Category: Pacific

The study is based on 100 first-hand accounts by North Korean women who said they were beaten or suffered other individual or collective punishment while in detention between 2009 and 2019. The women eventually managed to escape the DPRK, more commonly known as North Korea, and gave detailed interviews to staff from the UN rights office, OHCHR. Heartbreaking stories “It is… Read More

Tapan Mishra (centre), UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia (file), by UN RCO Mongolia The general picture of the COVID-19 situation in Mongolia is very positive. The Government of Mongolia closed all educational institutions including kindergartens, schools and universities at the beginning of the year. It also introduced strict measures on social distancing, such as a ban on public gatherings, limiting… Read More

They said Narges Mohammadi appears to have contracted the virus in Zanjan Prison, located in the capital, Tehran, where she is serving a 16-year sentence stemming from her work on human rights. She has been in detention since 2015 and was sentenced in May 2016. ‘Life-or-death consequences’ “We are extremely concerned for Ms. Mohammadi’s well-being. We previously raised concerns that… Read More

When the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in Myanmar in late March, quarantine centres were set up in sites around the country. People arriving in a town—such as migrant workers returning home—had to quarantine at their local centre for 21 days.  One of the first people to work as a volunteer at the quarantine centre in the town of… Read More

Highlighting his predecessor Philip Alstom’s final report, UN-appointed independent Special Rapporteur Olivier de Schutter, insisted that without China’s “outsized contribution” in lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty during that period, overall progress globally towards reversing the scourge, suddenly appeared far less impressive. According to the World Bank’s international poverty line (IPL) – which is subsisting on $1.90… Read More

Spokesperson Rupert Colville told journalists in Geneva on Friday that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was continuing to analyze the new law after it came into force on Wednesday, regarding its compliance with international human rights obligations: “I think several hundred people have been arrested since protests began on Wednesday, I think the last I heard,… Read More

The appeal from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), also calls for a de-escalation of the conflict to save lives and facilitate discussions in Qatar. It follows a recent spate of deliberate attacks against religious leaders, healthcare workers, members of the judiciary, civil society activists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and journalists. ‘Shocking and criminal’ attacks In the first six months… Read More

Marking International Day of Family Remittances, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has released a message appealing for “people everywhere” to support migrants, at a time when remittances – the money migrants send home to support their families – have fallen by more than $100 billion, causing hunger, lost schooling and deteriorating health, for tens of millions of families. Read More

“It is distressing that caste-based prejudices remain deeply entrenched in our world in the 21st century, and I am filled with sadness for these two young people who held high hopes of building a life together despite the obstacles presented by their accident of birth” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, referring to the couple at the centre of… Read More

The appeal for a fresh cash injection comes after more than five years of fighting in the Arabian peninsula country, between the Government of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, now based in the south, and the mainly Houthi-led opposition, which occupies the capital, Sana’a, in the north. Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the world before violence escalated… Read More