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Tuesday 21 February 2006


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IRIN Asia

Country Profiles

IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 57 covering the period 28 January - 3 February 2006

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

CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Government to have greater control over aid pledged in London
AFGHANISTAN: US soldier found guilty of prisoner abuse
AFGHANISTAN: Snowstorms kill 18 in the north
AFGHANISTAN: Rights body condemns recent attacks on teachers and schools
AFGHANISTAN: Donor conference boost morale – but huge challenges remain
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
CENTRAL ASIA-TURKEY: IOM launches new anti-trafficking campaign
IRAN: Mass arrest of bus drivers
KYRGYZSTAN: New project to attract doctors to rural areas
KYRGYZSTAN: Avalanche kills four in south
KYRGYZSTAN: NGOs accuse government of smear campaign
NEPAL: Second election candidate attacked by rebels
NEPAL: One year of direct rule, no end to conflict
NEPAL: Testimony by a victim of torture at the hands of the army
NEPAL: Testimony by a victim of Maoist torture
NEPAL: Interview with the Royal Nepalese Army's former spokesman, Brigadier-General Deepak Gurung
NEPAL: Interview with the editor of the Nepali Times, Kunda Dixit
NEPAL: Interview with human rights activist, Subodh Pyakhurel
NEPAL: Interview with United Nations Resident Representative in Nepal, Matthew Kahane
NEPAL: Confronting human rights violations
NEPAL: Food insecurity and market access in contested districts
NEPAL: Decades of damage to education
NEPAL: The conflict's dangerous impact on health services
PAKISTAN: Gulf support for quake relief remains high
PAKISTAN: Free transport scheme popular among quake survivors
PAKISTAN: Single-headed quake households face uncertain future
PAKISTAN: Focus on the conflict in Balochistan
TAJIKISTAN: 18 people killed by avalanche
TAJIKISTAN: NGO calls for health reform in prisons
TURKMENISTAN-UZBEKISTAN: UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief seeks visit
UZBEKISTAN: Access to trial of Andijan activist draws criticism

AFGHANISTAN: Government to have greater control over aid pledged in London

The Afghan government looks set to have more control over aid worth US $10.5 billion pledged at the London donor conference for the rehabilitation of the war-ravaged country, officials said on Thursday. Hosted by the UN, as well as the Afghan and UK governments, the three-day conference that began on Tuesday, refocused international commitment to assisting Afghanistan and acknowledged the huge development challenges that still lie ahead.

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AFGHANISTAN: US soldier found guilty of prisoner abuse

A court martial has found a US serviceman in Afghanistan guilty of mistreating detainees and sentenced him to four months detention, the US military said on Saturday. "Sentencing was announced yesterday in Bagram airfield in the court martial of a US soldier accused of punching detainees in the chest, arms and shoulders at a forward operating base in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan, in July," the US military said in a press release.

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AFGHANISTAN: Snowstorms kill 18 in the north

Severe winter weather in Afghanistan has killed at least 18 people in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, officials confirmed on Tuesday. “Heavy snowstorms have hit five villages in the Kuhistan-e-Ragh district of Badakhshan, killing 15 people,” Abdul Majid, governor of Badakhshan, said, adding affected people were in dire need of relief assistance. At least three more people are reported dead in the Ragh district of Badakhshan due to the bad weather.

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AFGHANISTAN: Rights body condemns recent attacks on teachers and schools

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on Monday condemned recent attacks on educational institutions and called on the government to ensure the safety of teachers, pupils and school premises. Militants, battling US and government forces have recently launched numerous attacks on schools and teachers. Suspected Taliban guerillas set fire to three primary schools in Nawa district of the southern Helmand province last Saturday. No one was hurt in any of the fires, according to officials.

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AFGHANISTAN: Donor conference boost morale – but huge challenges remain

Afghans welcomed further pledges of support from international donors at a key conference in London this week, but called on further government reforms to fight widespread corruption, opium trade and poverty in the post-conflict state. Hosted by the UN, as well as the Afghan and UK governments, the three-day conference that began on Tuesday, also marks the launch of the Afghanistan Compact - a framework for engaging the international community in the country over the next five years.

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CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

A Kazakh opposition youth leader in police custody on embezzlement charges claimed that he was beaten and abused by investigators, rights groups reported on Thursday. Makhambet Abzhan, leader of the Union of Patriotic Youth of Kazakhstan (UPYK), complained in a letter to prosecutors that he had also been threatened with torture and subjected to verbal abuse, the Kazakh-based International Bureau for Human Rights (IBHR) said.

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CENTRAL ASIA-TURKEY: IOM launches new anti-trafficking campaign

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday launched a new public information campaign in Turkey aimed at raising awareness of the impact of human trafficking on children and families. One out of three women trafficked to Turkey - one of the major destination points for trafficking women from Central Asia for sexual exploitation - are mothers with children, according to the IOM.

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IRAN: Mass arrest of bus drivers

Hundreds of bus drivers in Iran have been arrested without charge or access to counsel, the international rights NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. In a pre-emptive move by the government aimed at thwarting plans for a strike by the drivers, several union organisers were also detained. The exact number of detainees is not known, although some union officials are reported to have said the figure is between 500 and 700 drivers.

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KYRGYZSTAN: New project to attract doctors to rural areas

Kyrgyz authorities are set to launch a new project aimed at encouraging young doctors to work in rural areas, officials said on Wednesday. “There is currently a lack of doctors in remote areas of the republic. This innovation will help attract young practitioners to rural areas,” Shailoobek Niyazov, Kyrgyz health minister, said in the capital, Bishkek.

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KYRGYZSTAN: Avalanche kills four in south

An avalanche killed four people in southern Kyrgyzstan on Saturday, while heavy snow is disrupting life in the area and causing extensive damage, the emergency ministry said on Monday. “There was no warning of the disaster and actually we did not expect an avalanche in that area,” Nurlanbek Pazylov from the provincial emergency department in the southern city of Osh, said. The avalanche ripped through the village of Sary-Bee in the mountainous Kara-Kulja district of the southern Kyrgyz province of Osh, burying four members of the Monolbaev family.

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KYRGYZSTAN: NGOs accuse government of smear campaign

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Kyrgyzstan, particularly those funded from abroad, report increasing pressure on their activities under the government of newly installed President Kurmanbek Bakiev, most notably through some state media which, they say, portray them as agents of the West. There are reportedly some 7,000 NGOs registered in the mountainous Central Asian state, but only some 300 are currently active, mostly foreign-funded.

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NEPAL: Second election candidate attacked by rebels

As the royal government prepares for municipal polls scheduled for 8 February, Maoist rebels are intensifying their campaign against the election, which has been boycotted by the Himalayan kingdom’s main political parties. On Monday the rebels shot Dal Bahadur Rai, a member of the pro-royalist Janmukti Party and mayoral candidate for Lalitpur, a suburb of the capital, Kathmandu. A local human rights group, Insec, reported that he had been hospitalised with serious gunshot wounds.

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NEPAL: One year of direct rule, no end to conflict

A group of local human rights activists in Nepal warned during a large gathering in the capital, Kathmandu, on Wednesday that the situation in the Himalayan kingdom could further deteriorate in the absence of a democratic government. “The human rights community [of Nepal] is deeply concerned that the country will be pushed towards a more violent war and we can expect more insecurity for civilians,” said rights activist Gopal Siwakoti.

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NEPAL: Testimony by a victim of torture at the hands of the army

Shivering with fear and pain, wounds all over his face and body, it is hard for Anoj (not his real name) to recall the torture he was subjected to at the hands of Nepal’s security forces inside the army’s main barracks in the capital, Kathmandu. Looking feeble and ill, he may not live long if he fails to get proper medical treatment. The period since 1 February 2005 when King Gyanendra assumed direct rule of the Himalayan kingdom has been characterised by the widespread arrests of political activists, human rights defenders, trade unionists and journalists - the government's apparent aim to prevent protest against the takeover.

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NEPAL: Testimony by a victim of Maoist torture

The Maoist rebels, like the army and police, have been accused of human rights abuses by human rights groups and those civilians who have suffered at their hands. 'Maniram' (not his real name) told IRIN he was working as a village teacher until April 2005, when a group of Maoist militants abducted him from his house and detained him for nearly a month. They said his brother, a member of the Maoists, had deserted them, and held Maniram responsible for persuading him to leave. Maniram spoke to IRIN about the mental and physical torture he experienced during his detention.

Full report

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NEPAL: Interview with the Royal Nepalese Army's former spokesman, Brigadier-General Deepak Gurung

It was only in 2001 that the Royal Nepalese Army was finally brought out of its barracks to quell the violent Maoist rebellion that started in 1996. But since its deployment, officially to provide security and protect civilians as well as to confront the rebels, it has been constantly criticised for violating human rights. Many local and international agencies, including the United Nations, have published reports of Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) involvement in illegal detention, extrajudicial killing, disappearance, torture and other human rights abuses.

Full report

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NEPAL: Interview with the editor of the Nepali Times, Kunda Dixit

The accord signed in New Delhi in late November between Nepal’s opposition parties and Maoist insurgents, sets out an agenda to end absolute rule by King Gyanendra. Maoists have pledged to forego violence and accept a constitutional monarchy, if progress towards a new constituent assembly can be made. Nepali Times Editor Kunda Dixit spoke to IRIN about the circumstances surrounding the accord.

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NEPAL: Interview with human rights activist, Subodh Pyakhurel

The human rights situation in Nepal has been a matter of serious concern for most of the last nine years of conflict between Maoists rebels and the state. Rights groups have been particularly vocal since the breakdown of peace talks and the deployment of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) in November 2001. Nearly 12,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict since 1996. Rights groups say a large number of the victims were civilians suspected of supporting or working with the rebels.

Full report

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NEPAL: Interview with United Nations Resident Representative in Nepal, Matthew Kahane

Matthew Kahane is the United Nations Resident Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal. He spoke to IRIN about the hardship facing Nepali villagers and the measures being taken to prepare for a possible worsening of the humanitarian situation in the Himalayan kingdom.

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NEPAL: Confronting human rights violations

The breadth and nature of abuses recorded by international human rights organisations in Nepal in recent years is sobering. They include extra-judicial killing, assassination, disappearances, illegal detention and torture, as well as the bombing of civilian vehicles and other civilian targets. Of particular concern is the extent to which children are caught up in the violence. One human rights organisation, Amnesty International, reported in March 2005 that children were being both deliberately targeted and indiscriminately killed in attacks.

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NEPAL: Food insecurity and market access in contested districts

harvest seasons of March and August have been part of life in rural Nepal for decades. Since the start of the Maoist insurgency in 1996, analysts have been concerned about the impact of the conflict on a rural population that already lives near or below the global poverty threshold. Until recently, much of the available information in Nepal on the impact of conflict on food security, agricultural production, nutritional status and market access has been largely anecdotal. A recent exception to this is vulnerability monitoring by the World Food Programme (WFP), which started in the far and mid-western districts of Nepal in October 2002.

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NEPAL: Decades of damage to education

The decision in late November 2005 by Nepal’s Maoist rebels to form an alliance with the main political parties against King Gyanendra, has met with muted enthusiasm from many Nepalis, in particular teachers and school students who say that even if peace does come to the Himalayan kingdom, it will take years for Nepal to put its education sector right again.

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NEPAL: The conflict's dangerous impact on health services

The three-day journey for 52-year-old Maniram Rai and his wife was almost too much to bear. In agony with stomach pains and a high fever, Rai’s condition worsened after walking all the way from Lekharka village in the remote, hilly Bhojpur district, to reach the Nepali city of Dharan. “This is the reality in our village. We can’t even get proper care, there are no medicines or doctors,” said Rai from his bed at the BP Koirala Hospital in Dharan, where he has been gradually recovering after a week in intensive care.

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PAKISTAN: Gulf support for quake relief remains high

Sajad Ahmad, 12, found himself an only child after his brother was killed in the earthquake that devastated northern Pakistan last October. With no shoes to protect him from the freezing mud all around, he queues patiently, along with thousands of others, at a Saudi Arabian-funded feeding centre in the Bala Noor Shah camp in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. The beans and rice he receives three times a day, ladled from vast metal drums bubbling on open fires, are what will keep him alive until the spring when he may be able to return to what's left of his village 90 km away in the Neelum Valley.

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PAKISTAN: Free transport scheme popular among quake survivors

Thousands of quake survivors from remote mountain villages are benefiting from a new free bus service started by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) along the banks of the River Kunhar. The river runs through the quake-ravaged Balakot valley in the Mansehra district of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). "It's a huge financial relief," Muhammad Aslam, a 38-year-old father of four, said as he hopped off the bus.

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PAKISTAN: Single-headed quake households face uncertain future

Thousands of women who lost their husbands in the October quake that claimed the lives of more than 80,000 in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir must now struggle alone as the only breadwinners in their families. "We are trying to survive on our own. After the quake, we had no house, no shelter, but thanks to the IOM [International Organization for Migration], we have shelter," said Atrjan, a mother of six who lost her husband in the quake. With assistance from IOM, a new house is being built for the family, from the mountain village of Chattian, 50 km northeast of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

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PAKISTAN: Focus on the conflict in Balochistan

An apparent air of calm hangs over the sleepy city of Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's largest province, Balochistan, lying to the southwest and bordering Iran and Afghanistan. Along the dusty, wind-swept streets, where temperatures plummet each night to below 10 degrees centigrade throughout much of the winter, vendors in woven woollen caps and heavy shawls sell dried fruit, blankets, mittens and other items on the pavements.

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TAJIKISTAN: 18 people killed by avalanche

An avalanche left 18 people dead and 12 injured on Monday night in the district of Jirgital, 250 km northeast of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said. "This happened at night between 30 and 31 of January. Seven houses near the mountain were covered by snow and the rescue operation finished today. Eighteen people died, 20 people were saved, including 12 people with severe frostbite who are now in a hospital," ministry spokesman Nazokatshoh Saiorabekov said on Wednesday.

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TAJIKISTAN: NGO calls for health reform in prisons

An international NGO in Tajikistan has called on the ex-Soviet state to speed up reform of the penal system while taking steps to reduce infectious disease rates in prison. "Usually NGOs wait a very long time for the authorities allow us to carry out work on things like HIV/AIDS prevention among prisoners. It is necessary for Tajikistan to speed up work in this area and to protect human rights in places of imprisonment", Shoira Yusupova, programme officer of the British NGO Christian Aid/Act Central Asia, said on Friday.

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TURKMENISTAN-UZBEKISTAN: UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief seeks visit

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Asma Jahangir, who reports on violations of religious freedom around the world on behalf of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, continues to seek invitations to visit the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. "As part of my mandate, I am keen to visit both of these countries," Jahangir, a prominent human rights activist and lawyer from Pakistan, told IRIN from London on Monday, adding: "I hope an invitation will be forthcoming."

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UZBEKISTAN: Access to trial of Andijan activist draws criticism

Local rights groups in Uzbekistan have expressed concern over efforts to block observers from attending the trial of human rights activist, Mutabar Tojibaeva, head of the Burning Hearts NGO. The activist had been particularly vocal following the Andijan massacre of 13 May in which upwards of 1,000 people may have been killed when government troops fired on demonstrators protesting against the government of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent CENTRAL ASIA reports:

Weekly news wrap, 17/Feb/06

Ferghana environment meeting wraps up, 16/Feb/06

Weekly news wrap, 10/Feb/06

IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 58 covering the period 4 - 10 February 2006, 10/Feb/06

Weekly news wrap, 3/Feb/06

Other recent reports:

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 17/Feb/06

ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 59 covering the period 11 - 17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

KAZAKHSTAN: New NGO guide popular among journalists, 10/Feb/06

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 10/Feb/06

CENTRAL ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 58 covering the period 4 - 10 February 2006, 10/Feb/06

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