ANKARA, 5 January (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap NEPAL: Low caste communities still suffering discrimination NEPAL: Former bonded labourers appeal for help from the government NEPAL: Three-week tetanus vaccination campaign ends successfully NEPAL: UN arms monitors to begin work next week PAKISTAN: Former child camel jockeys and the challenge to return home PAKISTAN: Registration open to more Afghan refugees PAKISTAN: Families of country's 'disappeared' beaten in Islamabad protest

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Kyrgyzstan's parliament on Saturday voted in favour of a new constitution in what has been billed as a step towards stability in the mountainous former Soviet republic, despite the opposition's boycott of the vote. The new law, which shifts power away from the presidency to the country's parliament, is a watered-down version of a draft worked out on 9 November following a week of opposition protests in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, AFP reported.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56925 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA

NEPAL: Low caste communities still suffering discrimination

Nepal's impoverished low caste 'Dalit' community continue to be discriminated against almost 20 years after the caste system was banned, human rights activists in Nepal's southwestern city of Nepalganj have complained. "We still have to live with the hard reality of being discriminated [against] in every aspect of our lives," said Dalit school teacher, Hari Bahadur Biswokarma, in Nepalganj, 600 km west of the capital Kathmandu.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56923 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=NEPAL

NEPAL: Former bonded labourers appeal for help from the government

Hundreds of former bonded labourers, who were freed from slavery nearly six years ago in western Nepal, are appealing to the government for their proper rehabilitation, reintegration, and financial support. Known as 'Kamaiyas', 500 of the former labourers have been staging their protest in the capital Kathmandu over the past week, and are now planning to seize government lands regardless of the consequences, they claim.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56902 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=NEPAL

NEPAL: Three-week tetanus vaccination campaign ends successfully

It is hoped that more than one million children have now been vaccinated against tetanus as a joint UN-Nepalese Government immunisation programme draws to an end. The three-week-long campaign – targeting six- to eight-year-olds - saw the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) join Nepal's national immunisation programme to help combat the disease that continues to pose a serious threat to newborns and their mothers.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56892 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=NEPAL

NEPAL: UN arms monitors to begin work next week

The first batch of United Nations arms monitors are to begin their work in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, and the southwestern border city of Nepalganj, on Monday, Ian Martin, personal representative of the UN Secretary-General, confirmed on Friday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56922 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=NEPAL

PAKISTAN: Former child camel jockeys and the challenge to return home

Every morning, Aziz, 12, cycles to school, his satchel balanced carefully over the handlebars. His life has changed dramatically over the past year and the former camel jockey, who spent five years in the Gulf until his return in 2005, is beginning to adapt to a different way of life. "I will never forget the camels and being strapped onto those beasts. But I now hope I can put that behind me, get an education and go on to work in an office," Aziz said in his village near the southern Punjab town of Muzaffargarh.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56900 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Registration open to more Afghan refugees

An ongoing registration campaign, aimed at providing official identification cards to Afghan refugees, is now open to all Afghans possessing documentary evidence of their living in Pakistan at the time of the 2005 census, officials announced on Thursday. The move applies to Afghan refugees still living in the country, who were present in 2005, but whose details are missing from the census data.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56917 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Families of country's 'disappeared' beaten in Islamabad protest

The families of around 20 people who have 'disappeared' in Pakistan since 2001 have claimed that they were beaten by police as they demonstrated for the return of their relatives last week. The protest, held on 28 December outside the military's General Head Quarters (GHQ) in Islamabad, was aimed at securing the release of people who have gone missing after being picked up by state agencies. "We had planned a peaceful 'freedom walk' and simply wanted to hand over a letter at the GHQ," said Amina Masood Janjua, whose husband, Masood Janjua, has been missing since July 2005.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56882 and SelectRegion=Asia and SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

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