Category: Pacific

In a statement on Monday, Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said she was “alarmed” by credible reports that at least 21 human rights defenders have been subjected to threats, arbitrary arrests and detentions in the past three months.  “I have reviewed publicly available footage where excessive force has been used by the security forces… Read More

Response efforts have been underway since the Typhoon, known locally as Rolly, struck the archipelagic nation on 1 November, leaving widespread devastation in its wake.   Fully funded, the six-month response will support some 260,000 disaster-affected people, many of whom were already living in poverty prior to the disaster.   Launching the appeal, Gustavo Gonzalez, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the… Read More

U Cho, a sixty-one-year-old farmer from the Mandalay region, in central Myanmar, has had to overcome severe difficulties all of his life. At the age of five, he contracted polio, which left him paralyzed in his left leg and put paid to his plans of becoming a monk after completing his primary education. “With no hope of joining public service… Read More

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), southern Luzon, one of the worst affected regions, is home to more than 35,000 Filipino migrants forced to return amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.   In addition, a COVID-19 case count of over 70,000 has “exacerbated the challenges” of emergency response efforts, especially in managing evacuation sites, the UN… Read More

The Bicol region – where typhoon Goni made its landfall on Sunday – currently has some 425 active COVID-19 cases and the risk of transmission remains high, especially in typically crowded evacuation centres, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).   About 361,000 people are sheltering in evacuation centres across the affected regions while another 54,400… Read More

Thomas Andrews, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said that the Government has set a “laudable standard” for the upcoming election – that they be free, fair, and reflect the will of the people.   “But this cannot happen as long as it is enforcing laws that undermine the very lifeblood of democracy, and the… Read More

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has expressed “deep revulsion” at the killing on Saturday night of at least 24 people, according to latest reports, and injuring of dozens of others in a suicide attack outside an education centre. Read More

Typhoon Goni – known locally in the Philippines as Rolly – made landfall early morning on Sunday (local time) with catastrophically violent winds of up to 280 kilometres-per-hour and torrential rainfall within a 230-kilometer diameter of its centre.  According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), around 68.6 million people are affected, with 24.3 million living… Read More

Myanmar has been preparing for the return of hundreds of thousands of workers – some 650,000 are in Thailand alone – and one of the key tasks was to set up quarantine facilities for those returning migrants. Sandi Swe, who has been working in a quarantine facility since March 2020, shared her experience with UN News.  April should have been… Read More

There are also reports that 174 people have died or are missing.  Storm Molave, which made landfall at around 11 am local time on Wednesday, is one of the strongest storms to hit the south-east Asian nation in 20 years. The resulting “extreme rainfall” could continue over the coming days, worsening the already precarious situation faced by many families, UN… Read More