Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- The war in Ukraine has increased the risk of a “massive malnutrition crisis” for millions of children in other emergencies because of its already huge impact on global food prices, the UN said on Thursday.
- International Roma Day on 8 April is a key date to mark Romani culture, made more significant in Romania since the passing of last year’s landmark legislation there, to combat hate-speech against the Roma – the first law of its kind in Europe.
- An urgent call to protect health and mitigate the climate crisis was issued by the UN health agency on Wednesday, to mark World Health Day on Thursday.
- Thirty years after the siege of Sarajevo, the UN team in Bosnia and Herzegovina reiterated the importance on Wednesday of pursuing justice and reparation for victims, survivors and their family members.
- The UN chief issued a statement on Wednesday welcoming the transition to a new African Union (AU) mission in Somalia, pledging the Organization’s “unwavering commitment” to the country, the mission, and the Somali security forces in their ongoing fight against Al-Shabaab militants.
- Samuel (not his real name) grew up near the Haitian Capital of Port-au-Prince, and has seen his childhood home descend into lawlessness and gang violence. Now a staff member with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the country, he faces the daily risk of kidnapping, or worse.
- A UN human rights expert on Wednesday called for a full and independent investigation into alleged mass crimes committed in central Mali’s Mopti region late last month, and pleaded with all parties to ensure the “absolute protection” of civilians and an end to the current vicious cycle of violence.
- An estimated 6.3 million children under five, in six countries in Africa’s Sahel region, will suffer from wasting this year, UN agencies and their partners warned in a publication issued on Wednesday.
- One-in-four people do not feel valued at work, and those who do are mostly in senior positions, according to a new report launched on Wednesday by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
- The current war in Ukraine, following the Russian invasion, has sparked all sorts of questions about the United Nations, particularly the role of the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Secretary-General.
- In an impassioned address to the Security Council that evoked the ashen destruction wrought during the Second World War, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday described in stark detail what he said was the deliberate slaughter of civilians in Bucha by Russian forces, laying out an existential choice for its members, over the whole future of the world’s security architecture, founded in 1945.
- António Guterres released the initial recommendations of his Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG) on Tuesday, set up in response to the hunger crisis provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- The first trial of a person accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region, has got underway at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.