A/HRC/13/62 stated aims, avoids legal ambiguity and uncertainty, and can be better implemented. The Shia Personal Status Law should be repealed. Legal reform should be swiftly translated into national policies and programmes aimed at empowering women and promoting and protecting their rights. Women’s participation in decision-making processes with respect to peacebuilding and reconciliation talks should be ensured; (d) The Government and its international partners should demonstrate greater commitment to the pursuit of a comprehensive strategy to address impunity and to ensure the rights of all Afghans to justice, truth, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence of egregious human rights violations. The rule of law, including the judicial system should be strengthened, and improved vetting mechanisms that exclude alleged human rights abusers from standing for election in the 2010 parliamentary elections be put in place; (e) Efforts should continue to be made to ensure that the human rights perspective is fully integrated into the implementation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS), which serves as the country’s poverty reduction strategy, and other development policies and programmes aimed at alleviating poverty. Measures to address corruption, abuse of authority and lack of accountability in official institutions, in addition to other factors contributing to the discrimination and marginalization of poor Afghans, should be adopted without delay. The implementation of the ANDS should comply with the Government’s national and international human rights obligations; (f) The Government should take the necessary steps to foster a free and independent media as an essential step towards promoting freedom of expression, and ensuring the right of Afghans to receive and impart information. This is also crucial to securing informed participation in, and bolstering the integrity of, the 2010 parliamentary elections. Journalists should be provided with greater protection in exercising their professional duties in an environment free from interference, intimidation and violence. The provisions of the new Media Law that could potentially restrict freedom of information should be reviewed and amended; (g) The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) should be further strengthened and supported in its role as the national human rights institution responsible for promoting and protecting human rights in Afghanistan and bridging the gap between the Government and civil society. The Government should ensure substantial and sustainable funding to the AIHRC and protect its independence; (h) The Government is strongly urged to implement the recommendations emanating from its universal periodic review by the Human Rights Council, in particular those recommendations relating to the death penalty. In the light of serious deficiencies in the criminal justice system, a moratorium should be reintroduced, as the first step to the eventual abolition of the death penalty. GE.10-10230 17