Category: Pacific

The fire erupted shortly after midnight on Thursday (local time) in the Nayapara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, gutting about 550 shelters and 150 shops. A community centre is also said to have been destroyed.  This week, a large fire broke out in the #Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, #Bangladesh. There were no casualties, but 3500 people were affected and… Read More

The number of people targeted for assistance is over a six-fold increase compared to four years ago, when 2.3 million people were targeted for assistance, according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General.  The situation of children is particularly worrying.  “It is projected that nearly one in two children under the age of five will face acute malnutrition this… Read More

For people living off-grid in remote villages in Laos, solar energy offers a clean, sustainable way to bring electricity for all, and the promise to transform their lives. In Ko Bong and Tha Phai Bai, in the centre of the South East Asian country, only a small number of people used to benefit from electricity, provided by unreliable, polluting and… Read More

“They are then frequently held incommunicado for long periods in pre-trial detention, with regular reports of violations of the right to a fair trial and concerns about their treatment in detention”, Ravina Shamdasani, an OHCHR spokesperson, said at a media briefing in Geneva.  “Several of them have received lengthy sentences following their conviction for crimes against national security”, she added.… Read More

Fifty-three political activists, academics, former legislators, current district councillors, and lawyers, were arrested on Wednesday, according to the office.  Liz Throssell, OHCHR spokesperson, said that the arrests were the latest in a series of detentions related to the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including the right to peaceful assembly, in Hong Kong.  “These latest arrests indicate that – as had been feared –… Read More

Fifty-three political activists, academics, former legislators, current district councillors, and lawyers, were arrested on Wednesday, according to the office.  Liz Throssell, OHCHR spokesperson, said that the arrests were the latest in a series of detentions related to the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including the right to peaceful assembly, in Hong Kong.  “These latest arrests indicate that – as had been feared –… Read More

Fifty-three political activists, academics, former legislators, current district councillors, and lawyers, were arrested on Wednesday, according to the office.  Liz Throssell, OHCHR spokesperson, said that the arrests were the latest in a series of detentions related to the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including the right to peaceful assembly, in Hong Kong.  “These latest arrests indicate that – as had been feared –… Read More

Nguyen Trong Hung opened a café in Son La in northwestern Viet Nam to serve as a meeting place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and to offer HIV testing. While in middle school, realizing that I was gay, the only thing I could do was to torment and blame myself. My father left, my mum passed away, I… Read More

Members of a “Jugnu” club get trained by UN Women to support women who​​​​​​​ experience gender-based violence., by UN Women Many women, who have been forced to stay at home due to lockdown measures, have been cut off from support services and have suffered at the hands of abusive partners. In Assam, in tea-growing country in the northeast of India,… Read More

Xiaoyuan Ren has been recognized as a United Nations Environment Programme’s Young Champion of the Earth for 2020., by UNEP Xiaoyuan Ren has developed MyH2O, a data platform that provides information about the quality of groundwater in villages across the country, so residents know where to find clean water to stay healthy. Her research suggests that around 40 per cent… Read More