Parliament’s Role in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): The Case Study of Afghanistan

Abstract

The United Nations 2030 Agenda is a global framework, a transformative and universal agenda with an overarching imperative of ‘leaving no one behind’ for sustainable development. While requires each country to ensure financing and effective implementation by incorporating SDGs into the national policies, parliaments play an important role in the localization, implementation, and monitoring of these goals. In Afghanistan, these “Global Goals” have to be refined to fit the local context and align with the government national priorities and development frameworks, which Afghanistan’s Parliament have an opportunity, and a constitutional responsibility, to play a significant role in localizing, supporting and monitoring SDGs implementation. This paper tries to identify what important role Afghanistan’s Parliament, as the supreme law-making and oversight body of the executives, can play I) to design and implement the sustainable development policies, laws, and budgets and II) ensure effective monitoring and implementation of these global targets. Based on examples of good practice, the article also presents tangible recommendations and urges the Parliament of Afghanistan to upscale action related to improving efficiency in the achievement of the SDGs in Afghanistan.

Keywords

Sustainable, Development, Parliament, Constitution, Government, MPs

Introduction

Sustainable peace and development are crucial to the future of the planet and humanity. This vision is laid out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), which aims to to end poverty, protect the planet for current and future generations and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030 (GOPAC, UNDP & IDB, 2015). The agenda, a holistic, universal, transformative, 15-year global plan of action adopted by the United Nations member States in 2015, calls all countries to translate the ambitious and transformative Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into national priorities and to engage civil society actors, the private sector, academia and science in the quest for a world in which “leaving no one behind and all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality” (ParAmericas & UNDP, 2019).

As the elected representatives of the people, MPs have an important role to play in driving forward people- centred development that is reflective of and responsive to the needs of their constituents (UGMP, 2017). In recent decades, there has been increasing recognition of the importance of engaging parliamentarians in efforts to advance sustainable development (GOPAC, UNDP & IDB, 2015). The SDGs do not replace the work that the Parliament is already doing in support of national development. Instead, they provide a framework and excel the process to focus efforts at the national level on people’s prosperity and well-being (Fiji & UNDP, 2019). They are an opportunity for the Parliament to contribute to better development outcomes for the citizens. Through their constitutional mandates and their efforts to enact laws, adopt budgets, and monitor accountability,parliaments play a strategic role in ensuring that governments effectively implement global commitments at the national level (Bellorini et al, 2018).

Engaging the Afghan Parliament in the implementation, follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda is critical to achieving the SDGs. The Parliament has an opportunity, and a constitutional responsibility, to play a significant role in supporting and monitoring SDG implementation in Afghanistan. By making laws and overseeing government policies including enacting the government budget and representing the views of their constituents, parliamentarians are valuable partners in ensuring the inclusive, participatory, and transparent governance which is necessary for achieving the SDGs in Afghanistan (Par Americas & UNDP, 2019). The Agenda 2030 Declaration acknowledges the “essential role of national parliaments through their enactment of legislation and adoption of budgets, and their role in ensuring accountability for the effective implementation of our commitments (UN General Assembly,2015).” Each one of these responsibilities plays an important part in parliament’s role regarding their responsibilities to the 2030 Agenda ( E. Mulholland,2017). Only through the mentioned responsivities can Afghan Parliament improve their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda and have a chance at meeting the SDGs.

The main goal of the study is to reveal the role of Afghan Parliament in SDG monitoring and their contribution to the successful implementation in Afghanistan. This paper will seek to determine what actions Parliament of Afghanistan and parliamentarians should take in order to deal with this ambitious agenda and the highly integrated and interrelated nature of the SDGs. This paper will look at the UN documents, 2030 Agenda documents and constitution of Afghanistan regarding how they see the role of the Parliament when it comes to implementation and the SDGs. Finally, based on selected existing good practices, the paper offers a series of recommendations and urges parliaments to upscale their action to support the success of SDGs in Afghanistan.

Sustainable Development Goals and Parliaments

Parliaments as a national independent body play an essential role in ensuring the implementation and monitoring of and compliance with international commitments at the national level. They are, in essence, the institutions formally in charge of making governments accountable for their international commitments and are at the very suitable position to ensure democratic governance as well as quality of development (GOPAC, UNDP & IDB, 2015). The role of parliaments in achieving the SDGs has been widely recognized by the United Nations. Notably, based on the Declaration of the 2030 Agenda, national parliaments have three main responsibilities when it comes to implementing the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs: 1) pass laws that will aid their country in fulfilling the SDGs; 2) approve budgets that allow their government and government agencies to carry out the actual implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs; and 3) hold government agencies accountable to their implementation responsibilities by demanding and reviewing reports on implementation mechanisms, monitoring, and indicators (Fitsilis, Fotios & De Vrieze, 2019). Therefore, these responsibilities are an integral part towards successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Examples of Good Practices

 Recently, the National Assembly of Mali and the Senate of Zimbabwe set up a committee exclusively dedicated to the SDGs. The Malian committee adopted a detailed plan of action outlining the various steps that the parliament should take to oversee implementation of the SDGs. The National Assembly of Suriname organized several hearings to discuss SDGs implementation (Inter-Parliamentary Union and UNHRC, 2019).

 The Parliament of Pakistan has established an SDG Secretariat to provide technical assistance to the parliamentarians to effectively oversee, address the legislative gaps and ensure the rights of their respective constituents (UNDP, 2018). In addition, the Speaker of the National Assembly established parliamentary task forces at federal and provincial levels to oversee and support legislation supporting the SDGs (Arelys Bellorini et al, 2018).

 To enhance the legislative and oversight roles of parliamentarians on implementation of SDGs in Nigeria, two SDG select committees were established– in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. (UNDP, 2018)

 Parliament of Germany has established the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development with each legislature. With responsibilities for monitoring and supporting the Federal Government’s National Sustainability Strategy as well as monitoring and supporting the Federal Government’s sustainability policy at the European level (Datta and Rabbany, 2016).

Parliamentary System in Afghanistan

The 2004 Constitution defines a bicameral parliament with a Senate (Mishrano Jirga) and a House of Representatives (Wolesi Jirga). The Constitution designates this bicameral parliament as the supreme legislation organ in Afghanistan that should represent the entire nation (Pasarlay and Mallyar, 2019). Like many legislation organs in the world, the Afghan parliament has three fundamental duties: (1) to represent the views of the entire nation; (2) to draft and approve laws; and (3) to check, control and supervise the exercise of executive power (Constitution of Afghanistan, art 100). More specifically, the parliament (both the WJ and the MJ) has the power to ratify, modify, or abrogate laws and legislative decrees; approve social, cultural and economic development programs; approve the state budget, create, modify or abolish administrative units and ratify international treaties and conventions (Constitution of Afghanistan, art 90) . In addition, as part of their oversight duties, the Constitution grants both houses of the parliament the power to question any government minister about special issues, and the minister can provide written or oral responses (Pasarlay and Mallyar ,2019).

SDGs and Law Making

The National Assembly has three main functions. The first is the Assembly’s legislative function that gives it the power to pass legislation and control over the national budget. The legislative process is laid out in Articles 94 to 100 of the Constitution (Pasarlay and Mallyar, 2019). Article 94 defines a law as anything approved by both houses and ratified by the President (Constitution of Afghanistan, art 94).

In order to successfully advance the implementation of the SDGs in Afghanistan, it will requires utilizing a wide range of policy and programming approaches. The law-making role will require the parliament of Afghanistan to adopt legislation, which directly supports the various SGDs. Additionally, to implement the SDGs in Afghanistan, It is crucial that parliament reviews all proposed legislation through a human rights-based and sustainable development lens. It will then be able to identify whether and how a law promotes, or can be amended to promote, more effective (Inter-Parliamentary Union and UNDP, 2016). During the budget approval process, parliaments must engage on how government funds are being allocated to their nationally defined SDGs, including whether sufficient funds are reaching the most vulnerable and excluded. To that end, parliamentarians must review legislation proposed by the government of Afghanistan to ensure that it reflects human rights principles and contributes to achieving both the national SDG plan and the wider 2030 Agenda.

SDGs and Oversight

Oversight is the process by which the parliament monitor the quality of the work of the government regarding the implementation of law, development budgets and plan that previously has been adopted by the parliament (Inter-Parliamentary Union and UNDP, 2016). The 2004 Constitution gives the WJ significant political power to check the excesses of executive power and facilitate its role to provide oversight over the duties of the executive branch. In this respect, the constitution grants the WJ the power to question government ministers with respect to their activities; decide on development plans and the state budget and accept or reject presidential appointees (Pasarlay and Mallyar, 2019).

Monitoring how effectively the government implements its SDG commitments is a responsibility of parliament. Agenda 2030 recognizes explicitly that ensuring accountability during SDG implementation is of critical importance to guarantee that the Agenda is effective in delivering results for people. In this regard, parliaments play a critical role as one of the most powerful most powerful domestic accountability institutions in Afghanistan (GOPAC, UNDP & IDB, 2015). In their efforts to track the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Parliaments can exercise their right to scrutinize question the actions of governments through a number of formal channels. Article 92 of the constitution in fact provides the WJ with the mechanisms to oversee the government ministers. One of the mechanism is istema (Constitution of Afghanistan, art 92), in which the WJ can invite government ministers to deliver a report about the activities and progress of their ministries on implementation of SDGs. The second mechanism is questioning (istejwab) (Constitution of Afghanistan, art 92) , where MPs can ask questions and demand clarifications from the ministers over the conduct of their ministries to assess in more depth whether policies, laws and programme are effectively implemented in support of the SDGs and, if not, to make recommendations on how to improve implementation. Therefore, Parliamentary oversight mechanisms can be very effective in identifying obstacles or assessing progress of the SDGs implementation in Afghanistan.

SDGs and Representation

The Constitution designates this bicameral parliament as the supreme legislation organ in Afghanistan that should represent the entire nation. As such, although a single local constituency around the country elects members of the parliament, they are obliged to take into consideration the general welfare and supreme interests of the whole nation in performing their delegated tasks. The Constitution defines members of the parliament as the representatives of the entire nation rather than of a particular community or constituency (Pasarlay and Mallyar, 2019).

The legitimacy of the parliament and its members comes from the fact that they are elected to represent the people of Afghanistan. MPs have a responsibility to those who work and live under the laws that they pass and the budgets they approve to make sure that people are widely consulted on processes that affect them. It is critical that the legal frameworks established and the funding allocated to achieve the various SDGs should be based on the insights and the perspectives of people who will be affected by, and who will benefit from, such changes. The SDGs need to be understood by people as a set of objectives that can make their lives and their communities better (GOPAC, UNDP & IDB, 2015).

SDGs and Parliamentary Commissions

Parliamentary commissions, which are an important part of many democracies, usually investigate issues and draft bills, so that the parliament has the necessary information before making a decision. The Afghan Constitution authorizes each house of the parliament to establish standing commissions to study and investigate matters related to the performance of the government (Pasarlay and Mallyar, 2019). Therefore, the commissions of two houses have the authority to review draft legislation that the parliament considers for approval, propose amendments, prepare and present reports to the presidents of the houses, review international treaties and agreements, investigate and review all other affairs under the jurisdiction of the parliament and question social institutions including national and international non-governmental organizations (Internal Rules of Procedure, Wolesi Jirga, art. 26). These commissions thus help the parliament to perform its task of monitoring the executive branch and adopt the required legislation.

The Committee is probably the most significant and agile instrument of parliamentary oversight. Committee oversight gives Parliamentarians an opportunity to assess in more depth whether policies, budgets and laws are effectively implemented in support of the SDGs (GOPAC, UNDP & IDB, 2015). Through the scrutiny of bills, reports, treaties and petitions that come before them, Parliamentary Committees have powers to call for written and oral evidence/submissions, ask for and examine Government documents, organize public hearings and site visits, and debate in greater depth the issues related to addressing the SDGs. Committees give Parliamentarians the opportunity to engage a wide cross-section of stakeholders in their deliberations. In this regard, Parliamentarians can play an essential role as a link between the State and the people, including the most marginalized and vulnerable, in terms of raising issues of concern relating to the SDGs on behalf of the people. When Committees proactively engage in monitoring and oversight they can be one of the strongest domestic accountability mechanisms available to make sure that SDG implementation stays on track (Fiji & UNDP, 2019).

Many parliamentary commission of Afghan Parliament already are engaged in activities that contribute to SDG oversight, as their sectoral mandates likely cover one or more of the SDGs. The sectoral mandates of Afghan’s Parliament Committees cover one or more of the SDGs. For example, the Commission on Education and Higher Education and Commission on Health in WJ (Pasarlay and Mallyar, 2019) covers SDGs 3, and 4 related to health, education and; the Commission of legislative affairs, judicial affairs (Pasarlay and Mallyar, 2019) in MJ deals with issues pertaining to SDG 16 on inclusive institutions, peace and access to justice. While engagement with the SDGs may have been marginal to-date, the SDG indicators offer the Committees an opportunity to effectively track progress against national baselines and targets, allowing a more systematic and consistent oversight of the SDGs. For example, the Health Committee will already be considering some issues covered by SDG 3, which concerns good health and well-being. However, often, the work may be focused on issues of immediate concern for people of Afghanistan, and not so much on other broader matters within the ambit of the development goal, such as health promotion, disease prevention, and national health improvement strategies. If the Parliament is to effectively mainstream oversight of SDG achievement through the existing Standing Committees, the SDG targets for which each committee is to be responsible should also be clear from the relevant terms of reference. Knowing which SDG targets fall under each Committee can lead to better overall oversight of SDG implementation. If a parliament is committed to establishing a specific SDG Committee to act as a focal point and to take the lead in ensuring SDG monitoring and oversight, consideration could be given to mandating an existing committee. For example, the Foreign Affairs Committee may be tasked with this focal point role, because the SDGs have a global element. Finally, it is possible to adopt both approaches: review and revise the mandate of existing committees to better fit with Agenda 2030 and create an overall SDG committee in the parliament to review progress and coordination generally, or re-purpose an existing committee with the latter task.

Conclusion and Recommendations

For SDGs to succeed in Afghanistan, the Parliament needs to oversee the government’s execution of laws, national policies and strategic plans and is responsible for legislating, and budget approval concerning the SDGs. Parliament of Afghanistan is, therefore, uniquely positioned to influence the shape and content of the national development agendas and ensure the implementation of the A-SDGs.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been engaging increasing interest and attention of the parliamentarians over the world. Our Parliament, being the country’s apex representative and supreme law- making body, should not only monitor the performance of the Government with regard to the SDGs through the various parliamentary devices at hand but also striving to provide parliamentary input and guidance in the implementation of SDGs in the country.

The government of Afghanistan needs to take stock of the role of parliaments as a key determinant of the success of the SDGs. To this effect, it will be critical that the Parliament is highlighted in the SDGs themselves as part of a stand-alone governance goal. Finally, for Afghanistan to achieve the implementation of the SDGs, its institutional capacity, structures and work processes need to be strengthened; and Parliament should also develop new avenues of collaboration with government and external stakeholders. A commitment to strengthening parliament will support all of the SDGs for years to come.

Key Recommendations

 There should be regular trainings and workshops on general and/or sectoral SDG topics for the current MPs to ensure they are regularly informed and updated on related SDGs issues and developments in Afghanistan. Additionally, SDGs should be included as a component of the induction courses for new MPs and staffs to enhance MPs and staff understanding and awareness of the SDGs.  A specific group of MPs on SDGs, an ad hoc (SDGs) committee or a working group that is broader based, allowing the participation of civil society should be created. Alternatively, a focal point / coordinator on SDGs should be appointed within the secretariat. Amongst other things, the focal point would ensure that draft bills are systematically assessed through the SDG lens, and provide systematic linkage with SDGs in draft bills.  Parliament will need to perform an internal evaluation of how equipped it is institutionally to carry forward the SDGs and from there determine the best way to proceed. What is needed in the first instance is a review of the committee structure and all related processes to more effectively mainstream the goals.  Parliament should strengthen MPs capacity to effectively promote and raise awareness on SDGs at the local levels. To this end, “localized” guidelines and toolkits on SDGs in Pashto and Dari versions should be developed for their use, along with checklists on SDGs for committees to guide them in their deliberations.  Each parliamentary committee should have an annual action or strategic plan to ensure that achieving the targets of the SDGs remains at the forefront of the Committee agenda  The rules of procedure of parliament should require that parliamentary committees should consider all draft laws to assess their contribution to implementation of SDGs  Parliamentary capacities to support the legislative and oversight process remain generally lacking, there is a need to invest in the capacities of MPs to perform their legislative and oversight functions effectively  The support from external organizations such as UNDP is required to help build the capacity of staff members and parliamentarians in the parliament  It is important that parliamentarians establish links with Ministry of Economics and attend meetings when convened so that parliamentary engagement in SDGs is linked to the national implementation process particularly on the monitoring and review of implementation.

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