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

The top UN official in Afghanistan appealed on Sunday for greater international support for the country, following a one-day visit to communities hit hard by the devastating earthquake on Wednesday.

Emergency lifesaving aid relief continued to flow into quake-hit eastern Afghanistan on Friday, as UN humanitarians and partners rushed to help the most vulnerable communities.

The devastating earthquake on Wednesday is just one of several emergencies facing Afghanistan, and continued dialogue with the Taliban de facto authorities remains the only way to address ongoing challenges in the country, the Security Council heard on Thursday. 

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, is urging Iran to call off plans to amputate the fingers of eight prisoners convicted of burglary, Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Wednesday. 

The UN and partners have rushed to support Afghanistan following a devastating earthquake that hit two provinces in the east of the country early on Wednesday morning. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday began distributing food vouchers to pregnant women in underserved districts of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, marking the start of the UN agency’s emergency response in the country, which is facing its gravest political and economic crisis since independence.

As the UN marks the International Day of Family Remittances on Thursday, there is concern that economic contraction and job losses in Russia - likely to now rise further as a result of sanctions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine - are already having an impact on remittance-dependent communities in Central Asia, according to experts with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Afghanistan people are experiencing some of “the darkest moments” in a generation the UN human rights chief told Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

UN independent human rights experts have deplored the recent violent crackdown on civil society in Iran, calling on Wednesday for independent investigations into excessive use of force against protestors.   

Still suffering from the devastating consequences of the February 2021 military coup, the UN rights chief said on Tuesday that the people of Myanmar remain “trapped in a cycle of poverty and displacement, human rights violations and abuses”.

The political crisis unleashed in Myanmar following the 1 February military coup last year, has “opened new frontlines that had long been at peace,” the UN Special Envoy told the General Assembly on Monday, noting that challenges in the country have “both deepened and expanded dramatically.”

A critical $150 million dollar lifeline for rural families in Afghanistan was announced by the World Bank on Monday, part of an overall package of $195 million, for critical livelihood and life-saving assistance, the UN agriculture agency FAO, said on Monday.  

Dozens of independent UN human rights experts on Friday urged the Chinese Government to “cooperate fully” with the UN human rights system over abuse allegations, and grant them “unhindered access – particularly to prisons and detention centres.