself again is an important development sector.

As a result the area of law enforcement needs to be strengthened significantly. Here, too, the issues needs to be tackled from different angles:

1. Law  enforcement agencies need to be put into the position to effectively implement the law
2. Citizens must be put into the position to enforce their rights
3. Effective law-making
4. civic education campaigns linked to a system of reinforcing sanctions

1.

Due to the absence of a functioning civil society since and even before the conflicts the current generations of Afghans have not been trained in the application of laws and the necessity of their application. This mind-set reaches into the smallest areas of life where many people try to circumvent rules and regulations which are mostly seen as negotiable in some form or the other.

It is therefore important to train and guide the population in their civic duties and legal obligations. Respect before the law and its implementing bodies need to be nurtured. The mind-set of "exceptions" needs to be removed and a strict application of the law to all - regardless of creed and name - must be followed.

To this end it is vital for the police force and other law-enforcement bodies charged with this implementation to be integrated very strongly in the civil services reform suggested in my previous blog entry so that their work is carried out in an incorruptible manner.

2.

If, however, the rule of law is propagated from the side of the state it must also offer the opportunity for citizens to enforce their rights.

While the enforcement mechanisms and underpinning legal codes may vary based on the issues at hand - the path towards dispute resolution has to be clearly regulated and must apply to all equally. Access must be affordable and procedures transparent and for all concerned to follow. There must be financial support for the underprivileged so that they may access the correct dispute resolution path prescribed by the law and do not have to rely on doubtful, illegal courses of justice.

Resolution settlement must be based on the laws applying to the area at hand and judges or other facilitators must be trained professionals.

Here again the courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms must be part of the civil services reform and its strict code.

The legal  profession needs to be promoted and expanded

3.

Rule of law begins with the conception of laws and the law-making process in parliament. The current Afghan parliament is inefficient in concluding the legal process of law-making within reasonable time frames. This has largely to do with the absence of stable majorities in parlieament and the fact that the opinion forming process is a swaggering one. In order to streamline the law-making capabiltiy of the parliament the following reforms should be carried out:

• Introduction of political parties: political parties take the opinion-forming process out of parliament and into pre-decision party forums. This results in established opinions once the decisons are put before parliament. Political parties also make for clearer majorities.
• change in electorial system: currently there are no established majorities in parliament. This is also caused by the electoral system which attempts to follow the prinicple "one man one vote" but makes for a fractured parliament with weak decison power. If changed to a majority voting system no more than three parties will be permanently esetablished in parliament. Voters should vote for party lists in constituencies and only the list with the simple majority in a constituency makes it to parliament while all others are obmitted.
• remove the presidential sytem: it is to be replaced with a parliamentary system which votes for a Prime Minister. This Prime Minster is supported by the majority in parliament. That way executive and parliament majority will mostly be in sync and decisions are taken more swiftly.

With the above measures confidence in the parliament will be raised and faith in the overall system of governance among the people strengthend.

4.

A society in which the largest portion of the populace is uneducated, guidance in civic behaviour is necessary. One example is road traffic:

Once the police has been reformed and strengthened in its law enforcement position, traffic rules have to be propagated through the media, local training centres and other means and strictly enforced by the traffic police with an equally strict application of a fair but tough fine system. If the police remains corrupt everybody can bribe their way around the application of the traffic rules.

Similarly other social behaviour, such as littering, can be tackled that way, too.

At the same time the public must be educated of their rights which they must be in the position to enforce

Civic society campaigns also should extend into educating the public about the political system, its purpose, its reasons, the people's role in it and their rights and duties.