Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- More than a year into the crisis in Cox’s Bazar, the number of Rohingya refugees has reached nearly one million, with young girls in Bangladesh refugee camps sold into forced labour accounting for the largest group of trafficking victims, reported the UN Migration Agency (IOM) on Tuesday.
- Denouncing lethal attacks targeting electoral activities in Afghanistan as the country prepares to go to polls later this week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on all parties to ensure a peaceful and orderly elections.
- Malaysia has announced that it plans to abolish executions, a move hailed by United Nations chief António Guterres on Thursday, as a “major step forward.”
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres, has called for Governments across South-East Asia, to take a lead in the fight against global warming and the damaging impact of climate change.
- Gathered at a United Nations conference in Bangkok, countries from the Asia-Pacific region pledged to work together on Wednesday to leverage the power of space technology and boost sustainable development.
- A group of UN independent human rights experts have called for the immediate release of 24 people, mostly from Baha’i minority, who have been held by authorities in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, since the middle of last month.
- The conflict in Afghanistan continues to exact a terrible toll on civilians, with the highest number of fatalities recorded for the first nine months of this year, since 2014, a United Nations report has revealed.
- Following the series of devastating earthquakes, tsunami and landslides on 28 September in Indonesia, the death toll has risen to 2,010, with around 10,700 seriously injured and nearly 700 still reported missing, according to United Nations agencies on Tuesday.
- North Korea’s humanitarian situation remains dire, with widespread chronic food insecurity and malnutrition, the United Nations emergency food relief agency has warned, urging greater and sustained funding for its aid operations there.
- The United Nations on Sunday called on anti-Government elements in Afghanistan to immediately stop using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in civilian areas, after the UN mission in the country recorded a sharp rise in civilian casualties caused by the explosives this year.
- The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has voiced ‘great concern’ for the safety and security of seven Rohingya men who have been sent home by Indian authorities, after reportedly being denied access to lawyers, or full consideration of their asylum applications.
- Aid is getting through to victims of last Friday’s deadly earthquake and tsunami, which struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, but stricken communities are still in dire need, UN aid agencies said on Friday.
- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday conferred the Organization’s highest environmental honour on India’s Prime Minister, recognizing Narendra Modi’s efforts against climate change and pollution.