Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- Independent UN human rights experts on Tuesday voiced grave concern over the killing and displacement of civilians in north-west Myanmar during the intensifying conflict between the military and an armed group, the Arakan Army, amid an information blackout in some parts of Rakhine and Chin states.
- In one of the last bastions of polio on the planet, millions of children are being given a fighting chance against the paralyzing and potentially fatal disease.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday said he had been moved by the show of religious unity he had witnessed in Pakistan after paying visits to a mosque, a gurdwara and Kartarpur Corridor, the visa-free crossing which allows Sikhs to travel between nearby holy sites on each side of the India-Pakistan border.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday began a three-day visit to Pakistan, recognizing the country’s decades of “outstanding generosity and solidarity” as one of the world’s largest hosts of refugees, and highlighting its commitment to climate action.
- In a briefing to the Security Council on Thursday, Secretary-General António Guterres underlined the value of cooperation between the UN and the 10-member regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
- Against the backdrop of India’s famed “pink city” of Jaipur, the world’s largest literature festival hosted the UN’s top representative in the country on Monday, who told audience members attending a special session on the climate emergency, that the Organization is working flat out to slow the pace of damaging climate change.
- An independent human rights expert said she has not given up hope for a democratic transition in Myanmar even though the country has yet to address “grave allegations” of international crimes, including possible genocide.
- Myanmar must take steps to protect its minority Rohingya population, the top UN court unanimously ruled on Thursday.
- The UN is concerned over warnings issued by Philippines’ authorities that volcanic eruptions on the country’s most populous island could last “days, months or even years”.
- It is “essential” for China to continue investigating the source of a previously unknown strain of coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Monday, following confirmation that an infected patient is being treated in Thailand.
- Raging bushfires wreaking havoc across Australia have prompted the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, to offer its support to the Australian Government and its partners which are battling the “unprecedented disaster”.
- The UN Secretary-General is "deeply concerned" that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has ended a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests, his spokesman said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
- More than 24 million bamboo poles have been harvested for construction projects in the enormous refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, thanks, in part, to support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).