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 146
15 - 21 October 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Widespread child marriage blamed for domestic violence
AFGHANISTAN: More executions scheduled amid growing calls for death
   penalty moratorium
AFGHANISTAN: ICRC warns of growing humanitarian emergency
BANGLADESH: Tornado season begins in earnest
BANGLADESH: Flood migrants pour into Dhaka
NEPAL: Schools identified as key in earthquake preparedness
NEPAL: Displaced hill Nepalese gradually returning home
PAKISTAN: Lack of healthcare access keeps child mortality high in
   Balochistan
PAKISTAN: Thousands displaced by renewed fighting in Waziristan
SRI LANKA: UN's Louise Arbour concerned about human rights violations


AFGHANISTAN: Widespread child marriage blamed for domestic violence

Fifteen-year-old Razia (not her real name) has been imprisoned in 
Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan, for escaping from her husband's 
house and eloping with another man.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74793


AFGHANISTAN: More executions scheduled amid growing calls for death 
penalty moratorium

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to sign in the near future the 
death warrants of about 30 prisoners indicted for various crimes by the 
country's Supreme Court, Abdul Rasheed Rashid, a member of the Supreme 
Court Council, told IRIN in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on 17 October.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74819


AFGHANISTAN: ICRC warns of growing humanitarian emergency

Intensifying armed conflict has restricted independent humanitarian 
access and has caused a complex humanitarian emergency in huge swathes 
of already impoverished Afghanistan, the International Committee of the 
Red Cross (ICRC) has warned.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74894


BANGLADESH: Tornado season begins in earnest

A spate of deadly tornadoes has struck parts of Bangladesh following 
this year's annual monsoon season. On 15 October three tornadoes tore 
through the southern districts of Barisal, Gopalganj and Bhola, killing 
seven people and destroying over 500 houses. According to the United 
News of Bangladesh news service, at least 3,000 people were left 
homeless.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74817


BANGLADESH: Flood migrants pour into Dhaka

Forty-seven year old Mohammad Munaf Majhi looks 10 years older than his 
age. His wrinkled face and desperate look suggest that not all is well 
with him.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74846


NEPAL: Schools identified as key in earthquake preparedness

Earthquake-resistant building trainer Balkrishna Kasula is worried that 
thousands of schools in seismically active zones throughout the country 
are poorly built and vulnerable to earthquakes.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74788


NEPAL: Displaced hill Nepalese gradually returning home

For the first time since 1999, Akal Bahadur Shahi is able to celebrate 
Dasain - the most important festival for Hindus in Nepal - in his remote 
Kalikakhetu village, Jumla District, nearly 700km northwest of the 
capital, Kathmandu.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74844


PAKISTAN: Lack of healthcare access keeps child mortality high in 
Balochistan

Sandra Bisin, a spokeswoman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the 
capital, Islamabad, told IRIN: "Child mortality is high in Balochistan, 
with about 16 out of 100 children dying before their fifth birthday." 
She explained that in the rest of Pakistan "it is nearly 10 out of 100 
children that die" before reaching the age of five.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74825


PAKISTAN: Thousands displaced by renewed fighting in Waziristan

After over a week of fierce fighting in and around the town of Mirali, 
in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan Agency, lying along the country's 
mountainous north-western border with Afghanistan, some semblance of 
normal life is returning slowly.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74895


SRI LANKA: UN's Louise Arbour concerned about human rights violations

M. Malaravan, a young doctor from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, has 
been trying to wake up from a terrible, 10-month nightmare: Since 15 
December 2006, he has been searching frantically for his father-in-law 
who went missing after attending an academic conference in Colombo.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74787


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