Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- Two days of heavy monsoon rains have caused severe structural damage to camps in Bangladesh hosting one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Monday
- United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed addressed the Heads of State summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Sunday, stressing that the organization's impact in the political, economic and security realm, extends well beyond the large Eurasian region that its members represent.
- An India-United Nations fund aimed at supporting sustainable development for low-income nations marked its first anniversary on Friday, with 22 projects having already been approved in 25 partner countries.
- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the week-long ceasefire announced by the Government of Afghanistan with the Taliban and called on the militant group to reciprocate the temporary pause.
- The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) should begin to release political prisoners ahead of denuclearization talks with the United States and engage with the United Nations on human rights, a UN expert on the country said on Thursday.
- The alleged extra-judicial killing of suspected drug offenders must be “immediately halted” and their perpetrators brought to justice, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said on Wednesday.
- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the understanding reached between UN agencies and Myanmar on creating conditions that would allow hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to voluntarily and safely return to their homes in the country’s Rakhine province.
- United Nations chief António Guterres has condemned Monday’s suicide attack in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, that reportedly killed at least seven religious scholars who had gathered from across the country to promote peace.
- Nearly 3.7 million Afghan children are missing out on school, due to on-going conflict, grinding poverty, and discrimination against girls, according to a new report from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.
- United Nations agencies and Myanmar have agreed a framework which it is hoped will lead to the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, but only if their “voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable” return from camps in Bangladesh can be guaranteed.
- He is best known for his bare-chested appearances at the Rio and Pyeongchang Olympic Games, but Pita Taufatofua now wants to use his social media muscle to empower youth, and get them to share their stories.
- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday that he was “deeply concerned” by the cancellation of the planned meeting between the leaders of the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly-known as North Korea.
- Despite being the world’s 11th largest economy, a significant number of South Koreans are living in “substandard” housing, faced with rising rents they can no longer afford, a United Nations rights expert said on Wednesday, noting that the country now leads developed nations in levels of household debt.