Following strong debates over the approval of the Child Protection Act in the Afghan parliament, the Ministry of Justice said on Sunday that the legal document has been shared with different institutions who might have insight into the law.

“This act was shared with all legal and judicial institutions as well as the Ulema council, the elite, and the individuals who have adequate knowledge of law,” he said.

The law was approved by the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of the Parliament, on December 9, but some MPs oppose the final ratification of the law because of its specification of children as “under 18,” calling this a contravention of Islamic law.

The deputy head of the Justice Ministry’s legislation department, Ashraf Khan Azimi, said the age of children has been mentioned in the country’s different laws over the past five decades.

The Independent Human Rights Commission called on lawmakers to overcome their differences. 

“Elders should think about this and take it seriously,” said Najibullah Babrikzai, the head of the children’s department of the commission,“This law is crucial for children’s prosperity and it should be approved and implemented.”

According to a TOLOnews investigation, those MPs who opposed the legal age of children mentioned in the law are Habib Rahman Sayaf, Nazir Ahmad Hanafi, Mirdad Nijrabi, Shah Wazir Tarakhail, Mohammad Khan Tarakhail, Zabihullah Atiq, Allah Gul Mujahid, Habib Afghan, Mohammad Alim Qarar, Parwiz Arab and a few other legislators.

“Those who are adding or cutting anything from the religion will be considered the worst people on the day of reckoning,” said Mohammad Khan, an MP, who opposes the clause on legal age of a child.

But those MPs who are in favor of the law said the opposition to the law shows lack of awareness among their colleagues.

“I read it (the law) two times but I could not find anything against values and teachings of Islam,” MP Ghulam Hussain Nasiri said.

Wolesi Jirga Speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani last week assigned a 10-member team to assess the attendance of the parliament session on December 9, which would put the law’s initial approval in question. But the proposed review faced opposition by woman lawmakers who fully support the Child Protection Act. While a quorum was met at the beginning of the December 9 assembly, some lawmakers may have not been present at the time of the vote.