Humanitarian agencies working in Afghanistan have been saying it for years. Now the United Nations is also admitting it: Humanitarian aid workers are facing increasing risks in many conflict zones where assistance is most needed and not much is being done to protect them.
A couple of weeks ago, a 75-year-old Georgian villager, Hayastan Shakarian, became an overnight media sensation because she allegedly severed Internet connections in Georgia and Armenia while using a shovel to scavenge for copper. But the real story has less to do with the interruption in Internet service than with the decidedly low-tech, low-glamor topic of scrap metal.
Turkmenistan’s dismal human rights record will soon be the subject of a review by the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT). Watchdog groups rank Turkmenistan’s government as one of the world’s most repressive, and non-governmental organization activists say Turkmen leaders show little interest in reforming.
Land scarcity in the Ferghana Valley is a growing cause for concern in Kyrgyzstan. The slow governmental response to the long-standing problem means the issue could create a spark that reignites inter-ethnic conflict.
Fresh off his re-election victory, Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, reshuffled the government. The change that generated the most buzz in Astana, however, did not involve the cabinet.
Officials hope a government program to equip first-graders with netbooks marks the first step in an education revolution in Georgia. Critics caution, however, that for computers to have the desired impact on learning, teachers need to be keeping pace with technological changes.
The United States wants to significantly expand traffic on the Northern Distribution Network, the rail, road and air network that ferries supplies across Central Asia to US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. As Pentagon planners and commercial carriers contemplate their transit options, attention is focusing on Turkmenistan.
Police reforms are ineffective in Central Asia, according to a report released April 11 that evaluates OSCE-sponsored programs which encourage regional law-enforcement agencies to adhere to the rule-of-law.
A woman's group is stirring controversy in Turkey with a campaign to elect headscarf-wearing women to parliament. Some of the fiercest opposition to the initiative is coming not from secularists, but from religious conservatives.
