Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-99: 24-Nov-06
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
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e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk
Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 99
18 - 24 November 2006
CONTENTS:
NEPAL: Rights activists want child soldiers released
NEPAL: Bilateral talks on refugees postponed till December
NEPAL: Humanitarian assistance in mountain region still a challenge - WFP
PAKISTAN: Afghan registration hits 343,000
PAKISTAN: Lack of land hinders quake displaced
PAKISTAN: Unregistered Afghans to be treated as illegal immigrants
PAKISTAN: WFP ready to meet winter quake needs
AFGHANISTAN: Urgent help needed for thousands stranded by floods in
northwest
AFGHANISTAN: Polio vaccination campaign targets children in
vulnerable south
AFGHANISTAN: Floods kill 40 in Urozgan province
VIETNAM: Government intervention paid off
NEPAL: Rights activists want child soldiers released
Local child rights groups have strongly criticised Maoist rebels and the
interim government of seven national parties for neglecting the issue of
child soldiers during Nepal~Rs ongoing peace process. On 8 November, both
parties agreed to a landmark peace deal after nearly 11 years of armed
conflict that led to the deaths of over 14,000 people.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56448&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=NEPAL
NEPAL: Bilateral talks on refugees postponed till December
The fate of 107,000 Bhutanese refugees living in seven camps in eastern
Nepal will be decided next month in delayed bilateral talks between Nepal
and Bhutan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) officials said on Monday.
The talks, which were originally scheduled for Tuesday in the Bhutanese
capital, Thimpu, have been put back by over a month due to the ongoing
peace process in Nepal, according to MoFA.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56459&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=NEPAL
NEPAL: Humanitarian assistance in mountain region still a challenge ~V WFP
With the notorious ~Qhungry season~R in Nepal~Rs mountainous areas
starting in December, food supplies are already being transported to
several food-deficit districts in the northwest region of the Himalayan
nation, said officials from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
in the capital.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56479&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=NEPAL
PAKISTAN: Afghan registration hits 343,000
Halfway into a 10-week exercise to register Afghans living in Pakistan,
more than 343,000 Afghan refugees have now taken part after an initial
slow start, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday. The process is aimed at providing
millions of Afghan exiles in Pakistan with identity cards valid for three
years. The campaign is to continue until the end of the year.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56447&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Lack of land hinders quake displaced
More than 50 percent of those displaced by last year~Rs South Asian
earthquake and now living in makeshift settlements across northern
Pakistan have cited landlessness as the main obstacle to their return,
according to the findings of a joint humanitarian survey released on
Tuesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56462&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Unregistered Afghans to be treated as illegal immigrants
Afghans living in Pakistan who fail to come forward for registration under
the current campaign ending on 31 December will be treated as illegal
immigrants and have to face the legal consequences, officials said on
Wednesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56480&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: WFP ready to meet winter quake needs
As the first snow falls on the peaks above the towns and villages of
Pakistani-administered Kashmir and North West Frontier Province (NWFP)
decimated in the earthquake of October 2005, UN World Food Programme (WFP)
officials in the field say they are ready for the hard months ahead.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56496&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=PAKISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Urgent help needed for thousands stranded by floods in
northwest
Some 4,500 families are in urgent need of assistance after recent flash
floods hit their villages in the western Badghis province, killing some 56
people, local authorities said on Monday. ~SThousands of families have
lost their houses, cattle, and farmlands during the flooding in
Balamurghab and Ghormach districts. It~Rs feared that a humanitarian
disaster will soon occur in the area if urgent assistance is not provided
to the affected families,~T Habibullah Murghabi, the head of a
government-appointed emergency disaster committee in Badghis province,
told IRIN, from the provincial capital Qala-e-Now.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56446&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Polio vaccination campaign targets children in vulnerable
south
Afghanistan has begun its latest drive to vaccinate millions of children
under five against the crippling polio virus, United Nations Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) officials have said. The three-day campaign
is the fifth in Afghanistan this year and was launched Sunday by the
Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), with the support of the United
Nations Children~Rs Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO),
Rotary International and other partners.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56461&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Floods kill 40 in Urozgan province
At least 40 people, including women and children, have been killed and
hundreds of houses destroyed after recent flash floods triggered by
torrential rains hit southern Urozgan province, local officials said on
Wednesday. ~SAccording to our information from the area, floods have
killed 40 people and injur ed 20 others in Choraee, Khas Urozgan, Char
Chino and Dehrawat districts,~T Abdul Qauim, Qauimi, spokesman for
Urozgan~Rs governor, told IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56481&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=AFGHANISTAN
VIETNAM: Government intervention paid off
For Hoang Van Manh, a 36-year-old Vietnamese poultry farmer, it was an act
of faith to keep feeding his 2,000 valuable chickens when bird flu swept
across Vietnam in early 2004, claiming human lives and shutting down the
once brisk poultry trade.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56432&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCo
untry=VIETNAM
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