Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations

Denouncing attacks and intimidation in the week since formal campaigning began for Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections next month, the United Nations voiced outrage on Tuesday at the death of 14 civilians, killed by a suicide bomber at a campaign rally. A further 42 were wounded.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday praised India’s progress on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular the pursuit of Sanitation for All and Affordable and Clean Energy, which featured heavily during day-two of his official visit to the country.

Four days after a deadly earthquake and tsunami hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, UN agencies and partners have warned that some communities have yet to be reached and the death toll may rise, as the scale of the destruction unfolds

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, took part on Monday in the opening ceremony of the Organization’s newly-refurbished headquarters for its multi-agency operations, known as UN House, in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

TImor-Leste, a country which the United Nations shepherded to independence from Indonesia 16 years ago, is a prime example of what the world Organization can do in resolving international conflicts and disputes, Delegation Chair Maria Helena Pires told the General Assembly on Monday.

Rescue workers are still trying to reach areas of Sulawesi in Indonesia affected by an earthquake and tsunami, UN humanitarians said on Monday, noting that more than 840 people have died and more than 600 have been severely injured in the disaster.

The United Nations needs to adapt to meet the challenges facing the world, Thailand’s Deputy Foreign Minister Virasakdi Futrakul told the General Assembly on Monday, endorsing Secretary General António Guterres’s efforts to make the Organization more effective.

National governments and the international community must work “hand-in-hand” to realize the lofty goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Foreign Minister of Laos People’s Democratic Republic said at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday.

Despite taking goodwill measures over the past year, including dismantling a nuclear test site, there was “no way” the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would unilaterally disarm itself without rebuilding trust with the United States, DPRK’s Foreign Minister told the United Nations on Saturday.

Multilateralism may have occasionally been “oversold as a panacea”, but the world cannot abandon the rules-based world order which has brought peace and prosperity during the lifetime of the United Nations, Singapore’s Foreign Minister told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday.

The Philippines, under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte, is on track to reverse its decline towards becoming a “Narco State”, or one that is being “held hostage” by the rich and powerful, said its Foreign Affairs minister at the United Nations General Assembly’s annual debate on Saturday.

Welcoming the growing attention the world is paying to the Pacific Ocean, Rimbink Pato, Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, urged the international community to ensure that the Ocean becomes a “zone of cooperation, of stability and security, of pristine beauty and prosperity,” and expressed his hope that the it lives up to its name: “the Ocean of Peace.”

India is “totally committed” to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) said Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday, addressing the United Nations General Assembly’s annual debate, promising to get there ahead of time, thanks to an “unprecedented economic and social transformation”, now underway.