Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-05: 04-Feb-05
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 05
29 January - 4 February 2005
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Southern IDPs plead for winter assistance
AFGHANISTAN: Focus on public consultation on criminal justice
PAKISTAN: Solution needed for displaced in Pakistan-administered
Kashmir
PAKISTAN: Violence against women still a huge problem - reports
PAKISTAN: Lack of aerial spraying increases locust and disease risk
KAZAKHSTAN: Special report on ethnic Germans
KAZAKHSTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Travellers report border corruption
TURKMENISTAN: UNICEF welcomes new child labour law
TAJIKISTAN: Officials say explosion no accident
TAJIKISTAN: Explosion rocks emergency ministry
NEPAL: Cabin restaurants promote sexual exploitation
UZBEKISTAN: UNHCR assists in the resettlement of Afghan refugees to
Canada
CENTRAL ASIA: Heavy snow causes death and havoc
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
AFGHANISTAN: Southern IDPs plead for winter assistance
Thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in a camp in Spin
Boldak, 125 km south of the southern city of Kandahar, are in need of
immediate assistance as cold weather and grinding poverty take their
toll. According to people living in the camp, the situation in Spin
Boldak deteriorated for the displaced group after the Afghan government
and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) stopped assistance to the destitute families.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45371&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Focus on public consultation on criminal justice
Human rights activists and political analysts have called on government
to identify and bring to trial war criminals ahead of parliamentary
elections to be held in spring. The calls came after a new survey on
criminal justice by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission
(AIHRC) was released on Saturday. Sima Samar, the chairwoman of the
AIHRC, and Louise Arbour, UN Human Rights Commissioner, presented the
results of a national survey on war crimes and human rights abuses to
President Hamid Karzai. The commission concluded that more than 70
percent of Afghans had suffered loss of a loved one or injury over the
past two decades of war and that the majority of those questioned
urgently wanted to see war criminals brought to justice.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45327&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN: Solution needed for displaced in Pakistan-administered Kashmir
Pakistan's leading human rights body has expressed concern over the
condition of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) living in camps located
in Pakistani administered Kashmir. The Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP) has said in its annual report released on Tuesday that
the conditions that IDPs face remain grim inside camps housing those
displaced by the conflict with India over Kashmir over a fifteen year
period. "These camps, housing some 25,000 migrants, were set up on an
emergency basis in [the] 90s, without any proper planning. Now they've
turned to slums where there is an imminent threat of disease due to poor
sanitation," Sadiq Dar,head of the Relief Commissionerate (RC) of the
Pakistani- administered Kashmir government, told IRIN from
Muzzaffarabad, 135 km north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on
Wednesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45369&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Violence against women still a huge problem - reports
Two independent reports on domestic violence against women in Pakistan
have found that the country is suffering increasing levels of abuse in
spite of legislation to provide women with protection. 'The State of
Human Rights in 2004', the annual report of the Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan (HRCP) was released on Tuesday in Islamabad, covering the
period from January to October 2004. It said that although there is
increased awareness of the issue and discussion at both official and
non-official levels, little had been achieved. "Existing laws were
poorly implemented. The practices that led to the crimes against women
continued across the country under the cover of 'tradition', however, no
efforts were made by the government to ensure an improvement in ground
realities.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45340&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Lack of aerial spraying increases locust and disease risk
The Pakistani Plant Protection Department (PPD) is unable to undertake
any aerial crop spraying because all its aircraft have been grounded for
technical reasons and shortage of funds. The spraying is needed to
reduce the spread of Leishmeniasis and tackle a potential locust
problem, according to officials. "Out of a total of 20 aircraft, only
four were in operational condition. However, they have also been
grounded for bureaucratic reasons," Syed Ghulam Raza Ja'afary, head of
the Aerial Pest Control wing of the PPD, told IRIN from the southern
port city of Karachi on Monday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45313&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
KAZAKHSTAN: Special report on ethnic Germans
For Irina Geisler, a young ethnic German in the Kazakh commercial
capital of Almaty, 'returning' to Germany, couldn't be more natural. "I
feel German. It's my dream," the 19-year-old linguistics student told
IRIN. Her application for German citizenship currently awaits approval.
"All my life I've heard about Germany. It's part of my life," she said
with a German accent heavily influenced by the Schwabian roots of her
ancestors. Such dreams remain strong for thousands of such ethnic
Germans in today's Kazakhstan, with many of Irina's friends torn between
both countries.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45321&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
KAZAKHSTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Travellers report border corruption
"Frontier guards and customs officials consider people like us as
sub-humans. They have just pushed and insulted me. They openly rob us,"
Guli Opa, a 45-year- old Uzbek crossing the border for a funeral, told
IRIN in Chernyaevka, on the northern Uzbek-Kazakh frontier, about 50 km
from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. "Do you have time for me to check your
luggage? If not, then you must pay me," Timur, an aggressive young man
in civilian clothes, describing himself as an "intern" told IRIN at the
custom house on the Kazakh side.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45342&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN-UZBEKISTAN
TURKMENISTAN: UNICEF welcomes new child labour law
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has welcomed a decision by
the Turkmen parliament to pass legislation banning child labour and
guaranteeing freedom from economic exploitation as a right of children.
"The government is aware of the issue of child labour in Turkmenistan
and this new law has been formulated to deal with the issue," UNICEF
country head, Mahboob Shareef, told IRIN from the Turkmen capital,
Ashgabat, on Wednesday. His comments follow the adoption of the law by
the Turkmen parliament two days earlier. The text of the law, signed by
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, states the legislation is aimed at
fulfilling the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as
well as the law of Turkmenistan.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45360&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN
TAJIKISTAN: Officials say explosion no accident
An explosion on Monday in the Tajik capital Dushanbe was not an accident
as had been at first suggested, according to government officials. One
person was killed and four others injured in the blast. "The preliminary
version, an explosion because of gas [leakage], has not been confirmed,"
Sarvar Azimova, Head of the Public Information Centre at the Security
Ministry (SM) of Tajikistan, told IRIN from Dushanbe, on Wednesday.
"Currently the causes of the explosion are being investigated and a
criminal case on the incident is under way." A car exploded close to the
Tajik Emergency Ministry killing the driver and injuring the passengers
of the vehicle.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45361&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN
TAJIKISTAN: Explosion rocks emergency ministry
A car exploded outside a government building in the Tajik capital,
Dushanbe, early on Monday, killing at least one person and injuring four
more, according to government officials. "There was an explosion near
the Emergency Ministry," Abdurakhim Rajabov, Deputy Emergency Minister,
told IRIN from Dushanbe just hours after the blast. "It is being
investigated. Particularly what caused the blast."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45306&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN
NEPAL: Cabin restaurants promote sexual exploitation
Radha fled from her village in Rautahat, 200 km south of Kathmandu, to
escape forced military recruitment by Maoist rebels. Carrying her small
suitcase and less than US $20, she arrived in the capital, Kathmandu,
hoping for security and even perhaps a decent job. After a desperate
hunt for work, she found a job at a 'cabin' restaurant. Little did she
know that when she was offered the job as a waitress, her work would
consist of entertaining male clients in semi-private wooden cubicles. As
she had already received an advance on her salary, Radha had no choice
but to follow her manager's directives to please her customers and make
them order as much food and drink as possible by keeping them content.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45325&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
UZBEKISTAN: UNHCR assists in the resettlement of Afghan refugees to
Canada
The office for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
in Uzbekistan has started resettling 237 Afghan refugees to Canada
following an agreement with Ottawa reached late last year, a UN official
said on Monday. Those who are to be resettled in Canada were selected
because they were considered to be at risk if repatriated to
Afghanistan. "Of the persons referred for resettlement to Canada in
August 2004, 237 persons were accepted, 113 persons were rejected and
the decision regarding 29 persons was put on hold," Abdul Karim Gul,
head of UNHCR, in Uzbekistan told IRIN. Under this year's resettlement
programme, the UNHCR plans to submit details of another group of 400
Afghan refugees to the governments of Canada and the USA.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45307&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Heavy snow causes death and havoc
Following heavy snow in Tajikistan, a house collapsed on Thursday in the
Nurobod district of central Rasht Valley, killing nine people and
seriously injuring three more, Sirojiddin Mulloev, a spokesman for the
Tajik emergency ministry, told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, a
day later."There have been avalanches in other areas, particularly in
the Obigarm-Nurobod area [in central Tajikistan] - some 200 vehicles
have been trapped from both sides of the road and they cannot move,"
Mulloev added.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45389&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
This week started with a bang when car outside the Tajik Emergency
Ministry in Dushanbe exploded on Monday, killing the driver and injuring
passers-by. Despite initial speculation that the blast was the work of
terrorists in the lead up to parliamentary elections on 27 February,
others attributed it to a simple gas leak. But by Wednesday, this theory
had been largely discounted, suggesting the explosion had been
deliberate, although a motive remained unclear. Democracy and upcoming
elections dominated the news throughout much of the region, particularly
in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev
reaffirmed his government's opposition to any interference in its own
parliamentary elections slated for the same day as Tajikistan's.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45392&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
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