Thirty-three officials representing four Central Asian states, the European Union, and the UN High Commission on Refugees held a meeting called “Institutional and Capacity-Building Activities to strengthen the Asylum System in Central Asia”. A stateless person is any person living without state acknowledgement. In underserved outlying areas, these may be children without birth certificates; a great […]
Strictly speaking, Mr.Repin's work does not belong in a Central Asia blog. Ilya Repin was an ethnic Russian who grew up in the Ukraine and eventually settled in Belarus. Yet Mr. Repin painted a series of four works that described the conflict between Tsarist secret police and Russian revolutionaries that still resonates today. For our time, this series shows […]
Although African agriculture is often underdeveloped, there exist many possibilities for maximizing the continent's resources. According to a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: With food security often at the mercy of erratic weather patterns, Southern Africa could bank on its “tremendous” potential to farm fish to sustain its predominantly […]
Over at The New Republic John Talbott has a rather radical suggestion for how to end AIDS in Africa: “Compulsory testing and notification of every citizen.” Talbott is not a medical doctor nor is he an Africanist — his tagline lists him as “an author, former investman banker for Goldman Sachs, and former visiting scholar […]
Though Foreign Minister Zafiri has stated that Tajikistan has an “open door policy” to foreign investment, barriers do remain: A. Two official comments from the United States: On April 13, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Evan Feigenbaum announced that Tajikistan's investment climate is hindered by its high level of […]
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled to Toluca, Mexico this week to learn about the Oportunidades anti-poverty program. Serving approximately 25 million people, Opportunidades is Mexico's conditional cash transfer program and principal anti-poverty initiative. The program awards cash grants to economically disadvantaged families for keeping their children in school and providing them with healthcare. […]
A universal picture of human rights treats each profession equally in the call for due process of law. Yet human rights organizations focus upon the treatment of journalists in repressive regimes for good reasons. First, the treatment of journalists reflects our own belief in the importance of steady, trustworthy information. Second, examining the treatment of […]
I’m back from a week in England and am still absolutely buried with email and work and deadlines. But here are a lot of links on some of the crucial issues facing Africa and Africans: The online news editor of The Economist is in Zimbabwe trying to get a feel for things there, to stay […]
An event that has implications for EU position on Uzbekistan's “softening” of human rights violations; An event which may aid Umida Niyazova in her ongoing trial for border violations and accepting money from foreign news agencies; Human Rights Watch has had their residency re-affirmed for another six months.
Contributed by Rich Basas of FPA's Migration Blog: W-FIVE, A well known Canadian Investigative journalism program recently aired a report concerning the deaths of Dominic and Nancy Iannero, a Canadian couple who were murdered in their resort hotel room last year. The couple was in Mexico to celebrate the wedding of their son, but had their […]
For energy strategists around the Caspian: Sergei Blagov has written an article about President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov's two day visit to Russia. President B. declined to rubber-stamp President Putin's offers for increased energy cooperation. I don't even want to muddy the waters by commenting further. You can read the article at Eurasianet, linked here. For background, read my […]
Mexico City's Legislative Assembly voted 46-19 to legalize abortion, and the city's progressive mayor is expected to approve it. President Felipe Calderon's conservative party and the Catholic Church have spoken out against the city's actions. Martha Micher, director of the Mexico City government's Women's Institute, estimates that 200,000 women have illegal abortions in Mexico each […]
Tsetseegee Munkhbayar received a top award for environmental activism yesterday, for initiating and building the Onggi River Movement. Mr. Munkhbayar is a self-educated yak herdsman who has insisted upon accountability in Mongolia's mining industry. The story has captured international attention and can be found at Taipei Times, al-Jazeera, and elsewhere. The Goldman Prize Organization web site […]
President Nazarbaev's diplomatic agility remains critical in Kazakhstan's military affairs. New military reform efforts have been bolstered this year, showing that Kazakhstan intends to glide past both domestic and international constraints with as much friendliness, and as many partners, as possible. Domestic issues Early this year, Kazakh Defense Minister Mukhtar Altynbaev was recalled from his post. Through April, Kazakhstan's […]
If this comes to fruition, it is the best news of the day: According to official news reports, a Turkish construction firm has been awarded a Multiple Award Construction Contract (MACC) for building mother and child wellness "Ene Myahri" centers in Mary (Merv), Lebap, Dashuguz, and Balkan. These four cities are the capitals of Turkmenistan's […]