ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 106 covering the period 6-14
January 2007
15 Jan 2007 12:47:57 GMT Source: IRIN
DUBAI, 15 January (IRIN) - 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 beatingsAFGHANISTAN – IRINnews: UN rejects landmines along borderThe 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 and SelectRegion=Asia and
SelectCountry=AFGHANISTANAFGHANISTAN: Poor communication to blame for civilian deathsNATO 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 KyrgystanAn 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 negligenceTwenty-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 violationsConcerns 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 and
SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=NEPALNEPAL - 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 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=NEPALUZBEKISTAN: Government denies involvement in beatingsThe 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. sz/at/
