UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
AFGHANISTAN: Frequently asked questions
about the Loya Jirga process
On 10 June, some 1,500 Afghan men and women will gather in the capital, Kabul, for six days to discuss the future of their country. The outcome is crucial for the future of Afghanistan. This meeting will be the Loya Jirga, a uniquely Afghan institution designed to resolve national questions. Afghanistan's former monarch, Muhammad Zahir Shah, returned to Kabul on Thursday after nearly 30 years in exile to a hero's welcome. He will open the event. IRIN talked to leading Afghanistan experts to answer common questions about the Loya Jirga.
AFGHANISTAN: Focus on Pakistani prisoners
Wajid Ali is barely 18 years old. He's back in Pakistan after four and a half months in northern Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban, Ali is lucky to have made it back. Hailing from the small scenic village of Cheena in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), he comes from the same area where hundreds of other locals are missing - most believed to be either dead or prisoners in neighbouring Afghanistan. "Our fate is in the hands of Allah, I went to Jihad [Holy War] and will do so again if needed," he told IRIN, sitting in his mud-walled house in the poverty-stricken village where most depend on agriculture for their living. Ali, accompanied by 17 elders of his village, had sneaked into Afghanistan along with thousands of Pakistani volunteers in early November across the Nawagai pass in Bajuar Agency.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'314&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: HIV/ AIDS threat
With hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees expected to return over the next couple of months, doctors and health experts in the country fear a spread of infectious diseases - including HIV/AIDS. "We are aware of the threat that is looming with regard to refugees bringing in disease, but there is no way of tracking them," Dr Hekmat, the head of the central blood bank in the capital, Kabul, told IRIN. To date, 10 HIV-positive people have been detected, the most recent cases in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, and on the outskirts of Kabul. While this is a relatively low figure, the statistics are unreliable and do not present a realistic picture, experts say. "During the Taliban era, women were restricted, and they were not encouraged to give blood or even leave the house, so there must be many undetected cases," Hekmat noted.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'312&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Repatriation effort in full swing
Twin efforts to assist hundreds of thousands of Afghans repatriate from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran - the two countries hosting the largest number of Afghan refugees - were in full swing on Wednesday with the number returning fast approaching 300,000. The joint voluntary repatriation programmes, between the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Pakistani and Iranian governments, aim to assist 800,000 Afghans return to their homeland this year. "As of Tuesday evening we had 267,572 just from Pakistan," a UNHCR spokeswoman, Melita Sunjic, told IRIN from the western Pakistani border town of Peshawar. "At that speed, I expect we could surpass 300,000 by this weekend," she maintained. The programme, which began on 1 April, has met unprecedented enthusiasm from Afghans wanting to take advantage of an assistance package including both food and non-food items, as well as a small cash grant.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'316&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: IRIN Interview: Iranian Ambassador Seyed Seraj Uddin Mousavi
With world attention now focused on the reconstruction of Afghanistan, one of the key players set to emerge is its neighbour - Iran. In an interview with IRIN, Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Seyed Seraj Uddin Mousavi emphasised the importance of stability and peace in the country, reaffirming his government's commitment to the reconstruction process with a pledge of some US $560 million. Such money will prove well spent in the long term, he said, maintaining that Iran would benefit immensely from a strong and stable Afghanistan. According to the veteran diplomat, there are 2.8 million Afghans refugees in his country - making Iran host to the largest number of Afghan refugees in the world today, and costing Tehran a staggering US $6 billion a year.
AFGHANISTAN: Relief work stepped up for Friday quake victims
Aid agencies on Monday stepped up emergency relief work for the latest victims of an earthquake in northern Afghanistan, which killed at least 50 people and injured another 150 on Friday.
Rebecca Richards, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul, that most of those killed were children. The quake, measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, hit several villages in Nahrin district of the northern Baghlan Province. Its epicentre was just 35 km from the surface. According to OCHA, the most seriously affected locations were Dawabi and Khojakheder, where several hundred families had been provided with aid. Other areas affected by the quake included Borkeh, Jelgah valley, Shinderak, Koedhai, and Koh-I-Zolaaw - all in Nahrin district.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'265&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN: Focus on human trafficking
Pakistani police raided a house in a middle-class Karachi suburb on 15 March and found 11 infants - the oldest aged 18 months - in the process of being smuggled to Malta for adoption. Each baby carried a price tag of US $20,000. The tip-off came from neighbours who heard incessant crying from the house in the middle of the night. The illegal trade in people goes on unabated as it has done for centuries, with criminals more organised then ever before, exploiting every loophole in the law to evade arrest and conviction. The arrest of about eight people in Karachi on 15 March, thereby preventing 11 Pakistani infants from being smuggled out of the country, has shaken the police force, which is working "full-time" to investigate the case.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'288&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Government accused of intimidating journalists
The Pakistani government has come under scathing attack from human rights groups and journalists' unions, following an attack on reporters by police at a government rally on Sunday.
The incident took place as the entire media walked out of a rally called by the government to lobby for a yes vote in President Pervez Musharraf's referendum to be held on 30 April. Critics call the referendum an unconstitutional way of extending his rule.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'289&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Border disputes increase potential for conflict
An independent group, warning that border disputes in Central Asia can lead to conflicts, has urged the international community and the concerned countries to resolve them for the sake of regional security, improved economic cooperation and better ethnic relations. The region is one of the poorest in the world. "Resolving these lingering, and often quite substantial, border disputes has become critical," said a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), a private multinational organisation, working to prevent and contain conflicts in the world.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'263&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
"I believe that for the next year or two or three Central Asia will be on everybody's agenda," said World Bank chief James Wolfensohn this week as he concluded an eight-day tour of Central Asia, which in itself underscores the growing international importance of the region following the events of 11 September. "My perception of the region as important economically, socially and politically has been very clearly demonstrated on the trip," said Wolfensohn.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'359&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
TAJIKISTAN: Last Pyandz river refugees to return this week
The plight of thousands of Afghans stranded along the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan should end this week as the last group of displaced on the Pyandz river islands return home. Their presence - once estimated at 12,000 - has proven a major humanitarian concern since their arrival in the autumn of 2000. "This is wonderful news," UNHCR programme officer, Dost Yousafzai told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. "I expect the last refugees will be gone by Friday," he said, adding the last remaining group - comprised of 300 families or 1,500 people on Island No. 9 - the larger island of the two - were being assisted by UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
KAZAKHSTAN: Doubts about human rights ombudsman
A leading Kazakh human rights activist told IRIN on Thursday that a recent announcement by the government to establish a human rights ombudsman was just window dressing to enhance the image of the country at a time when it has come under criticism for ignoring human rights issues.
Yevgeny Zhovtis, director of the independent Kazakh Human Rights Bureau, speaking from the southern Kazakh city of Almaty, said the proposed office of ombudsman was not going to be independent and would therefore be ineffective. Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kasymzhomart Tokayev, said in Almaty on Tuesday that the country would appoint its first human rights ombudsman by the end of this year. According to the American news agency AP, quoting government officials, Kazakhstan has had a presidential human rights commission since 1994, but the new ombudsman would be more independent and have proper powers.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID'338&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
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