U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network

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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 126
28 May - 3 June 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Dozens of girl students hospitalised in northeast
AFGHANISTAN: Food aid trucks come under increasing attacks
AFGHANISTAN: Opium abuse harming women's, children's health
AFGHANISTAN: UN to track civilian casualties more closely
AFGHANISTAN: UNAMA facing new humanitarian challenges
NEPAL: "Huge tragedy" looms as Bhutanese refugees stage "long march
   home"
NEPAL: Mountain communities fear melting glaciers, flooding
PAKISTAN: Moves afoot to boost girls' primary school attendance
PAKISTAN: Cities teem with homeless, vulnerable people
SRI LANKA: Food shortages, fear of abductions - Jaffna residents feel
   the pinch
SRI LANKA: Foreign donors pledge to uphold international standards in
   aid delivery


AFGHANISTAN: Dozens of girl students hospitalised in northeast

Forty students of a girls' high school in Takhar Province, northeastern 
Afghanistan, have been admitted to hospital after drinking water from a 
contaminated well, local authorities said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72470


AFGHANISTAN: Food aid trucks come under increasing attacks

Dozens of commercial trucks carrying World Food Programme (WFP) food aid 
to vulnerable communities in different locations in Afghanistan have 
been attacked by armed men over the past few months, the UN agency said 
on Wednesday.

Over 500 tonnes of food aid worth about US$350,000 has been lost in some 
20 attacks to date, according to WFP.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72450


AFGHANISTAN: Opium abuse harming women's, children's health

With some 1,600 mothers dying per 100,000 births, Afghanistan has one of 
the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, officials at the United 
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) office in Kabul said.

Opium abuse exacerbates the situation, specialists say. Women who 
consume opium during pregnancy lose much of their energy and become 
vulnerable to different diseases, the provincial health department 
reported.

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

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72419


AFGHANISTAN: UN to track civilian casualties more closely

The increasing number of civilian causalities in the armed conflict in 
Afghanistan has prompted the UN to set up a database of information on 
non-combatants affected by the insurgency.

"The database will be similar to the one already used by the UN in 
Iraq," Javier Leon Diaz, a UN human rights expert in Afghanistan, told 
IRIN on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72426


AFGHANISTAN: UNAMA facing new humanitarian challenges

Daykundi is a mountainous and isolated province in central Afghanistan, 
home to the ethnic Hazaras, and Shia by religion. In February, heavy 
rainfall and flooding washed away many roads between Daykundi and 
neighbouring regions impeding transport in and out of the province.

"Prices of foodstuffs and other commodities have already skyrocketed and 
if the roads do not re-open quickly we will face a famine and a 
humanitarian crisis here," said Sultan Ali Urozgani, the governor of 
Daykundi.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72352


NEPAL: "Huge tragedy" looms as Bhutanese refugees stage "long march 
home"

Two Bhutanese refugees have been killed and hundreds injured in the past 
three days by India's border security force, which tried to prevent them 
reaching Indian territory, said local human rights activists.

The two killed were among tens of thousands of refugees who headed for 
Kakaribhitta, 700 km east of Kathmandu on the Nepal-India border, in 
what they called "The Long March Home". They have been trying to reach 
Bhutan via India since Sunday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72453


NEPAL: Mountain communities fear melting glaciers, flooding

Pemba Sherpa looks fearfully at the huge Imjha glacier lake which lies 
at an altitude of nearly 6,000 metres above sea level in the Everest 
region of eastern Nepal.

"There were glaciers all around here. They have melted very fast over 
the past few decades and formed this lake which has grown dangerously 
fast, something I witnessed as I was growing up," Pemba told IRIN, 
adding that he was concerned about what would happen if the lake grew 
out of control.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72403


PAKISTAN: Moves afoot to boost girls' primary school attendance

Like many girls her age in Pakistan's rural Sindh Province, Sajeda may 
never realise her dreams after dropping out of school at a young age.

"We couldn't afford for me to attend so I gave up," the demure 
10-year-old said, sitting beside her father, Mir Mohammad, in the simple 
mud-brick home she shares with her five brothers and sisters in 
Pakistan's rural Ghotki District.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72482


PAKISTAN: Cities teem with homeless, vulnerable people

Javed Ahmed, 27, looks out dreamily at the unexpected rain, which 
temporarily broke the blistering heat of May in Lahore, the capital of 
Punjab Province, where temperatures of 42 or 43 degrees have persisted 
for several days.

As he gazes out, Javed puffs on a cigarette butt and swigs tea from a 
cup. But he is not, like many others in the city, sitting atop a breezy 
roof or terrace.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72424


SRI LANKA: Food shortages, fear of abductions - Jaffna residents feel 
the pinch

Last year at this time 16-year-old Jeevun Kumaraswamy, who lives on the 
isolated Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka, was on top of the 
world. His school, Jaffna Central College, was competing against 
traditional rivals St. John's College in the centenary game of their 
annual cricket match. Jaffna was decked-out in flags. The kids were 
dancing in the streets.

This year there's anything but dancing for Jeevun and his friends: Since 
all-out conflict began between government forces and the Liberation 
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the climate has been tense - tense enough 
that even the big school cricket match had to be cancelled.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72474


SRI LANKA: Foreign donors pledge to uphold international standards in 
aid delivery

Foreign aid donors and international agencies in Sri Lanka today 
released a set of "guiding principles" and pledged to work with 
transparency and impartiality to provide humanitarian assistance. The 
commitment comes amidst heightened criticism of the humanitarian 
community by some government authorities and local media.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72441


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