Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- Severe disruptions in health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in an additional 239,000 child and maternal deaths in South Asia last year, United Nations agencies said on Wednesday.
- The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday it is “deeply disturbed” that the crackdown on peaceful protesters in Myanmar “continues to intensify”, with a soaring death toll on the streets, increasingly aggressive use of lethal force, arbitrary arrests, and reports of torture in custody.
- The UN chief on Monday issued a statement saying he was "appalled" by the reported killing over the weekend of dozens of protesters calling for the restoration of democracy, at the hands of the country's military.
- The United Nations entity dedicated to protection of women’s rights has voiced deep concerns over “targeted and disproportionate” violence against women being recorded during the crackdown against peaceful protesters in Myanmar.
- The Myanmar junta’s brutal response to peaceful protests likely meets the legal threshold for crimes against humanity, a UN-appointed independent rights expert told the Human Rights Council on Thursday.
- The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned the violence against peaceful protesters in Myanmar and voiced “deep concern” at restrictions on medical personnel, civil society, labour unions and journalists, as demonstrations continue across the south-east Asian nation against the military takeover last month.
- The UN chief urged countries to make sure they invest the funds necessary to prevent and manage disasters, in a solemn message of remembrance on Wednesday for the 18,400 people who died or are unaccounted for, due to the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan exactly ten years ago.
- Disturbing reports have emerged from North Korea - officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) - that people have starved or been executed because of COVID-19 restrictions, a leading rights expert said on Wednesday.
- United Nations officials on Wednesday highlighted the contributions of migrants to economies and societies in Asia and the Pacific, calling on countries to ensure all who live within their borders are fully included in national coronavirus inoculation programmes.
- The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that it was “appalled” by what appears to be the simultaneous arbitrary killings of nine activists in the Philippines during police-military operations in provinces surrounding the metropolitan area of the capital, Manila.
- The United Nations Secretary-General on Monday called for the safe release of hundreds of peaceful protesters trapped by security forces for several hours in residential buildings in the Yangon neighbourhood of Sanchaung.
- Hopes placed in the UN and the Member States that serve on the Security Council to take action against leaders of Myanmar’s military coup, are waning fast, the UN Special Envoy for the country warned on Friday.
- The United Nations independent human rights expert on Myanmar has called on the Security Council for “decisive and unified action” against the military junta, including targeted sanctions and an arms embargo.