Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- The people of Indian-administered Kashmir continue to be deprived of numerous basic freedoms, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday, before urging the Indian authorities “to unlock the situation”.
- Sunaina lives in Majhi, a village of 104 people in Nepal’s impoverished Terai region. Huts fashioned of mud, thatch and straw stand in a row along the shoulder of a dirt road that carves through rice fields, where Sunaina, and the majority of her neighbours earn their living.
- With Typhoon Hagibis causing destruction and loss of life in Japan, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has praised the leadership role the country is playing in climate resilience, and its “extensive and efficient preparation for this latest extreme weather event”.
- The winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been praised by the UN Secretary-General for creating a pathway to stability in the Horn of Africa region.
- The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) pledged on Friday to work hand in hand with the people of the Pacific to improve nutrition, and mitigate the worst effects of climate change, which pose an existential threat to many island nations across the region.
- Just two days ago, some three million Afghans faced the threat of terrorism and headed to the polls, to “vote not just for a president, but also for democracy,” Hamdulla Mohib, Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser told the UN General Assembly on Monday, adding that no matter the outcome of the elections, “peace is and will remain the Government’s priority.”
- Lack of progress in achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula is “entirely attributable” to the United States, a senior official from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) told the UN General Assembly on Monday.
- “The Twenty-First Century is often described as the age of disruption. The question is, are we ready for it?”, asked Thailand’s Foreign Minister, Don Pramudwinai, as he addressed the UN General Assembly on Monday.
- Timor-Leste continues to be a reflection of “the best the UN has to offer,” Foreign Minister Dionisio da Costa Babo Soares declared on Monday before the UN General Assembly.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the conduct of presidential elections in Afghanistan on 28 September and commended all Afghans “who exercised their democratic voice and upheld their right to vote, braving security concerns”.
- Myanmar is prioritizing the repatriation of scores of people who fled violence in northern Rakhine state for Bangladesh, a senior official from the country said on Saturday, the fifth day of debate in the UN General Assembly.
- Despite global turbulence and economic uncertainty, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh told the General Assembly on Friday evening that her country has often been cited as a “development miracle”.
- In his address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, the State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China declared that his country will not ever be cowered by threats or subdued by pressure, when facing the headwinds of protectionism.