Latest news on the Asia-Pacific region from the United Nations
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, is seriously concerned about the human rights situation in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, a spokesperson from the High Commissioner’s Office (OHCHR) said today.
- The United Nations’ torture prevention body has urged Kazakhstan to focus more on the rehabilitation of prisoners rather than punishment, as part of efforts to ensure that people deprived of their liberty are protected against torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
- From a decades-long conflict which has seen an ever-growing number of civilians killed to rooting out corruption among government bodies, Afghanistan has been facing a range of challenges with the international community’s assistance – and many of these topics will be discussed at a two-day gathering starting on Tuesday, 4 October, in the Belgian capital of Brussels.
- The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has condemned two improvised explosive device (IED) detonations on civilian vehicles that killed 19 people in Helmand and Badghis provinces in recent days.
- India today ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, bringing the treaty's entry into force "tantalisingly" close.
- The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, expressed alarm today at public comments by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, in which he reinforced a campaign to kill millions of drug addicts in the Philippines and compared it to the massacre of millions of Jews by Hitler during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
- UN health agency calls for stronger measures against Zika as Thailand confirms disease-related casesThe United Nations health agency today urged countries across the South-East Asia region to continue to take decisive action to prevent, detect and respond to Zika virus, following news that Thailand has confirmed two cases of Zika-related microcephaly.
- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is deeply concerned over the significant increase in tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of recent developments, particularly the reported ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) following an attack on an Indian army base in Uri on 18 September.
- The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has condemned the killing of at least 15 civilian men and the injuring of at least 13 others, including at least one boy, in an airstrike targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) conducted yesterday in the country’s eastern district of Achin.
- The United Nations humanitarian wing has said that more than $28 million in funding is urgently needed to provide immediate assistance to the 600,000 people in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea affected by Typhoon Lionrock.
- Expressing dismay over the death of a protestor who was injured by the police use of a water cannon on a peaceful rally last year in the country, a United Nations human rights expert has called for a full investigation into the incident and to ensure that such a “tragedy” is never repeated.
- Four United Nations human rights experts today urged authorities in Pakistan to halt the execution of Imdad Ali, a man with a psychosocial disability, and to re-try him in compliance with international standards.
- Addressing the General Assembly, Palau’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations underlined today the urgency of addressing challenges such as threats from climate change, global conflict, issues of migrants and refugees, violent extremism, antimicrobial resistance and nuclear weapons.