A/HRC/7/27 page 19 IX. RECOMMENDATIONS 78. In view of the situation described in this report, I make the following recommendations: (a) The international community should ensure that international human rights and humanitarian law informs an integrated governance strategy, drawing on the strength of traditional and cultural mechanisms, with Afghans firmly in the lead. Doing so requires promoting civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as vital interdependent foundations for progress and ensuring outreach to and meaningful participation of civil society actors as well as disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. It also requires policy and programme decisions which would enable the humanitarian community to regain and maintain critical humanitarian space; (b) All parties to the conflict in Afghanistan must take further measures to ensure greater respect for human rights and international humanitarian law principles and thereby enhance protection of civilians. International military forces must be more responsive and accessible to families in ensuring redress and this should include a systematized and consistent approach to compensation ideally administered by a competent third party backed by a trust fund; (c) The international community must nurture and defend civil society and freedom of expression. It must commit greater technical and financial support for the development of civil society groups, including victim groups, as a critical pillar of democratic institution-building. The Government of Afghanistan must reaffirm the constructive role of civil society and provide the necessary platform for meaningful public discourse. This must be buttressed by concrete efforts to promote the continuing growth of the media and protect freedom of expression; (d) The Government of Afghanistan, with support from the international community, should seize the opportunity provided by the upcoming report on Afghanistan’s compliance with the ICESCR and the ongoing ANDS process to develop concrete policy and programme initiatives to strengthen Government’s delivery of services necessary for the enjoyment of social, economic and cultural rights. In this respect, the international community should continue to build government capacity to comply with its human rights treaty reporting obligations, which will provide key guidance for monitoring its implementation as it moves forward; (e) The Government of Afghanistan and the international community should provide the necessary political, technical and financial support for the Ministry of Justice as the lead agency with responsibility for monitoring and reporting on State implementation of human rights-related benchmarks in the Afghanistan Compact. In this regard, the Terms of Reference of the Ministry of Justice as lead agency needs to be immediately defined and the Ministry’s Unit to be created for this purpose promptly resourced;