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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Central Asia
IRIN-CAS Weekly Round-up 157
27 March - 2 April 2004


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: New study underlines forgotten realities in agriculture
AFGHANISTAN: Mass tetanus vaccination targets women
AFGHANISTAN: Berlin conference could yield up to US $9 billion
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Tripartite refugee commission meets
AFGHANISTAN: Whooping cough kills at least four and threatens 400 in 
  Helmand
IRAN: Tehran lowers Bam earthquake toll
IRAN: Iraqi refugee repatriation continues
KAZAKHSTAN: Over 200 people infected with dysentery
KAZAKHSTAN: UNHCR opens new office in Astana
KYRGYZSTAN: Independent media outlet faces closure
PAKISTAN: Journalist ordered released on bail 
PAKISTAN: Focus on landmark court decision allowing threatened couple to 
  live together
PAKISTAN: Educational material insensitive to religious minorities, says 
  report
UZBEKISTAN: Tashkent outlines human rights progress
UZBEKISTAN: Campaign against independent Islam denounced
UZBEKISTAN: Re-registration deadline for foreign NGOs
UZBEKISTAN: Activists warn of crackdown following a week of violence
TURKMENISTAN: Scepticism over new ruling on registration of religious 
  groups
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap


AFGHANISTAN: New study underlines forgotten realities in agriculture

A new study on Afghanistan's agriculture policy and rural livelihoods has
called on aid agencies and the government to more critically analyse how
relevant programmes work in developing the beleagured nation's agriculture
and rural livelihoods. According to the report issued on Monday, while
Afghanistan was in its third post conflict year, there were many
challenges yet to be met in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of
public and civil institutions in the war-torn country.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40294&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Mass tetanus vaccination targets women

The United Nations Children's agency, UNICEF began a week-long nationwide
campaign on Wednesday to immunise four million Afghan females aged 15-45
against tetanus.Maternal and neo-natal tetanus (MNT) is one of the biggest
threats to a mother and her newborn child's life in many countries of the
world. According to UNICEF, worldwide MNT is responsible for the deaths of
30,000 women and 200,000 infants in developing countries each year.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40339&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN 


AFGHANISTAN: Berlin conference could yield up to US $9 billion

Afghan officials met donors and international organisations in Berlin on
Wednesday and Thursday in a landmark attempt to boost Afghanistan's
fragile reconstruction effort. Improving security ahead of elections and
clamping down on the burgeoning opium trade are also top priorities for
the high-profile meeting. Kabul could receive pledges up to $9 billion
spread over three years. The conference is the most significant gathering
of its kind since the Tokyo donors summit in January 2002.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40374&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN 


AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Tripartite refugee commission meets

A three-way commission, mandated to oversee the repatriation of Afghan
refugees to their homeland, held its fourth meeting in the Pakistani
capital, Islamabad, on Monday. The meeting came three weeks after the
resumption of the repatriation process, which was suspended in November
following the murder of a UNHCR worker in southern Afghanistan. Chaired by
the government of Pakistan, the meeting took note of the fact that more
than 20,000 refugees have returned to Afghanistan since the repatriation
process restarted in early March 2004.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40320&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Whooping cough kills at least four and threatens 400 in
Helmand

Health Officials in the Afghan capital Kabul have confirmed that at least
four children have died from whooping cough in Garmrimsir, a border
district in the southern province of Helmand over the past few days. Four
hundred children are confirmed infected with the disease in the region.
"We are seriously concerned, four children have died and over 400 children
under five have been clinically confirmed with whooping cough in Helmand
province."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40389&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN 


IRAN: Tehran lowers Bam earthquake toll

Iran's statistics office has announced that the death toll following the
devastating December earthquake in the southeastern city of Bam is now
26,271 - nearly half the figure originally feared. Previously, the local
governor's office had put the number of deaths at more than 43,000 but the
statistics office claims that some victims were counted more than once.
Iran's statistics office said they arrived at this figure after conducting
a census, in which it found that 525 people are still missing.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40323&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN 


IRAN: Iraqi refugee repatriation continues

Some 4,836 Iraqi refugees living in Iran have recently returned home under
the repatriation programme run by the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "UNHCR is not promoting repatriation
due to the bad security situation inside Iraq, but only facilitating
return to those Iraqis that specifically request."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40341&SelectRegion=Iraq_Crisis&SelectCountry=IRAN 


KAZAKHSTAN: Over 200 people infected with dysentery

More than 200 people had been infected with an acute intestinal infection
in the northwestern Kazakh province of Aktobe, a government official told
IRIN from the capital, Astana, on Monday. "The situation is that 261
people are now preliminary diagnosed with having an acute intestinal
infection. In 60 cases the diagnosis of acute dysentery has been
confirmed."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40298&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN 


KAZAKHSTAN: UNHCR opens new office in Astana

In a further effort to help some 16,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the
country, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) has opened a new office in the Kazakh capital Astana. "This field
office will strengthen our relations with the government as well as our
ongoing efforts in Almaty." Of the 16,000 refugees and asylum seekers in
Kazakhstan today, only 600 are officially recognised as refugees.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40372&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN 


KYRGYZSTAN: Independent media outlet faces closure

An independent TV channel faces closure following an ongoing dispute with
the State Communication Agency (SCA), a government body regulating the
issue of licences and frequencies in the mountainous Central Asian state.
The broadcast licence of Osh TV, established in the southern Kyrgyz city
in 1991, expired on Thursday. Earlier this month, SCA director, Andrey
Titov, said in a statement that there were no restraints on the company
obtaining a new licence.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40295&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN 


PAKISTAN: Journalist ordered released on bail

A Pakistani journalist, detained in custody since mid-December on charges
of sedition and conspiracy, was ordered released on bail on Saturday,
according to his lawyer.  Khawar Mehdi Rizvi was arrested, along with
French journalists Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau of the weekly
L'Express, in mid-December. The two foreign journalists were charged with
violating their visas and visiting the Quetta region without permission
and were eventually allowed bail within three weeks of their arrest.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40290&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN 


PAKISTAN: Focus on landmark court decision allowing threatened couple to
live together

A Sindhi couple, whose lives were at risk from local tribes after they
chose to marry each other, were allowed to live together on Tuesday by a
two-member high court bench in a landmark decision hailed by rights
activists. "It is a big achievement. We have sent a very loud and clear
message to all the feudals that the women of Pakistan are not going to
tolerate any infringement on their rights. It is not possible any more."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40342&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN 


PAKISTAN: Educational material insensitive to religious minorities, says
report

A decades-long drive to Islamise Pakistani society has resulted in
educational material becoming insensitive to religious minorities, says a
report compiled by a leading think-tank, the Sustainable Development
Policy Institute (SDPI). "The Subtle Subversion - The State of Curricula
and Textbooks in Pakistan" points out that, in the process of
Islamisation, text-book writers have re-written the history of Pakistan.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40376&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN 


UZBEKISTAN: Tashkent outlines human rights progress

Long criticised internationally for its poor human rights record,
Uzbekistan is committed to democratic reforms which will eliminate torture
and other abuses, according to a government official. "We are working on
these issues [human rights]. Maybe it is not that fast, but the process is
going on and it is pretty positive."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40327&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN 


UZBEKISTAN: Campaign against independent Islam denounced

In a new report released on Tuesday, the US NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW)
has strongly condemned what it described as Tashkent's institutional
practice of persecuting Muslims who practice their faith outside state
control. According to the report, security forces regularly torture
religious detainees upon arrest to coerce confessions, using electric
shock, beatings, asphyxiation with plastic bags and gas masks, rape and
sexual violence.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40326&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN 


UZBEKISTAN: Re-registration deadline for foreign NGOs

The deadline for the re-registration of foreign non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) operating in Uzbekistan expired on Thursday. Although
some have registered, the fate of others remains unclear. "We
re-registered on 18 March. As far as I know, some 40 organisations have
passed re-registration as well, including us [Internews]. I think that the
majority of them [international NGOs] have done so."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40373&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Activists warn of crackdown following a week of violence

Following a government crackdown in the wake of this week's violent
attacks in Uzbekistan, which killed at least 44 people and injured scores
more, activists warn of a further decline in the state of human rights.
"Right now we are seeing arbitrary arrests and the kind of reaction that
we feared from the Uzbek government, suggesting perhaps a broader
crackdown."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40392&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN 


TURKMENISTAN: Scepticism over new ruling on registration of religious
groups

"It is too early to assess the practical significance of President
Saparmurat Niyazov's decree that purports to have eased the numerical
requirements for [the] registration of religious groups in Turkmenistan.
The decree seems timed to coincide with the run up to the United Nations
Human Rights Commission session in Geneva that criticised Turkmenistan's
human rights record last year." Felice Gaer, a deputy co-chair of the US
Commission on International Religious Freedom.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40348&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN 


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia was marked by a spate of unprecedented violence
in Uzbekistan. On Sunday, a blast killed 10 people in the central Uzbek
province of Bukhara. On Monday, an explosion ripped through the Chorsu
market in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Some 20 people, including six
police officers, were killed and 26 injured over the two day period.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40396&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA 


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004


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