"); NewWindow.document.close(); return false; } // end hiding from old browsers -->

Tuesday 1 November 2005


Search��		�

IRIN Asia

Country Profiles

IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 32 covering the period 6 August - 12 August 2005

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

CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Election logistics challenge begins
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: Interview with Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Miloon Kothari
KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Third country resettlement of Andijan 15 progresses
NEPAL: Diarrhoeal diseases still a major health problem
NEPAL: Community-run schools make progress
NEPAL: Activists call on UN monitoring mission to act
PAKISTAN: Over 30 tribal Afghan refugee camps to close by end of August

AFGHANISTAN: Election logistics challenge begins

With less than seven weeks to next month's parliamentary elections, the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) has begun the monumental task of distributing election materials throughout post-conflict Afghanistan. "One of the greatest challenges we are facing this year is the actual size of the undertaking," James Grison, head of the support unit for JEMB, said on Wednesday in the capital Kabul. He added that compared with Afghanistan�s presidential elections last October, the parliamentary and provincial council elections slated for 18 September would prove particularly challenging in a variety of ways.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Torrential rains struck the northern Tajik province of Soghd on Sunday, damaging roads, bridges and pastures in the Ayni district, according to the country's emergency ministry. While no detailed information was available as to the extent of the damage or casualties, local emergency bodies were reportedly carrying out a cleanup operation, the Tajik Avesta news agency reported. Tajikistan is prone to a variety of natural disasters, including earthquakes, landslides, floods, avalanches and drought. In 2003, 120 incidents involving flooding, avalanches or landslides were recorded in the country, as well as 12 significant earthquakes, according to the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO). In the Central Asian region as a whole, natural disasters have killed about 2,500 people and affected some 5.5 million (almost 10 percent of the total population) over the past decade, ECHO said.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

IRAN: Interview with Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Miloon Kothari

Access to adequate housing in Iran is fraught with difficulties. Iran is riddled with earthquake fault lines and prone to severe droughts. The burgeoning population, coupled with massive population migration from rural to urban areas has resulted in a surge in demand for housing. The UN Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Miloon Kothari, recently spent 12 days travelling through several Iranian provinces gathering information for a report.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Third country resettlement of Andijan 15 progresses

The case of more than a dozen Uzbeks who fled violence in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan in May and are currently being held in custody in southern Kyrgyzstan, now appears to be progressing. Even so, no final decision has yet been made as to their fate by the Kyrgyz authorities. "We received a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, which says that three European countries, that is Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, are ready to take all 15 Uzbeks held in custody in [the southern city of] Osh for resettlement," Sumar Nasiza, chief of office for Kyrgyzstan's prosecutor general, said from the capital Bishkek on Wednesday.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

NEPAL: Diarrhoeal diseases still a major health problem

In Nwali and Deulekh village development committees (VDCs) of Baitadi district, about 800 km west of the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, people live in constant fear of diarrhoea. It�s a simple and easily curable condition yet local villagers see many of their young children die from it every year. Only last month, six children died in less than 20 days due to the lack of basic medicines and assistance from health workers. Both Nwali and Deulekh VDCs are badly affected by the Maoist insurgency that started around nine years ago and health personnel are reluctant to stay there. They have been even instructed by the district authorities not to stay overnight for sake of their own safety, local residents told IRIN.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

NEPAL: Community-run schools make progress

A government initiative to hand over the management of all state-run schools to local communities has given new hope to parents and teachers alike in Nepal, where the education sector has suffered due to years of conflict. Since the Maoist campaign to overthrow the government began nine years ago, education has been one of the hardest hit development sectors. On the advice of aid agencies, the government is continuing the process of decentralising the public education system in line with the Local Self Governance Act of 1999.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

NEPAL: Activists call on UN monitoring mission to act

Since King Gyanendra took over direct rule of Nepal six months ago on 1 February, at least 1,115 people have been killed according to a report published by Insec, a local human rights group. The report says 738 have died at the hands of the state and 377, including both civilians and security personnel, have been killed by Maoist rebels. As a result, activists have become increasingly concerned over the human rights situation and are asking when the Nepal-based Office of the United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will begin active field work as per its mandate. Nearly four months have passed since OHCHR and the Nepalese government signed an agreement to allow a UN human rights monitoring mission in the Himalayan kingdom.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

PAKISTAN: Over 30 tribal Afghan refugee camps to close by end of August

Pakistani authorities have announced the closure of over 30 Afghan refugee camps by the end of August, citing security concerns. All are located in Kurram and Bajaur agencies in the western tribal belt of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. The move is a further step in the continuing policy of camp closures. "As of 31 August, all the Afghan refugee camps in Kurram and Bajaur agency will be closed. However, the camp residents can avail themselves of the UNHCR's [the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees] assistance package for repatriation back to Afghanistan," Jehangir Khan, head of the state-run Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees (CAR), said on Thursday, speaking from the western city of Peshawar.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

[ENDS]

�Theme(s)	Other

Other recent ASIA reports:

Weekly news wrap, �28/Oct/05

IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 43 covering the period 22 - 28 October 2005, �28/Oct/05

Weekly news wrap, �21/Oct/05

IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 42 covering the period 15 - 21 October 2005, �21/Oct/05

Region�s corruption outlook remains grim, �18/Oct/05

Other recent reports:

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 28/Oct/05

CENTRAL ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 43 covering the period 22 - 28 October 2005, 28/Oct/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 21/Oct/05

ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 42 covering the period 15 - 21 October 2005, 21/Oct/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 14/Oct/05

[Back] [Home Page]

Click here to send any feedback, comments or questions you have about IRIN's Website or if you prefer you can send an Email to Webmaster

Copyright � IRIN 2005
The material contained on www.IRINnews.org comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.
All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.