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

A UN human rights expert welcomed India's decision to repeal three contentious farm laws that sparked a year of nationwide protests which left 600 people dead. 

At just one year old, Shahpirai’s son was suffering from severe malnutrition. Yet without the means or available facilities for him to receive proper health care, his mother could only hope he would improve at home.

Farzeen Alam, a Bangladeshi entrepreneur, was laughed off when he approached banks for a loan to start his farming business: today, Oggro Dairy is helping to lower unemployment, particularly amongst marginalized youth.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Thursday condemned Iran's execution of a young man who was a minor at the time he was charged with committing a crime. 

Following “hard-earned” parliamentary elections on 10 October, Iraqis of all political stripes must exercise restraint, eschew violence and await the outcome’s final certification by the Federal Supreme Court, the senior UN official in the country told the Security Council on Tuesday.

UN-appointed independent human rights experts urged the Chinese authorities on Monday to release on humanitarian grounds, imprisoned citizen journalist and human rights defender, Zhang Zhan. 

The number of musk deer in Mongolia has plummeted by some 83 per cent since the 1970s, landing them on the country’s red list of critically endangered species. A UN-supported biodiversity initiative is helping to stop the deer from disappearing altogether.

Nadya Zafira, an international relations student at Indonesia’s Gadjah Mada University, won a writing competition for her letter to UN chief António Guterres, in which she addressed the inequalities laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how indigenous communities and youth are marginalized in global conversations on climate crisis.

“Catastrophic and famine-like conditions” hang over Afghanistan’s farmers and herders, whose needs continue to worsen with the onset of winter, UN humanitarians said on Friday. 

For over 70 years, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has had a presence across Afghanistan – even as the Taliban secured power over the summer. 

Despite a crisis of trust both within the country and abroad, three months after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, it is taking halting steps to pursue international legitimacy, a senior UN official in Kabul told the Security Council on Wednesday.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday urged authorities in Myanmar to immediately release all journalists who have been jailed for practicing their profession. 

The UN Security Council has called for an immediate cessation of violence across Myanmar, and efforts to ensure the safety of civilians, following reports of more clashes between the armed forces and militant groups.