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

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e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 134
18 - 24 October 2003


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: UN-backed northern disarmament begins
AFGHANISTAN: Ultraconservatism and lack of resources hamper change for
  Khowsti women
AFGHANISTAN: Dismissed officers demonstrate in Kabul
AFGHANISTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Border control training under way
CENTRAL ASIA: Special report on human trafficking
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: Interview with Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi
KYRGYZSTAN: Penal reforms under way says government
KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Focus on poverty impact in border areas
TAJIKISTAN: Typhoid outbreak expected to hit 1,000 cases
TURKMENISTAN: RSF slams government for lack of press freedom
UZBEKISTAN: Pollution and poor nutrition suspected causes of eye disease
UZBEKISTAN: Campaign for imprisoned writers under way


AFGHANISTAN: UN-backed northern disarmament begins

Standing in a long queue with his battered AK-47 assault rifle, Sultan
Mohammad said his weapon was useless now as there was no longer any war in
the country. "The jihad [holy war] of guns is over and now it is time for
the jihad of work," the 45-year-old military officer told IRIN on
Wednesday as a long-awaited disarmament exercise began in the northeastern
Afghan city of Konduz. Mohammad is one of about 600 out of 100,000
ex-combatants in Afghanistan who may eventually be disarmed through the
UN-backed country-wide Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR).

AFGHANISTAN: Ultraconservatism and lack of resources hamper change for 
Khowsti women

Sitting in her squalid office with few men around, Sa'ira Sharif, the head
of the women's affairs department of the eastern border province of
Khowst, tells at great length how lack of resources and a web of cultural
barriers continue to deprive Khowsti women of their basic social and
political rights. "Khowsti women are deprived of all their rights, none of
which can be solved very soon," she told IRIN. Illiteracy and cultural
complexities presented a more serious threat even than insecurity,
discouraging even literate women in the most conservative male-dominated
city of Khowst from going out and helping other women, Sharif asserted. "I
am the only woman in this department and have been looking for at least
one female assistant, but have yet to find one in the past six months,"
she noted.

AFGHANISTAN: Dismissed officers demonstrate in Kabul

While the Afghan government has yet to meet the challenge of reintegrating
thousands of former combatants, about 1,000 former officers of the Afghan
army on Monday held a protest in the capital, Kabul, against their
dismissal - the fourth demonstration this month. They are demanding
reinstatement and payment of wage arrears. "There has not been any
criterion for our dismissal. Those unqualified, but linked with high
authorities, remained, and professional neutral and poor officers were
dismissed," Col Abdul Matin, one of the protesters, told IRIN.

AFGHANISTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Border control training under way

Efforts to improve border control along the Uzbek/Afghan border got under
way on Monday, with the start of a two-week training course organised by
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). "Such
training will prove instrumental in the possible reopening of the border,
which could happen in the mid- and long-term future," Marie-Carin von
Gumppenberg, a political officer for the OSCE, told IRIN from the Uzbek
capital, Tashkent, noting this would depend on security conditions in the
area.

CENTRAL ASIA: Special report on human trafficking

Thirty-eight-year-old Svetlana remembers vividly her ordeal at the hands
of human traffickers two years ago. After losing her job as a child-care
worker in the Kazakh commercial capital, Almaty, the single mother with
piercing blue eyes was desperate to secure a better life for herself and
her daughter. "This was my chance. I needed to make it work," she told
IRIN.

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Dominating the news this week, are the more than 800 people infected with
typhoid in what appears to be one of the largest such incidences to strike
Tajikistan in years. "The numbers keep rising, and we are expecting it to
go over 1,000," Paul Handley, the officer-in-charge of the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the capital,
Dushanbe, told IRIN on Thursday.

IRAN: Interview with Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi arrived back in Iran a week ago to a rapturous welcome after
winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and immediately called for the release of
all political prisoners. The country's first female judge, she has
campaigned for women's and children's rights for over 20 years and has
been responsible for reform in family laws. In an interview with IRIN in
Tehran, Ebadi said the prize belonged to all those working for peaceful
change and that there is no contradiction between Islam and human rights.

KYRGYZSTAN: Penal reforms under way says government

Penal reforms aimed to make the country's overcrowded penitentiary system
more open and transparent are under way in Kyrgyzstan. "The conditions in
the penitentiary institutions in Kyrgyzstan have notably improved over the
past two years," Vladimir Nosov, the head of the Kyrgyz justice ministry's
general directorate on corrections execution (GUIN), told IRIN in the
Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. The 2003 state budget had allocated some US $0.40
for the daily nutrition of each convict, double last year's rate, he said.

KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Focus on poverty impact in border areas

Grinding poverty and unemployment continue to be major contributors to the
number of border incidents occurring between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan,
and constitute areas regarded as the most potentially volatile in Central
Asia. Earlier this month, two Uzbek citizens were killed and two people
wounded - including a Kyrgyz national - in what appears to be the latest
incident along the 1,100 common border.

TAJIKISTAN: Typhoid outbreak expected to hit 1,000 cases

The number of typhoid cases in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, is expected to
hit 1,000 as health officials work to curb its spread. This latest
outbreak to strike the impoverished Central Asian state, appearing two
weeks ago, has already resulted in at least one death. "We are now talking
about 800 [cases]. The numbers keep rising and we are expecting it to go
over 1,000," Paul Handley, the officer-in-charge of the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Dushanbe, told IRIN on
Thursday, noting, however, that assistance, both international and local,
had been put in place.

TURKMENISTAN: RSF slams government for lack of press freedom

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) gave a scathing review of Turkmenistan's
press freedom record, describing it as the worst in Central Asia and one
of the world's top 10 offenders. "This is one of the worst countries in
the world," Caroline Giraud, an RSF researcher for the former Soviet
republics, told IRIN from Paris. "There is essentially no press freedom in
Turkmenistan today. There is absolutely no independent press."

UZBEKISTAN: Pollution and poor nutrition suspected causes of eye disease

Factories and industrial plants in the eastern Uzbek town of Ferghana in
conjunction with poor nutrition are believed to be causing eye problems
among children. Several health officials told IRIN in Ferghana that the
oil refinery, together with some chemical plants we affecting the health
of the local population, particularly children, living in the town's
industrial district of Qirguli. "Eye diseases among the children are on
the rise," they said, adding that local children were also suffering from
skin problems.

UZBEKISTAN: Campaign for imprisoned writers under way

International Pen, an international association of writers, is continuing
its efforts to draw attention to the plight of imprisoned writers and
journalists in Uzbekistan. The country, Central Asia's most populous, has
one of the worst press-freedom records in the world, with at least five
writers and journalists behind bars. "This is an indication of a much
bigger problem in Uzbekistan," Sara Whyatt, the programme director of the
Writers in Prison Committee of the UK-based International Pen, told IRIN
from the Turkish commercial capital Istanbul.


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