ANDIJAN, 9 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - As this year’s cotton-picking season wraps up in Uzbekistan, the authorities in the Ferghana Valley region have come under criticism for continuing the practice of using government employees and child labour to harvest the country’s main cash crop. Full report

KABUL, 6 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - An estimated 1 million child labourers under 14 are deprived of education, health care and other necessary facilities for human development across Afghanistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.Full report

KABUL, 1 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - Thousands of women and girls who toil in appalling conditions to make Afghan carpets for export are treated as unpaid slaves and suffer from routine exhaustion, long hours, low pay and health problems, according to a survey conducted by a local rights body released on Thursday. Full report

MUZAFFARABAD, 14 Nov 2005 (IRIN) - The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched a massive measles immunisation campaign to vaccinate 800,000 children affected by the South Asian earthquake. Full report

BISHKEK, 14 Nov 2005 (IRIN) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has just approved a US $15.5 million grant for a project aimed at delivering better education to children in poor areas and from disadvantaged families in the Kyrgyzstan.Full report

ISLAMABAD, 9 Nov 2005 (IRIN) - At least half of the 86,000 people known to have died in October's devastating quake in northern Pakistan were children. In an interview with IRIN, country representative for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Pakistan, Dr Omar Abdi, highlighted the impact the disaster has had on children and some of the many challenges the agency now faces in addressing them. Full report

ISLAMABAD, 1 Nov 2005 (IRIN) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), together with the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), has begun the massive task of registering all children currently living in emergency settlements across quake-hit areas of Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Full report

MUZAFFARABAD, 30 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Ann Veneman, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday as part of two-day visit to highlight the plight of children in quake-affected areas of the north. Full report

BALAKOT, 26 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Children gathered on tattered mats and small pieces of carpeting spread out under a colourful canopy in earthquake-ravaged Balakot, where no building remains, drawing surprisingly cheerful pictures. Full report

ISLAMABAD, 25 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Bouncing from one end of his bed to the other, 10-year-old Muhammad Shafiq is luckier than most. Having survived the deadly quake of 8 October in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, he was taken to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where he recovered from his wounds only to gain a reputation for his strong sense of mischief. Full report

KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on lack of teachers

NEPAL: Focus on rural development in Maoist areas

AFGHANISTAN: Interview with rural development minister

AFGHANISTAN: Focus on rehabilitation of child soldiers

PAKISTAN: Focus on rehabilitation of child camel jockeys