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

The United Nations Country Team in Myanmar reiterated its call for an end to violence against civilians, amid reports of dozens of deaths in the latest crackdown on protests against the military takeover. 

Living with HIV in Yemen, a country mired in a seemingly interminable conflict, is particularly challenging, with medical supplies hard to come by, and only around half of all health facilities fully operational.

A good education is often seen as a route out of poverty, but many disadvantaged children are unable to finish school. In Thailand, a project involving the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, is linking academic achievement to cash rewards, providing tangible benefits to marginalized families, and helping kids to stay in school.

Clashes between the Myanmar security forces and regional armed groups, which have involved military airstrikes, have reportedly claimed the lives of at least 17 civilians in several parts of the country, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. 

United Nations agencies in Timor-Leste are supporting response efforts, as floods and landslides left widespread damage across the country, including in the capital, Dili.  

Thanks to the bravery and hard work of deminers such as Fezeh Rezaye, the Afghan province of Bamyan has been declared free from mines. On International Mine Awareness Day, she shares her story.

Senior United Nations officials on Thursday strongly condemned the ongoing violence by Myanmar’s security forces against civilians, including children, as the members of the Security Council expressed alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation in the country. 

The United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) have called on Myanmar’s neighbouring countries to offer refuge and protection to all those fleeing violence and persecution, as the crisis in Myanmar enters its third month.

Widespread, systemic attacks on civilians in Myanmar orchestrated by leaders of the military coup, demand a “firm, unified and resolute international response”, UN Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener said on Wednesday. 

UN rights experts, on Wednesday, raised alarm over forced evictions of locals and indigenous peoples, and threats against human rights defenders, to make way for a $3 billion tourism project on the Indonesian island of Lombok.

United Nations agencies have stepped up their efforts to assist thousands of Rohingya refugee families left homeless after last week’s devastating fire at the Kutupalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh. 

Independent UN human rights experts have urged companies to closely scrutinize their supply chains following concerns over the alleged detention and forced labour of Muslim Uyghurs in China, according to a statement issued on Monday. 

Two senior UN officials denounced on Sunday, “systematic” attacks on peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar and flagged that the international community has a responsibility to protect the people from atrocities.