Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-32: 12-Aug-05
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484
Fax: +92-51-2211 450
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk
Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 32
6 - 12 August 2005
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Election logistics challenge begins
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: Interview with Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Adequate
Housing, Miloon Kothari
KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Third country resettlement of Andijan 15
progresses
NEPAL: Diarrhoeal diseases still a major health problem
NEPAL: Community-run schools make progress
NEPAL: Activists call on UN monitoring mission to act
PAKISTAN: Government plans to remove Afghan refugees from capital
PAKISTAN: Over 30 tribal Afghan refugee camps to close by end of August
AFGHANISTAN: Election logistics challenge begins
With less than seven weeks to next month's parliamentary elections, the
UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) has begun the
monumental task of distributing election materials throughout
post-conflict Afghanistan. "One of the greatest challenges we are facing
this year is the actual size of the undertaking," James Grison, head of
the support unit for JEMB, said on Wednesday in the capital Kabul. He
added that compared with Afghanistan's presidential elections last
October, the parliamentary and provincial council elections slated for
18 September would prove particularly challenging in a variety of ways.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48535&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
Torrential rains struck the northern Tajik province of Soghd on Sunday,
damaging roads, bridges and pastures in the Ayni district, according to
the country's emergency ministry. While no detailed information was
available as to the extent of the damage or casualties, local emergency
bodies were reportedly carrying out a cleanup operation, the Tajik
Avesta news agency reported. Tajikistan is prone to a variety of natural
disasters, including earthquakes, landslides, floods, avalanches and
drought. In 2003, 120 incidents involving flooding, avalanches or
landslides were recorded in the country, as well as 12 significant
earthquakes, according to the European Commission Humanitarian Aid
Office (ECHO). In the Central Asian region as a whole, natural disasters
have killed about 2,500 people and affected some 5.5 million (almost 10
percent of the total population) over the past decade, ECHO said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48560&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
IRAN: Interview with Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Adequate
Housing, Miloon Kothari
Access to adequate housing in Iran is fraught with difficulties. Iran is
riddled with earthquake fault lines and prone to severe droughts. The
burgeoning population, coupled with massive population migration from
rural to urban areas has resulted in a surge in demand for housing. The
UN Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing,
Miloon Kothari, recently spent 12 days travelling through several
Iranian provinces gathering information for a report.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48518&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN
KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN: Third country resettlement of Andijan 15
progresses
The case of more than a dozen Uzbeks who fled violence in the eastern
Uzbek city of Andijan in May and are currently being held in custody in
southern Kyrgyzstan, now appears to be progressing. Even so, no final
decision has yet been made as to their fate by the Kyrgyz authorities.
"We received a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday,
which says that three European countries, that is Finland, Sweden and
the Netherlands, are ready to take all 15 Uzbeks held in custody in [the
southern city of] Osh for resettlement," Sumar Nasiza, chief of office
for Kyrgyzstan's prosecutor general, said from the capital Bishkek on
Wednesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48536&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN
NEPAL: Diarrhoeal diseases still a major health problem
In Nwali and Deulekh village development committees (VDCs) of Baitadi
district, about 800 km west of the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, people
live in constant fear of diarrhoea. It's a simple and easily curable
condition yet local villagers see many of their young children die from
it every year. Only last month, six children died in less than 20 days
due to the lack of basic medicines and assistance from health workers.
Both Nwali and Deulekh VDCs are badly affected by the Maoist insurgency
that started around nine years ago and health personnel are reluctant to
stay there. They have been even instructed by the district authorities
not to stay overnight for sake of their own safety, local residents told
IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48490&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
NEPAL: Community-run schools make progress
A government initiative to hand over the management of all state-run
schools to local communities has given new hope to parents and teachers
alike in Nepal, where the education sector has suffered due to years of
conflict. Since the Maoist campaign to overthrow the government began
nine years ago, education has been one of the hardest hit development
sectors. On the advice of aid agencies, the government is continuing the
process of decentralising the public education system in line with the
Local Self Governance Act of 1999.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48520&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
NEPAL: Activists call on UN monitoring mission to act
Since King Gyanendra took over direct rule of Nepal six months ago on 1
February, at least 1,115 people have been killed according to a report
published by Insec, a local human rights group. The report says 738 have
died at the hands of the state and 377, including both civilians and
security personnel, have been killed by Maoist rebels. As a result,
activists have become increasingly concerned over the human rights
situation and are asking when the Nepal-based Office of the United
Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will begin active
field work as per its mandate. Nearly four months have passed since
OHCHR and the Nepalese government signed an agreement to allow a UN
human rights monitoring mission in the Himalayan kingdom.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48545&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
PAKISTAN: Over 30 tribal Afghan refugee camps to close by end of August
Pakistani authorities have announced the closure of over 30 Afghan
refugee camps by the end of August, citing security concerns. All are
located in Kurram and Bajaur agencies in the western tribal belt of
Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. The move is a further step in the
continuing policy of camp closures. "As of 31 August, all the Afghan
refugee camps in Kurram and Bajaur agency will be closed. However, the
camp residents can avail themselves of the UNHCR's [the office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees] assistance package for repatriation back
to Afghanistan," Jehangir Khan, head of the state-run Commissionerate of
Afghan Refugees (CAR), said on Thursday, speaking from the western city
of Peshawar.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48489&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
IRIN-Asia
Tel: +90 312 454 1177
Fax: +90 312 495 4166
Email: IrinAsia@IRINnews.org
[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
2005
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International web: www.cidi.org
Disaster Information listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Asia www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/casia