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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 106
6 - 14 January 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: UN rejects landmines along border
AFGHANISTAN: Poor communication to blame for civilian deaths
CENTRAL ASIA: Earthquake reported in region
KAZAKHSTAN: Health professionals charged with negligence
NEPAL: Fears that new constitution fails to address human rights
   violations
NEPAL: Child soldiers 'still recruited by Maoists'
UZBEKISTAN: Government denies involvement in beatings


AFGHANISTAN - IRINnews: UN rejects landmines along border

The United Nations has expressed concerns about Pakistan's decision to 
fence and mine its border with Afghanistan to prevent cross-border 
militancy. On Monday, Chris Alexander, Deputy Special Representative of 
the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan, called upon Pakistan and 
Afghanistan to strengthen their commitment to find mutually acceptable 
solutions to the security problems in the region instead. Kabul opposes 
Islamabad's decision to fence and mine parts of its 2,400km border in a 
bid to stop militant infiltration into Afghanistan.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56969&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Poor communication to blame for civilian deaths

NATO said on Wednesday that the death of 30 civilians in southern 
Afghanistan in October 2006 was due to poor communication. The incident 
happened while NATO was carrying out a military operation against 
suspected Taliban fighters in the southern province of Kandahar. Most of 
the victims were nomads who had entered Pajwayi district where the 
military offensive was taking place, according to AP. NATO presented a 
report on the case to representatives of its 26 member states, the 
agency noted. On 12 January 2007, fresh allegations that more civilians 
had been killed in a NATO air strike on suspected Taliban fighters in 
the southern Helmand province emerged. However, there has been no 
independent confirmation of the incident as yet.


CENTRAL ASIA: Earthquake reported in Kyrgystan

An earthquake measuring six on the Richter scale struck Kyrgyzstan on 
Monday, damaging houses but there were no casualties, AP reported. 
According to the Kyrgyz emergencies ministry, the quake, which struck 
the southwestern Batken province, was centred near the border with 
Tajikistan. At least 56 houses and a school were damaged in the area, 
the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported. The earthquake was felt as 
far away as the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Central Asia sits on a 
geological fault-line prone to earthquakes. According to the European 
Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), natural disasters have 
killed about 2,500 people and affected 5.5 million, almost 10 percent of 
the population in the region, in recent years.


KAZAKHSTAN: Health professionals charged with negligence

Twenty-one health professionals in the southern city of Shymkent have 
been charged with negligence for using contaminated blood in 
transfusions that infected 84 children with HIV. Seven children have 
already died of HIV/AIDS in Shymkent. The authorities are also carrying 
out checks on hundreds of children who had been admitted to a hospital 
where the 84 children contracted HIV through contaminated blood.


NEPAL - IRINnews: Fears that new constitution fails to address human 
rights violations

Concerns are growing that crimes against humanity committed during the 
decade-long conflict in Nepal will never be addressed as a new interim 
constitution, which gives blanket amnesty to human rights violators, 
comes into force on 15 January. In November 2006, the Maoist rebels and 
interim government of seven national parties signed a historic peace 
agreement to end the armed conflict. One of the key agreements was to 
frame a new interim constitution as well as manage the weapons and 
armies of both the Maoists and the Nepali state.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57029&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL - IRINnews: Child soldiers 'still recruited by Maoists'

Local human rights activists say Maoist rebels have not stopped 
recruiting children. "We have been monitoring the situation closely and 
we hope that the Maoists release the child soldiers that they 
[allegedly] have been recruiting," said Usha Thapaliya from the local 
rights group Insec. There are no accurate figures of how many children 
could be involved, according to local NGOs. The rebels deny these claims 
and say children are only working in their cultural activities.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57040&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


UZBEKISTAN: Government denies involvement in beatings

The Uzbek government denied involvement in an attack on a human rights 
activist, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on 9 January. Elena 
Urlaeva claims the police was behind the attack in which she was beaten. 
However, the Uzbek Ministry of Interior said Urlaeva was hit by 
relatives of convicts to whom she had promised legal help, but failed to 
do so. Urlaeva was beaten on 4 January in Tashkent. The human rights 
activist has been targeted before and has been forced to undergo 
psychiatric treatment, media reports said.


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