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Law on Indigents

LAW FOR ADMINISTRATION

OF INDIGENTS IN AFGHANISTAN

18 Aqrab 1314

ARTICLE 1: The indigent shall be divided into two categories – those who are unable to earn their living because of indisposition, sickness, old age, or youth; and those able-bodied persons who do not work because of laziness and indolence.

First Category

ARTICLE 2: In each provincial and district center and in each town, an administration shall be established for the care of the people in the first category. These administrations shall be supervised by the municipal directors. In the towns with no municipal organizations, the administrations for the indigent shall be run by the governors concerned.

ARTICLE 3: In smaller towns and villages with municipalities, administrations for the indigent shall also be established and shall be supervised by the municipal chiefs. When there are no municipalities, these administrations shall be run by the governments of the next higher administrative units.

ARTICLE 4: An administration for the indigent shall be run by one superintendent, one secretary, and the necessary number of employees. When the number of people to be taken care of does not justify the employment of special personnel, these administrations shall be directly run by the municipal chiefs or governors.

ARTICLE 5: Funds for the administrations for the indigent shall be drawn from the municipal revenues, when these are available. In places with no municipalities or lacking sufficient funds to meet the requirements of the subsidiary administrations, the expenses shall be included in the budgets of the local governments concerned.

NOTE: When a municipality is unable to meet the expenses of an administration for the indigent, the regent or the governor general concerned shall investigate the budgets of these municipalities and shall make arrangements, whenever necessary, to include the expenses of such administrations in the budgets of the relevant local governments.

ARTICLE 6: The municipal chiefs and governors shall divide the indigent under their jurisdiction into the categories specified in Article 1 above. They shall make inquiries about the indigent, and they shall make a comprehensive list of their names and addresses, and then they shall take the following action.

ARTICLE 7: When the indigent of the first category have close-relatives who are legally bound to take care of them, they shall be placed in the care of those relatives on a written guarantee for their care.

NOTE: When a poor person is a child, he or she shall be placed under the care of his or her parents or caretakers. The parent or caretaker shall undertake to engage the child in education or in some other work. When a child has no parents or relatives, he shall be placed in a poorhouse. The administration of the latter shall send the child – when of school age – to a public school or a nearby private school. A child may also be placed in an orphanage and be released when he XXXX enough.

ARTICLE 8: When a person has no relatives but the community in his area undertakes to look after him, he shall be placed under the care of the community in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 above.

ARTICLE 9: The municipal chiefs and governors shall occasionally inquire into the affairs of the poor placed under the care of their relatives or communities.

ARTICLE 10: When a person has no relatives and his community cannot take care of his, he shall be placed under the administration for the indigent.

ARTICLE 11: In small towns and villages with no municipalities, the governor or supervisor shall send the poor, who has no relatives and is not under the care of his community, to the poorhouse in the next city. When a poor person is thus transferred to another center, his transportation costs shall be paid and he shall receive one Afghan per day for expenses while on the journey.

ARTICLE 12: When a person has been admitted to a poorhouse in accordance with the provisions of this law, his immediate family members shall be subject to the following rules.

1. The following dependent relatives shall be admitted to the poorhouse: a male who is unable to work because of indisposition or old age; a female who is legally unable to earn her living or marry; girls before they reach the age to marry; boys before they reach the school age.
   
2. A male child who has reached the school age shall be sent to a public school or an orphanage until he becomes mature and is released.
   

ARTICLE 13: Men and women shall be kept separately in poorhouses.

ARTICLE 14: When relatives or the community of a person in a poorhouse undertake to take care of him, that person shall be released from the poorhouse and shall be placed under the care of his relatives or his community.

ARTICLE 15: Regulations concerning the supply of food and clothes for the poorhouses shall be drawn up by the local municipal councils or government councils.

ARTICLE 16: The expenditures of a poorhouse shall be made by the superintendent with the approval of the municipal chief or the governor concerned.

ARTICLE 17: The superintendent and secretary of a poorhouse shall keep its expenditures accounts, and shall regularly forward them to the accounting departments concerned.

ARTICLE 18: The superintendents shall be required to follow the regulations of the municipalities or governments concerning sanitation, good management, and the supplying of food and clothing for the poorhouses.

ARTICLE 19: Municipal chiefs and governors shall ensure that the food and clothing supplies are regularly delivered to the poorhouses.

ARTICLE 20: Local hospitals shall take care of the poor who become sick in the poorhouses.

ARTICLE 21: The administrations for the indigent shall accept presents and donations for the poor from the rich in the country. Local municipal chiefs and governors shall encourage such donations through notices and the necessary publicity.

Second Category

ARTICLE 22: When an able-bodied person engages in XXXX through laziness and indolence, he shall be punished and shall be required to give a written guarantee that he will be engaged in a legitimate trade. In case of repetition, he shall be subject to hard labor and shall be paid for his labor.

ARTICLE 23: The chiefs of municipalities and local governors shall be responsible for the execution of this law.