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Sunday 25 December 2005


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Middle East

MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 32 for 22-28 July 2005

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Key Humanitarian Developments in Iraq

In the latest spate of violence in Iraq, a Baghdad hospital was reportedly attacked, killing at least five people and injuring 10 others on Wednesday.

The international media reported that a suicide bomber attacked security forces at the entrance of the Numan hospital in the capital's northern Adhamiya district, according to Iraqi police.

In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least 12 Iraqi workers returning home on a bus from a factory in the western outskirts of the capital, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

“The attackers followed two buses as they left the government-owned company in the Abu Ghraib area”, a security official was quoted as saying. Some 32 people were injured in the attack.

It is increasingly common for insurgents to target Iraqis thought to be working for the US-backed government.

The Algerian government on Wednesday confirmed that two of its diplomats, Ali Balarousi and Azzedin Belkadi, abducted last week in Baghdad, had been killed by their captors.

A group claiming to be al-Qaeda in Iraq had previously posted a message saying that it had killed the two because of their government’s support for the US in Iraq.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday that the “brutal and barbaric” murder of the Algerian diplomats made it all the more urgent for the UN to complete a convention against all forms of terrorism by the end of this year.

The men’s murder did not serve any Iraqi cause, he said. “The people of Iraq have suffered enough. They would want to get on with their lives. And they need the support of the region and the international community.”

With alleged al-Qaeda operatives having also killed Egyptian envoy Ihab al-Sherif, observers say that insurgency-related attacks on diplomats are an effort to dissuade Arab countries from increasing their representation in Iraq.

Meanwhile, 11 US soldiers from a California-based National Guard unit serving in Iraq have been charged with mistreating detainees, after an alleged assault on a suspected insurgent during operations in the Baghdad area, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Times said the investigation appeared to relate to allegations that an electric stun gun had been used to abuse an Iraqi detainee after an insurgent attack in June. The paper also reported that members of the same company had been investigated for allegedly extorting protection money from Iraqi shopkeepers.

CONTENTS:

IRAQ: UN welcomes Sunnis’ planned return to constitution drafting
IRAQ: Hospital waste raises public health concerns
IRAQ: Women alarmed at prospect of rights erosion, UNIFEM says
IRAQ: Water plant sabotage adds to supply shortages
IRAQ: Shortage in food rations raises concern
IRAQ: Fears grow for women's rights as deadline looms for constitution draft
YEMEN: Calm restored after violent street protests
YEMEN: Government lowers fuel prices after deadly riots
YEMEN: UN Human Rights Committee considers progress
EGYPT: Human rights fears raised after Sharm el-Sheikh blast
EGYPT: Child violence hotline inundated with calls
IRAN: Activists condemn execution of gay teens
IRAN: Extension of Afghan repatriation agreement under possible threat
LEBANON: Customs regime threatens trade, leaves drivers stranded
JORDAN: Child safety centre a “role model in the Middle East”
SYRIA: Education reform urged to support development

IRAQ: UN welcomes Sunnis’ planned return to constitution drafting

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday welcomed the anticipated return of Sunni representatives to the committee drafting the new Iraqi constitution, following their withdrawal last week after two of their members were assassinated.

Full report

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IRAQ: Hospital waste raises public health concerns

Toxic hospital waste being released in residential areas in southern Iraq is causing a health and environmental hazard in the Basra area, despite repeated appeals for help to tackle the situation, according to local sources in both fields. "The waste usually consists of pharmaceutical, chemical, radioactive, infectious and other materials that should only be disposed of in incinerators, which burn the materials at high temperatures," Hasan Sahib, an environmental activist, said.

Full report

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IRAQ: Women alarmed at prospect of rights erosion, UNIFEM says

Iraqi women are extremely concerned that the national assembly committee drafting the country's new constitution is curbing women's rights, established under the interim constitution and prior national laws, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) reported on Friday. "As the committee continues in its drafting process, women are becoming increasingly alarmed at what they see as a curtailing of their rights," UNIFEM said in a press statement.

Full report

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IRAQ: Water plant sabotage adds to supply shortages

Only a month after the sabotage of water pipes in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, a second attack last week has again left thousands without piped water supplies, according to local officials. An estimated one million people in the districts of al-Ubaidi, al-Khaleej and parts of Sadr City, to the east of Baghdad, and al-Jihad, al-Shurta, to the west of the capital, have been badly affected.

Full report

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IRAQ: Shortage in food rations raises concern

A shortage of items in Iraq’s monthly food rations is starting to worry government planners and the UN World Food Programme, particularly as most of the Iraqi population still depends on food aid. “There is a shortage of oil, tea, sugar, rice and washing powder, across all governorates,” said Ali Mazlon, deputy director of the state company for food stuff at the Ministry of Trade, which is responsible for the distribution of food items under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Full report

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IRAQ: Fears grow for women's rights as deadline looms for constitution draft

As the August deadline for completion of the Iraqi constitution nears, there are continuing calls for delegates to include provisions protecting women's rights in the family and society more generally.

Full report

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YEMEN: Calm restored after violent street protests

Yemeni cities remained calm on Sunday after two days of unrest and violent protests that had claimed the lives of 22 people and left 375 injured, according to the Ministry of Interior. However, eyewitnesses and local media reported that demonstrations against a sharp rise in the price of oil products had left at least 50 dead and hundreds injured, in addition to bringing many arrests.

Full report

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YEMEN: Government lowers fuel prices after deadly riots

The Yemeni government announced on Tuesday that it would lower fuel prices, following deadly riots sparked by a decision to cut government subsidies on petrol and diesel. Twenty two people were killed and 375 injured in the riots across the country on 20 and 21 July, which caused huge damage to public and private properties, local officials said. Witnesses, however, said the death toll was at least 50, with hundreds of injuries.

Full report

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YEMEN: UN Human Rights Committee considers progress

Yemen’s fourth report to the United Nations, detailing how the government is implementing the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights in the country, is currently being considered by the UN’s Human Rights Committee.

Full report

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EGYPT: Human rights fears raised after Sharm el-Sheikh blast

Leading human rights organisations in Egypt have denounced Saturday’s terrorist attacks on the Sinai holiday resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, also known as the “City of Peace” and called on the government to avoid any excessive security crackdown. Eight human rights groups, including the al-Nadim Centre, the Egyptian Association for the Elimination of Torture and the Arab Human Rights Information Network, issued a joint statement condemning the attacks.

Full report

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EGYPT: Child violence hotline inundated with calls

An emergency phone hotline, set up as part of an effort to tackle violence against children, has attracted 25,000 phone calls within its first four weeks of operation, according to child safety workers in Cairo. “After exactly 24 days of operation, we have received 25,000 phone calls,” Dr Manal Shahin, director of the project, told IRIN in the Egyptian capital.

Full report

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IRAN: Activists condemn execution of gay teens

Human rights groups the world over have strongly condemned the recent execution of two gay teenagers in northeastern Iran. "It's entirely unacceptable that people are actually killed because of their sexuality," Kursad Kahramananoglu, head of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), the oldest and only membership-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organisation in the world.

Full report

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IRAN: Extension of Afghan repatriation agreement under possible threat

The Director-General of the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) has warned that Iran would not extend its agreement with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the government of Afghanistan for the voluntary repatriation of Afghans in Iran. The current agreement, signed on 28 June, will expire at the end of the Iranian calendar year in March 2006.

Full report

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LEBANON: Customs regime threatens trade, leaves drivers stranded

Stringent new Syrian customs procedures have left hundreds of truck drivers in Lebanon waiting at the border with dwindling resources since the start of the month. The move is seen as a growing threat to Lebanon's agricultural exports. A long caravan of trucks carrying Lebanese exports destined for the rest of the region has been stranded for weeks in the 11 km no-man’s land between the two countries.

Full report

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JORDAN: Child safety centre a “role model in the Middle East”

With an increasing number of reported child abuse cases in Jordan, a centre offering help to abused children has become a model for the country and the region, according to aid workers in Amman. The Dar al-Aman child safety centre is the first of its kind to be established by a local NGO, and aims to tackle “the multiple consequences of abuse for children and their families”.

Full report

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SYRIA: Education reform urged to support development

Major reform is needed within the Syrian educational system to support human and economic development, according to the National Human Development Report released last week. The report, co-published by the Syrian State Planning Commission and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), noted a deterioration in general education standards in Syria with grave consequences for the country’s level of development.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Children

Other recent MIDDLE EAST reports:

Appeal to Arab world to give more to world’s poorest, 16/Dec/05

MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 52 for 11–15 December 2005, 15/Dec/05

“Invisible” children suffering from neglect, says UNICEF, 15/Dec/05

MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 51 for 4 – 8 December 2005, 11/Dec/05

MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 50 for 25 November – 1 December, 2/Dec/05

Other recent Children reports:

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 309 covering 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

SIERRA LEONE: With no prospects, youths are turning to crime and violence, 22/Dec/05

SENEGAL: Everyman’s library, 21/Dec/05

LIBERIA: UN renews ban on arms, diamonds and timber, 21/Dec/05

NIGERIA: Eight children die in attack on oil pipeline, 21/Dec/05

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