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Sunday 23 January 2005 |
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IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 196 covering the period 25 - 31 December 2004[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]CONTENTS: AFGHANISTAN: Refugees and asylum seekers subjected to human rights abuses Afghan refugees in neighbouring countries and further afield continue to suffer human rights violations, rights advocates warned the Afghan government on Wednesday. Their concerns follow recent reports that Greek police officers allegedly tortured a group of some 40 Afghan asylum-seekers, including at least 17 Afghans aged 15 to 17. The torture reportedly included severe beatings and death threats, taking place over several days in mid-December, according to Amnesty International (AI). Full report AFGHANISTAN: Interview with chief adviser on refugees and returnees More than three million Afghan refugees have returned home from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran in the last two years. But millions remain in exile and are reluctant to return due to a lack of reintegration opportunities and shelter. In an interview with IRIN, Habibullah Qadiri, the chief adviser to the Afghan government on refugees and returnees, said donor assistance was not enough to help the returnees reintegrate, while a lack of shelter and land remained problematic. Full report AFGHANISTAN: IDPs willing to settle in south Tens of thousands of internally displaced persons [IDPs] in the southern border camp of Zhare Dasht are seeking assistance to help them settle in an area they have lived in temporarily over the last two years. With drought conditions continuing in the areas these IDPs came from, the destitute families prefer to stay in Zhare Dasht rather than return to their places of origin. Although the desert area is cold during the winter and isolated from the southern Kandahar city, people say they can manage to earn a living or receive some assistance in the troubled IDP camp. Full report CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap The early part of the week was dominated by reports from Uzbekistan's parliamentary poll that took place on Sunday, 26 December. European election monitors condemned the elections, saying they did not meet international standards. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which sent 21 observers to Uzbekistan, said the vote was neither competitive nor transparent in a contest where all opposition parties had been banned from taking part. "Regrettably, the implementation of the election legislation by the authorities failed to ensure a pluralistic, competitive and transparent election," said Lubomir Kopaj, who headed the OSCE observation mission. Full report KAZAKHSTAN: Soros Foundation denies tax evasion charge A branch of the Soros Foundation in Kazakhstan has denied charges of tax evasion by the authorities, describing the allegations as politically motivated. "It seems that the Kazakh government wants to close down the foundation," Dariusz Zietek, head of the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan (SFK), told IRIN from the commercial capital, Almaty, on Thursday. "The whole story is politically motivated." Kazakh financial officials have opened a criminal investigation against the SFK. Full report KYRGYZSTAN: Organic cotton tested in the south Farmers in the south of Kyrgyzstan have organically produced their first 24 mt of cotton fibre. Organic agriculture is predicted to take off by 2006, allowing local farmers the opportunity to increase their standard of living while at the same time protect the environment. "I think I have chosen the right way to farm," Raimov Makambai, a farmer from the Jalalabat region who recently switched to organic farming, told IRIN. "It's better for the environment and for people's health." Full report KYRGYZSTAN: Landslide villagers reluctant to resettle Landslides, avalanches and floods are common in this mountainous country. According to the Ministry of Ecology and Emergency of Kyrgyzstan (MEE), this year alone saw the death of 85 people due to such natural disasters. "The country is becoming more and more prone to natural disasters. Precipitation is already over the norm, so next spring there will be a real danger of landslides and mountain floods," Emil Akmatov, a spokesman at the MEE, told IRIN in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. Full report PAKISTAN: NGOs and government respond to massive tsunami needs A 12-member medical team form Pakistan's largest charity, the Edhi Foundation, left on Friday for Sri Lanka with more than five mt of life-saving and other emergency medicines, responding to an appeal from the Sri Lankan government for help in dealing with victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy that struck the region on 26 December. The huge tidal waves killed at least 140,000 people and made five million homeless in nations bordering the Indian Ocean and further afield. "Other than this consignment, the team is also carrying cash to purchase medicines directly from there. Then, as we've not any direct flight from Pakistan for Indonesia the team will move from Sri Lanka to the worst-hit province of Indonesia, Aceh," Anwar Kazmi, a spokesman of the Edhi Foundation, told IRIN from the southern port city of Karachi. Full report PAKISTAN: ADB approves loan for Kashmir development The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US $57 million loan for a multi-sector rehabilitation and improvement project, aimed at improving the physical and social infrastructure in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. "Our interventions are basically in five areas including roads, education, health, power supply and water and sanitation," Shaukat Shafi, a project implementation officer at ADB's country branch, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday. Full report PAKISTAN: Navy assisting in tsunami relief Following the series of tidal waves or tsunamis that devastated many Indian Ocean nations on Sunday, two ships from the Pakistani navy have extended their stay in the Maldives to participate in relief operations in disaster-hit areas. "We arrived here last Saturday on a goodwill-cum-training visit, but as the following day the tragic earthquake disrupted normal life and civic facilities throughout the coastal line and also in this country, so we got involved in relief activities," Commodore Asif Sandila told IRIN from Male, the Maldives capital, on Wednesday. Full report PAKISTAN: Islamabad warned over slow response to HIV/AIDS Pakistan must expand the multi-sectoral response at all levels to avert the threat of an HIV/AIDS epidemic becoming established among the general population, according to a progress review mission. According to the findings of the HIV/AIDS joint review mission, the country no longer stands in the category of low HIV prevalence as a concentrated epidemic has already occurred among injecting drug users (IDUs), with a prevalence rate of about 7 percent in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. The joint review and scooping mission included representatives of the country's National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), UN agencies and other development partners. Full report [ENDS]
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