Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- A significant surge in dengue fever cases has gripped Bangladesh, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Friday, calling for efforts to control the mosquito vector population and minimize individual exposure such as using mosquito repellents and wearing long-sleeved clothes.
- UN-appointed independent rights experts have called on the Chinese Government to provide information about nine Tibetan human rights defenders serving prisoner sentences of up to 11 years.
- The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) on Tuesday revealed compelling evidence of the country’s military and affiliate militias engaging in more frequent and audacious war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador and legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has called for increased investments in children’s education and nutrition programmes, to help them achieve their full potential.
- Three-quarters of children in South Asia are already exposed to extreme high temperature compared to only one in three globally, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday, urging authorities to do more to help them beat the heat.
- A man living in Viet Nam has been explaining how his community has learnt to adapt to and mitigate the effects of devastating flooding caused by tropical storms.
- The lead-up to, and the results of, the recent elections in Cambodia are “extremely disconcerting”, UN human rights experts said on Wednesday, adding that the credibility of the entire electoral process was affected.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned the deadly suicide bombing at a political rally in northwest Pakistan on Sunday.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday highlighted the need for a “surge in diplomacy” in the Korean Peninsula, urging the two nations to resume talks towards a lasting peace.
- Climate change impacts are increasing in Asia, which is warming faster than the global average, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a new report published on Thursday.
- The UN human rights chief on Wednesday lamented the severe electoral clampdown by the Cambodian Government during the weekend vote, including restrictions on opposition parties, NGOs and media.
- A 47-year-old tanker rusting off the Yemeni coast in the Red Sea is the scene of a delicate UN-led operation to transfer a million barrels of crude and avoid the fifth largest oil spill in history.
- Asia and the Pacific has a “narrow window” to protect its hard-won gains, as climate change supercharges disasters and impacts billions there, the UN’s development body spanning the vast region said on Tuesday.