Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- The United Nations Secretary-General has strongly condemned the detention of Myanmar’s top political leaders and government officials, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, by the country’s military.
- Although Tonga, an archipelago in the South Pacific, has so far avoided COVID-19 cases, the pandemic has hit the economy hard along with the entire region, and helped Tongans become more resilient and less reliant on expensive food imports.
- The imminent execution in Iran of a man who was allegedly tortured into confessing that he belonged to a jihadist group must be stopped, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for restrain in Myanmar, amid reports of rising tensions over the outcome of last year’s general elections.
- Thirteen-year-old Min Min scavenges day and night for precious stones in a quarry in Hpakant, northern Myanmar, where perilous conditions have led to the deaths of many workers. With more than a million children working in the country, the UN is fighting to end child labour worldwide.
- The Sri Lankan Government should end its policy of compulsorily cremating victims of COVID-19, independent UN human rights experts said on Monday.
- The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and surging food prices are keeping almost two billion people in Asia and the Pacific from healthy diets, United Nations agencies said on Wednesday.
- India has begun what is the world’s biggest COVID vaccination campaign so far, deploying hundreds of thousands of health workers, with the training and support of the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
- At least 35 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the West Sulawesi Province of Indonesia on Friday morning, according to the UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA).
- UN agencies have stepped up efforts to help thousands of Rohingya refugees left without shelter after a devastating fire tore through a crowded refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh on Thursday.
- The UN and humanitarian partners in Afghanistan are seeking $1.3 billion to assist almost 16 million people in need of life-saving assistance as a result of decades of conflict, recurrent natural disasters, and the added impact of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
- For people living off-grid in remote villages in Laos, solar energy offers a clean, sustainable way to bring electricity for all, and the promise to transform their lives.
- The UN human rights office (OHCHR), on Friday, voiced concerns over the use of “vaguely defined laws” in Viet Nam, to arbitrarily detain an increasing number of journalists, bloggers, commentators and rights defenders, amidst what appears to be part of an “increasing clampdown” on the freedom of expression in the country.