Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-90: 22-Sep-06
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 90
16 - 22 September 2006
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: No safety for journalists, says media watchdog
AFGHANISTAN: Children fly kites for peace as world marks international
peace day
AFGHANISTAN: Countrywide polio vaccination drive under way
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KAZAKHSTAN: Government to toughen fight against HIV/AIDS
NEPAL: Former slaves still bear hardship and exploitation
NEPAL: Rebels and government to hold decisive peace talks
PAKISTAN: United Nations mindful of local customs in quake-affected
region
PAKISTAN: Drug injecting refugees vulnerable to HIV infection
PAKISTAN: Diarrhoea remains challenge in quake zone
PAKISTAN: Marginalised male sex workers vulnerable to HIV/AIDS
AFGHANISTAN: No safety for journalists, says media watchdog
Journalists in Afghanistan are facing increasing pressure and threats
for doing their jobs, mainly from government authorities and regional
warlords, the country's leading media association warned in the capital,
Kabul, on Tuesday. "It has become very challenging for journalists to
report on the realities on the ground while they don't feel safe and
free in the country," said Rahimullah Samander, President of the
Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA). "The threats are
not only coming from the government side, but also from the Taliban and
regional warlords," Samander maintained.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55627&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Children fly kites for peace as world marks international
peace day
As Afghanistan struggles to consolidate its hard-won peace following
nearly three decades of brutal civil war and internal strife, young boys
and girls in the country's capital expressed hopes for a brighter future
at a hilltop ceremony on Thursday, with the children flying kites and
balloons inscribed with personal messages of peace. Over 50 children
from Ashiana, a local school for orphans and street children in Kabul,
participated in the event organised by the United Nations Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to mark the International Day of Peace
(21 September).
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55676&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Countrywide polio vaccination drive under way
Over 7 million Afghan children aged under five will be vaccinated
against the polio virus during a three-day joint campaign launched on
Sunday by the Afghan health ministry, the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Afghanistan, one of
just four countries in the world where polio is endemic, has seen the
number of cases surge this year. There have been 28 confirmed polio
cases in 2006, compared to only four in the same period last year,
according to the Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) officials.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55608&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
An international media freedom watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders
(RWB), reported on Wednesday that the journalist with the Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who had been reported dead in custody in
Turkmenistan died of torture. RWB said that Ogulsapar Muradova died
under torture at the Ovodan Depe high-security prison at least four days
before her death was made known to her relatives on 14 September. The
prison is notorious for its harsh conditions.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55678&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
KAZAKHSTAN: Government to toughen fight against HIV/AIDS
The Kazakh government is expected to approve a new programme worth over
US $50 million to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the former Soviet
republic. "This is a [four-year] programme to fight the HIV/AIDS
epidemic in the country with the overall amount worth 6.7 trillion
Kazakh tenge [$53.16 million]," Alexander Kossukhin, national programme
officer with the Joint United Nations Programe on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS),
said from the Kazakh commercial capital of Almaty on Wednesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55652&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
NEPAL: Former slaves still bear hardship and exploitation
For decades families like Tharu's worked as slaves for their landlords
under the 'kamaiya' bonded labour system, but now, six years after the
practice was eventually banned, life remains hard for many of the former
slaves who continue to suffer exploitation. "We are totally free from
our landlords but the hardship and exploitation still remains the same,"
Tharu said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55665&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
NEPAL: Rebels and government to hold decisive peace talks
Maoist rebel leaders and Nepal's seven-party interim government will
hold talks within 10 days in an effort to rekindle the faltering peace
process, designed to end a decade-long conflict in the Himalayan
country. Over the past five months, the Maoists and the seven parties
have been actively engaged in the peace process following the end of the
absolute rule of the Nepalese monarch, King Gyanendra, after a mass
uprising in April.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55625&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
PAKISTAN: United Nations mindful of local customs in quake-affected
region
The United Nations (UN) in northern Pakistan remains mindful of local
customs and traditions following criticism by some religious clerics in
the quake-affected region that some members of the humanitarian
community had not been observing appropriate behaviour and dress codes
in their employment of women. "The UN is already conscious of local
customs and has taken appropriate measures to ensure that UN staff
continue to be mindful and respectful to such sensitivities,"
Shafqatullah Cheema, the UN's Area Coordinator for Muzaffarabad,
confirmed to IRIN on Monday in Muzaffarabad, capital of quake-devastated
Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55603&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Drug injecting refugees vulnerable to HIV infection
In an alley close to the historic Qissa Kahani Bazaar in Peshawar,
capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Najeeb Khan,
22, crouches on his haunches beneath a flimsy shop awning. It is
raining, and his clothes are drenched, but Najeeb seems oblivious to the
weather. His vacant eyes, unkempt beard and the syringe wounds
pock-marking his left arm give him away as a drug addict.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55613&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Diarrhoea remains challenge in quake zone
Despite his mother's presence, seven-month-old Umer Naseem continues to
cry out loud. Admitted two days earlier to the Abbas Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIMS) in Muzaffarabad, capital of quake-ravaged
Pakistani-administered Kashmir, he suffers from acute watery diarrhoea
and is not easily consoled. Two beds over, the plight of 14-month-old
Tybba Waheed persists as well. Admitted one month ago with severe
gastrointestinal infections, including diarrhoea, fever and vomiting,
she suffers from malnutrition, dehydration and a parasitic infection -
and will not likely be discharged for another three weeks.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55650&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Marginalised male sex workers vulnerable to HIV/AIDS
Under the illuminated Minar-e-Pakistan, the towering monument that marks
the birth of the country, Pervaiz Din lays out the accessories of his
trade. The tiny bottles of massage oil and aromatic colognes tinkle
cheerfully as he pulls them out of a cloth bag and sets them out on a
tray. Through much of the balmy September night, Pervaiz will await
customers who seek a soothing roadside massage, a head rub - or
something more. "Some nights I get lucky. I get two or even three 'good
customers' and I return home happy," Pervaiz tells IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55660&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
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