Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- The United Nations will do everything in its power to support the people of Kunduz in, the political chief of UN mission in Afghanistan told Government officials, civil society and media professionals in the restive northern province, where the security situation has remained tense since the provincial capital was briefly overtaken by the Taliban in late 2015 and was attacked again in October this year.
- The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, called upon the international community today to not forget about ongoing human rights challenges in the country, including continued detention of political prisoners, the constitutional guarantee of 25 per cent of seats in Parliament to the military, and increasing unrest and discrimination against Muslim communities.
- UN expert panel cites crimes against humanity committed by Eritrean authorities dating back 25 yearsEritrean officials have committed crimes against humanity since 1991, including enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder, a member of the former United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the country reported to UN Member States.
- Following a meeting with Afghan civil society representatives today in Kabul, senior UN officials stressed that securing women’s rights is essential to strategies that combat violent extremism and encouraged the Government to develop and implement human-rights based and gender sensitive polices to address to address its drivers.
- The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has strongly condemned the killing of 26 civilians who were earlier taken hostage by a group of armed men in country’s central Ghor province.
- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned a terrorist attack on a police academy in Quetta, Pakistan earlier today that claimed the lives of at-least 60 people and injured more than 100.
- Opium production in Afghanistan rose by 43 per cent to 4,800 metric tons in 2016 from 2015, according to the latest figures released today by the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
- The demand for water to support agricultural development in conflict-plagued Afghanistan often results in high-stakes water disputes, according to a new United Nations report released today, which underscores the need for more effective and transparent means of resolving the differences.
- The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) today urged the Government of Afghanistan and the international community to strengthen efforts and collaboration in order to support the increasing number of people who are leaving their homes due to a deteriorating security situation within the country.
- In her first information-gathering visit to Sri Lanka, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues, stressed the importance of renewed support for minority rights by the Government, including a plan for specific and urgent measures.
- Even though fighting between security forces and a group, identified by the Government as the Aqa mul moujahideen, in some villages on the outskirts of Maungdaw township in Myanmar’s Northern Rakhine province appear to have reduced in severity, an atmosphere of fear and tension continues to grip the local population, a spokesperson for the United Nations said today.
- A group of United Nations human rights experts today called on the Government of India to immediately release a prominent human rights defender who was arrested last month while on his way UN human rights meetings in Geneva, and has since remained under preventive detention.
- After a visit to Bhutan yesterday, actor and director Aamir Khan, a UNICEF Regional Goodwill Ambassador, praised the country’s progress to end malnutrition and recognized young mothers’ efforts to safeguard their children’s health despite high levels of stunting.