Weekly Round-Up - IRINCAS-91: 27-Dec-02
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia
Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484
Fax: +92-51-2211 450
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk
Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 91
21 - 27 December 2002
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Non-interference declaration to boost stability
AFGHANISTAN: New human rights commission in Herat praised
AFGHANISTAN: Aid workers take more precautions following attack
PAKISTAN: Christians fear more attacks
PAKISTAN: Drug abuse study launched
UZBEKISTAN: Interview with Human Rights Watch representative
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
AFGHANISTAN: Non-interference declaration to boost stability
Afghanistan's six neighbouring countries gathered in its capital, Kabul,
on Sunday, pledging non-interference and respect for the country's
independence and territorial integrity. The issuance of their Kabul
Declaration coincides with the first anniversary of the establishment of
the Afghan interim government following the ouster of the Taliban. "Today
we celebrate the first anniversary of the new Afghanistan, and reaffirm
our commitment to peace, cooperation and development in the our region,"
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in his inaugural speech. "I am sure
Afghanistan will live in a brotherly and peaceful atmosphere with her
neighbours from now on," Taj Mohammad Wardak, the Afghan interior
minister, told IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31469&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: New human rights commission in Herat praised
The Afghan Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has praised the establishment of
a human rights body in the western province of Herat, following disturbing
reports of abuses there by Human Rights Watch (HRW). "This is very
encouraging and a positive move, because it shows that the new
administration is willing to have such a body within its framework to deal
with human rights issues," the AHRC deputy chairwoman, Fahim Hakim, told
IRIN from the capital, Kabul on Monday. Comprising six people, two of them
women, the AHRC was set up over the past few weeks by the Herat governor,
Ismail Khan, who had been criticised in two recent HRW reports for abuses,
particularly of women.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31470&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Aid workers take more precautions following attack
Staff working for the French media training NGO, AINA, are taking extra
safety precautions following a suicide attack near an International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) military hospital in the Afghan capital,
Kabul, in which one worker was killed and another two injured. "We have
restricted our movement by foot and are only going out for essential trips
accompanied in cars," the director of AINA, Victor Marc, told IRIN from
Kabul on Tuesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31491&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN: Christians fear more attacks
Christian leaders in Pakistan have condemned Wednesday's attack on the
minority community during Christmas celebrations in the Punjab province,
saying that they were increasingly becoming targets in revenge for the
US-led anti terrorist campaign in neighbouring Afghanistan. “This has
happened because of Pakistan's support for the American policies in
Afghanistan,” Mehbood Sada, director of the Christian Study Center, told
IRIN in the capital, Islamabad on Thursday. “If the US attacks Iraq
non-Muslims in Islamic countries will also suffer." Two young women and a
girl died immediately after two attackers wearing all enveloping burkha
[Islamic dress for women covering from head to toe] threw grenades into a
Christmas Mass service at 9:30 pm local time on Wednesday in the Chianwala
village, near the town of Daska in the eastern Punjabi district of
Sialkot. At least 14 people were seriously injured in the incident at the
Presbyterian church.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31502&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Drug abuse study launched
Addicts injecting heroin have increased up to 15 percent in Pakistan over
the past decade, according to a drug abuse assessment study by the UN
Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP), released in the
Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Monday. "From less than two percent of
heroin users in 1993 to approximately 15 percent,heroin addicts turned to
injecting in 2000," the coordinator of the study, Nadeem-ur-Rehman, told
IRIN in Islamabad. He added that this method of administration put the
estimated 60,000 drug users at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Already
an alarming 89 percent were infected with hepatitis C, another deadly
blood-borne disease.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31479&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
UZBEKISTAN: Interview with Human Rights Watch representative
Even after becoming a US ally by providing vital military bases following
11 September, experts argue that little has changed in the human-rights
situation of Uzbekistan. With an ongoing campaign against independent
Muslims, widespread torture in prisons, and repression of women, the
country remains reclusive and authoritarian. In an interview with IRIN,
Matilda Bogner, the head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Uzbekistan,
maintained that with more than 7,000 independent Muslims languishing in
prisons, the human-rights situation remains abysmal.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31501&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN
IRIN-Asia
Tel: +92-51-2211451
Fax: +92-51-2292918
Email: IrinAsia@irin.org.pk
[This Item is Delivered to the "Asia-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to
change your keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002
distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International Disaster Information
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
web: www.cidi.org
listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central Asia www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/casia