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-CAS Weekly Round-Up 156
9 - 15 October 2004


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Focus on presidential poll
AFGHANISTAN-IRAN-PAKISTAN: Largest refugee election participation in
   history - IOM
AFGHANISTAN: EU upbeat as presidential rivals drop poll protest
AFGHANISTAN: Vote counting finally gets underway
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
CENTRAL ASIA: High child poverty despite economic growth - UNICEF
KAZAKHSTAN: New environmental book for Kazakh schools
KYRGYZSTAN: Death of illegal miners highlights risk in illicit industry
KYRGYZSTAN: Muslim clerics raise HIV/AIDS awareness
PAKISTAN: Punjab aims to get tough on air pollution
PAKISTAN: Child labour still widespread in NWFP
TAJIKISTAN: Measles campaign reaches 98 percent of target
TURKMENISTAN: 140 refugees get third country resettlement in Canada
UZBEKISTAN: Focus on child labour in southern cotton sector
UZBEKISTAN: Exhibition highlights child labour


AFGHANISTAN: Focus on presidential poll

Shivering under her all-enveloping burqa, Noorjahan, a 45-year-old
housewife, stood in a long queue on Saturday, waiting patiently to cast
her vote at a central polling station in the capital, Kabul. People
everywhere appeared extremely hopeful. Almost everyone IRIN interviewed,
both in the capital and the southern city of Kandahar - former stronghold
of the Taliban - hoped the elections would bring sustainable peace and
security to the country, emerging from decades of war and conflict.




AFGHANISTAN-IRAN-PAKISTAN: Largest refugee election participation in
history - IOM

Some 850,000 Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran voted in
Afghanistan's first presidential election on 9 October; a record in
refugee election participation. "IOM is very satisfied with the overall
participation in both Pakistan and Iran."  Roughly 590,000 Afghan voters
attended the polling stations in Pakistan, representing 80 percent of the
738,000 who had registered during the first four days of October. In Iran,
around 260,000 refugees participated in the polls, about half the eligible
voters in the country.




AFGHANISTAN: EU upbeat as presidential rivals drop poll protest

Saturday's presidential poll in Afghanistan went very well and was freer
than expected, a European Union (EU) official told IRIN, as rival
presidential candidates dropped their opposition to vote counting. The
envoy referred to the issue of faulty indelible ink, allowing some people
to vote more than once, as the most unfortunate problem. "But we don't
think this was enough to impact in a huge negative way on the outcome of
this elections."




AFGHANISTAN: Vote counting finally gets underway

The counting of votes began late on Thursday afternoon, five days after
millions of Afghans voted in what has been described as the country's
first ever democratic election. The UN-Government Joint Electoral
Management Body (JEMB) said preliminary results would be announced in the
next few days while the final results would take two weeks. "If the
process goes rapidly we will be able to have at least a substantial result
in a week to 10 days."




CENTRAL ASIA: High child poverty despite economic growth - UNICEF

The number of children living below national poverty levels remains very
high across Central Asia, despite economic progress in the region.
"Absolute levels of child poverty in Central Asia are still extremely
high." The report reveals that children haven't enjoyed the benefits of
economic growth, and they are having poor access to education, health
care, among other social services. In addition, many Central Asian
countries experience very high levels of infant mortality.




CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

An earthquake measuring 3 on the Richter Scale shook the Uzbek capital,
Tashkent, on Monday morning, the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
There were no casualties or damage, Dilorom Ergasheva, a duty officer at
the Tashkent central seismological station, said. The epicentre of the
quake was 210 km to the southeast of the Uzbek capital on Kyrgyz
territory.




KAZAKHSTAN: New environmental book for Kazakh schools

A new textbook on environmental education and climate change, the first of
its kind in Kazakhstan, has been prepared for students in secondary
schools thanks to a British Council and European Commission (EC)-funded
project implemented by the Central Asian Regional Environmental Centre
(CAREC). "Textbooks and methodological guidebooks on ecology used in the
learning process are outdated and do not always reflect the specific
environmental problems of Kazakhstan."




KYRGYZSTAN: Death of illegal miners highlights risk in illicit industry

Four illegal coal miners were buried alive on Monday after rocks fell on
them in an open cast mine in Kara-Tyt district, 110 km northeast of the
provincial capital, Jalal-Abad. The bodies of three of the victims had
been found. The incident highlights the risks involved in the growing
trade in illegal coal in the region. Experts at the scene said the
accident had been caused by the violation of basic safety regulations.
Local residents said the victims worked without any protection.




KYRGYZSTAN: Muslim clerics raise HIV/AIDS awareness

While many Kyrgyz people do not go to mosques regularly, a fair proportion
still gather for Friday prayers, particularly in the more traditional
south. Recognising this, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in Kyrgyzstan has teamed up with the State Commission on Religious Affairs
and local Muslim clergy to launch a unique campaign against HIV/AIDS that
aims to educate religious leaders about the disease.




PAKISTAN: Punjab aims to get tough on air pollution

Pakistan's Punjab province - the nation's most populous - has announced
measures to tackle air pollution, but some activists doubt they will have
any impact, citing the tardy progress of previous steps to improve the
environment. Already among the highest in the world, air pollution levels
in Pakistan's largest cities, many of which are in Punjab, continue to
climb, raising serious health concerns.




PAKISTAN: Child labour still widespread in NWFP

Working children are a very common sight in North West Frontier Province
(NWFP), where according to official figures gathered in 1996, 1.1 million
children, out of a total of 3.6 million countrywide, are engaged in
various forms of hazardous labour despite the extensive legislation that
is supposed to regulate the practice. But a recent survey conducted by the
UN children's agency UNICEF indicated that at least eight million children
are at work in Pakistan out of its total population of 140 million.




TAJIKISTAN: Measles campaign reaches 98 percent of target

A nationwide measles campaign in Tajikistan has ended successfully, with
almost 98 percent coverage of the targeted population. "The immunisation
coverage has been very good. It covered about three million people - half
the country's population - mainly children from one to 18 years of age.
However, some groups aged between 19 and 29 living in [the northern] Soghd
region were also vaccinated."




TURKMENISTAN: 140 refugees get third country resettlement in Canada

Dozens of refugees in Turkmenistan, mainly Afghans and Azeris, are set to
be resettled in Canada in the near future. The Canadian government has
accepted 140 refugees for resettlement, including 25 families from
Azerbaijan, 22 families from Afghanistan, 17 families from Iran and one
stateless person. They are expected to leave for Canada in the near
future.




UZBEKISTAN: Focus on child labour in southern cotton sector

With the cotton harvesting season well underway in Uzbekistan, one of the
five top cotton producers in the world, thousands of children are again
labouring to bring in the crop. Critics of the practice say it impacts
negatively on the health and education of young people. Authorities claim
it is an economic necessity to employ children during the harvest. Cheap,
if not free, child labour is widely used in the country, particularly
during the September to November season.




UZBEKISTAN: Exhibition highlights child labour

Campaigners against child labour in the country's cotton sector opened a
photo exhibition on Friday in the capital, Tashkent, in an attempt to
highlight the practice. Uzbekistan is one of the five top cotton producers
in the world, with thousands of children and students picking cotton in
vast cotton fields during the harvest months of September to November. The
photo exhibition "Cotton - White Gold of Uzbekistan" is a rare attempt to
draw attention to the use of hundreds of thousands of young people to
bring in the nation's cotton.




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