Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- The UN chief has pledged that the Organization “will never be silent” when women and girls’ rights are under attack, as they are today in Afghanistan, and declared that the Taliban ban on Afghan women doing lifesaving humanitarian work is putting millions of lives in jeopardy there.
- Chinese writer Cixin Liu is one of the world’s most highly respected science-fiction authors, known for epics such as “The Three Body Problem,” soon to be adapted as a major TV series. He shared his thoughts on the future of the planet, at an event held at UN Headquarters to mark Chinese Language Day.
- Experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council on Friday called for Singapore to impose an immediate moratorium on capital punishment, denouncing the Government’s continued use of the death penalty for drug-related crimes.
- Japan must assume a greater leadership role to address the deteriorating crisis in Myanmar and “step up pressure on the country’s military junta”, a UN-appointed independent rights expert urged on Friday.
- In a landmark resolution, the UN Security Council on Thursday condemned the de facto rulers of Afghanistan’s decision to ban women nationals from working for the United Nations, calling for Taliban leaders to “swiftly reverse” their decision.
- So-called “labour transfer” and “vocational training” programmes in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, threaten Tibetan cultural identity and could lead to forced labour conditions, UN independent human rights experts warned on Thursday.
- India is about to surpass China as the world’s most populous nation in the coming days, the UN population data chief told reporters on Monday.
- On Mother Earth Day, marked annually on 22 April, Naw Ei Ei Min, a member of Myanmar’s indigenous Karen people, explains why indigenous peoples have an important role to play, in protecting the environment and addressing the climate crisis.
- Unity of the Security Council is “essential” to ease tensions and overcome the diplomatic impasse on the Korean Peninsula, Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari said on Monday, briefing on the latest developments following Pyongyang’s first-ever launch of a solid-fuel ballistic missile days ago.
- The UN has launched an operational review in Afghanistan, and told national staff to remain at home, following the decision by the Taliban de facto authorities to ban Afghan women from working with the Organization.
- The United Nations has denounced deadly airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar Armed Forces which reportedly killed at least 100 people in an opposition stronghold in the northwest on Tuesday.
- A Taliban decision banning women from working for the UN inside Afghanistan, will have devastating consequence for aid delivery, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country warned on Thursday.
- A Taliban edict banning Afghan women from working for the UN mission and agencies inside the country, has been strongly condemned by both the UN chief and his deputy.