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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 122
30 April - 6 May 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Some 1,600 displaced after US air raids
AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Iran deports thousands of illegal Afghan workers
AFGHANISTAN: PRTs accused of spending unequal amounts on development
KAZAKHSTAN: Efforts under way to save Lake Balkhash
NEPAL: NGOs concerned at lack of action to release child soldiers
NEPAL: Villagers suffering intimidation, extortion at hands of Maoists
NEPAL: Bhutanese refugee census nears completion
NEPAL: Gov't, media ignoring plight of displaced women
UAE-PAKISTAN: Gov't steps up efforts to help former child jockeys
PAKISTAN: Report sheds new light on Afghan refugee community
PAKISTAN: Conference on earthquake risk management concludes
PAKISTAN: Afghan refugees concerned over imminent closure of two camps
   in Balochistan
PAKISTAN: Toxins from tanneries endanger Kasur's residents
SRI LANKA: International, local groups condemn violence against
   journalists
SRI LANKA: Tsunami survivors in north affected by intensified fighting
SRI LANKA: Boosting food and livestock production in conflict-hit
   Jaffna
TAJIKISTAN: Poverty fuels child labour


AFGHANISTAN: Some 1,600 displaced after US air raids

Almost 1,600 families have been displaced and many others need urgent 
humanitarian assistance two days after US war planes bombed several 
villages in the Shindand district of the western province of Herat, 
Afghan officials said. Reports of displacement follow claims that up to 
60 civilians may have died in the fighting.

[This report is also available as a radio story in Dari and Pashto on 
IRIN's Afghanistan Radio Page.]

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71937


AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Iran deports thousands of illegal Afghan workers

The Iranian government has recently stepped up efforts to expel Afghan 
labour migrants and numerous other Afghans who reside in Iran without 
formal permits. According to the Afghan Foreign Ministry, about 30,000 
Afghan refugees, including women and children, had been sent home from 
Iran in the past week alone, Reuters reported.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71865


AFGHANISTAN: PRTs accused of spending unequal amounts on development

For Afghanistan's only female governor it is not poppy cultivation or 
insurgency that impedes development, but Provincial Reconstruction Teams 
(PRT) with modest development budgets.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71949


KAZAKHSTAN: Efforts under way to save Lake Balkhash

Efforts are under way to agree to an eco-based system which will promote 
sustainable development at Kazakhstan's Lake Balkhash and prevent 
further environmental damage to waters and wetlands, say specialists. At 
the same time, environmentalists say there are indications that the lake 
could shrink and become as environmentally-ravaged as the Aral Sea.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71924


NEPAL: NGOs concerned at lack of action to release child soldiers

Local child protection agencies in Nepal are concerned over the lack of 
action to trace and release child soldiers in the country, children's 
rights activists told IRIN on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71882


NEPAL: Villagers suffering intimidation, extortion at hands of Maoists

Local people in Nepal's rural areas still continue to suffer from 
intimidation and extortion at the hands of former Maoist rebels, 
villagers in the remote hill districts of northwest Nepal told IRIN on 
Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71939


NEPAL: Bhutanese refugee census nears completion

A joint exercise by the United Nations Refugees Agency (UNHCR) and the 
government of Nepal to register all Bhutanese refugees living in the 
country is closer to completion, say officials.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71885


NEPAL: Gov't, media ignoring plight of displaced women

The issue of female IDPs has barely caught the attention of the 
government or the national media, said local aid workers who added that 
female IDPs are more vulnerable and suffer more than their male 
counterparts.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71904


UAE-PAKISTAN: Gov't steps up efforts to help former child jockeys

The United Nations Children Agency (UNICEF) and the governments of the 
United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mauritania, and Sudan 
signed a memorandum of understanding last week for a second and expanded 
phase of their programme to assist and compensate all children formerly 
involved in camel racing in the UAE.

[Watch IRIN video clip on the robots replacing child camel jockeys.]

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71860


PAKISTAN: Report sheds new light on Afghan refugee community

The vast majority of Afghan citizens (82 percent) registered in Pakistan 
say they had no intention of returning to their homeland in the near 
future, according to the final report on the registration of more than 
two million Afghans living in the country. The report was launched on 
Thursday by the Pakistani government and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71923


PAKISTAN: Conference on earthquake risk management concludes

An international conference on earthquake risk management aimed at 
sharing Pakistan's experiences on earthquake emergency response, early 
recovery, seismically resistant reconstruction and rehabilitation 
efforts concluded in Islamabad, on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71869


PAKISTAN: Afghan refugees concerned over imminent closure of two camps 
in Balochistan

Afghan refugees living in two camps slated for closure later this year 
in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province have expressed strong 
concern over their future plight, saying fear of violence was the main 
reason they did not want to return to their homeland.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71959


PAKISTAN: Toxins from tanneries endanger Kasur's residents

As a result of the tanning industry, about 9,000 cubic metres of waste 
is being discharged on a daily basis in Kasur. Much of it enters 
existing waterways, such as the canals criss-crossing agricultural land 
in the Punjab province, say specialists. The rest forms pools of 
stagnant water, from which an odour rises and hangs over the town. The 
tanneries also produce thousands of tons of solid waste each day as well 
as air emissions containing ammonia or hydrogen sulphide.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71896


SRI LANKA: International, local groups condemn violence against 
journalists

International and local media rights groups observing UN World Press 
Freedom Day have condemned a spate of murders, abductions and 
intimidation of journalists in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's Free Media Movement (FMM), citing statistics for the past 12 
months, said that seven journalists had been killed, two were missing, 
three media personnel had been arrested while four had been attacked. At 
least three journalists had fled the country, while eight had been 
threatened or harassed, the group said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71926


SRI LANKA: Tsunami survivors in north affected by intensified fighting

The resumption of the conflict in the north and east has taken its toll 
on whatever recovery had taken place, especially in the Jaffna 
district," observes a report compiled by the government's leading 
tsunami recovery outfit, Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA), 
and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Survivors of the 2004 
tsunami in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula are continuing to 
struggle to make a living.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71947


SRI LANKA: Boosting food and livestock production in conflict-hit Jaffna

When heavy fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers 
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) erupted at several locations on the Jaffna 
peninsula in August 2006, it led to the closure of the A9 highway. The 
single road into the area, the A9, was an economic and humanitarian 
lifeline for Jaffna's residents. Everything from food, basic 
commodities, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, even reconstruction materials, 
was soon in short supply.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71970


TAJIKISTAN: Poverty fuels child labour

The United Nations Children's Agency (UNICEF) estimates that there are 
5,000 children working the streets and markets of Tajik cities to help 
their families. The results of a survey on child labour in Tajikistan 
funded by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and made available 
in January 2007 revealed that poverty is the main reason for them 
needing to work

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71890


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