Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- An astonishing 99 per cent of the world’s population breathes polluted air that exceeds internationally approved limits, with negative health impacts kicking in at much lower levels than previously thought, UN medical scientists said on Monday.
- Senior UN officials have echoed the Secretary-General’s call for an independent investigation into the killing of scores of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, following the emergence this past weekend of graphic images from the suburb of the capital, Kyiv.
- Although more than 160 States have signed a landmark convention on banning landmines, more action is still needed to protect people from these “abhorrent weapons", UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said.
- Many of the millions of refugees forced to leave Ukraine because of the Russian invasion are traumatized and need mental health support. In one Polish transit site, volunteers like Aurang Zeb Khan, have been trained by the UN migration agency (IOM) to administer psychological first aid.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday called for an independent investigation into the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, a suburb of the capital, Kyiv.
- Commitment will be critical to the success of the two-month truce in Yemen that began on Saturday, the UN Special Envoy for the country, Hans Grundberg, has said.
- A two-month truce in Yemen which goes into effect on Saturday must be a first step in ending the county’s devastating war, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on the eve of the ceasefire.
- Recent violent clashes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have forced thousands to escape to neighbouring Uganda, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Friday.
- Highlighting it as a period of compassion and empathy, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday that the holy month of Ramadan is a “time for reflection and learning, an opportunity to come together and uplift each other”.
- Humanitarians must have full and unimpeded access to children arbitrarily held in detention centres in northeast Syria, a group of independent UN human rights experts said on Friday.
- Efforts to help thousands of desperate residents flee the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol continued on Friday, as humanitarians warned that there is “no Plan B”, after weeks of constant shelling since the Russian invasion on 24 February.
- Nataliia Vladimirova fled her home in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on the first day of the Russian invasion, on 24 February, with her four-year-old daughter Oleksandra and mother-in-law. They are amongst the thousands of Ukrainian refugees with temporary protection status in Portugal. She shares her heart-wrenching story of family separation and loss, with UN News.
- Women and children increasingly bear the brunt of climate change, which deepens the inequalities and vulnerabilities they already face, such as poverty, violence, lack of opportunities and basic human rights. Yet women are not victims; they are survivors, innovators and solution-multipliers who deserve a real seat at the table. Two Colombian activists tell us why this is true.
