Category: Pacific

“I call on each and every organ of the Myanmar State to ensure that absolutely no reprisals are taken against any group or individual that is advocating for justice and accountability in Myanmar,” said the independent expert in a statement issued on Tuesday, adding that those targeted include members of the Free Rohingya Coalition.  Legal proceedings begin  The Rohingya are a mainly Muslim population… Read More

Simona Marinescu, UN Resident Coordinator in the Pacific island nation, reported that the situation remains critical, as the Government commenced a two-day shutdown on Thursday to ensure that all people who have not been vaccinated are protected against the highly contagious disease. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has supplied more than 200,000 vaccines for the campaign, while the World Health… Read More

Waste collectors, or ragpickers as they are known more colloquially in the cities of Bhopal and Indore, in Madhya Pradesh state, are being encouraged to hand over plastic waste to local collection centres.   Single-use plastics, which would have ended up in landfill sites, are now being used to fuel cement furnaces and build roads, providing an additional income source… Read More

The UN chief said these interconnected issues are important to the stability and security of SCO member states “Breaking up trafficking organizations and addressing the criminal use of fixed routes is crucial to countering movements of foreign terrorist fighters and arms, including to and from Iraq and Syria”, he said. “Our two organizations are also committed to promoting peace in… Read More

The IPC, a coalition of UN agencies and other partners, classifies food insecurity in five distinct phases, from phase 1 (Minimal/ None), to phase 5 (Catastrophic/Famine): around 2.44 million Afghan are believed to be in an Emergency situation (phase 4), and 7.79 million in a Crisis situation (phase 3). Conflict, high prices and unemployment to blame The IPC, which is… Read More

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been working with the Government in developing this first-ever national bid to go before the Fund. Co-funding the initiative, Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoFE) is adding another $8 million for a total of more than $47 million, which will see the project to fruition over the course of seven years. Communities… Read More

In Geneva, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) noted that dozens of fires are raging, effecting around six million in eastern New South Wales state, and southeast Queensland, amid reports that three people lost their lives in the fires at the weekend. “Apart from the immediate physical threat…when authorities issue a message of catastrophic fire danger, the message there is basically,… Read More

More than 200 cases of harassment and judicial action against members or supporters of the outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) have been reported since January, Rhona Smith informed in a statement on Friday. She said credible information shows nearly 89 people were charged with ‘plotting against the State’ and more than 50 have been arrested. Meanwhile, the CNRP former… Read More

“I count on your leadership to undertake the concrete actions necessary to confront the world’s climate emergency”, Mr. Guterres underscored.  No region immune Noting a global phenomenon of rising trade and technology tensions, and unease and uncertainty amidst revised downward growth forecasts, Mr. Guterres spelled out: “No region is immune”.   And  he drew attention to rising US-China tensions as “another… Read More

The world’s addiction to coal “remains a major threat in relation to climate change and one of the messages in the summit will be very clearly that countries in these areas that are countries that are in one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change”, Mr. Guterres underscored. Deeply impressed by the innovative project at Bangkok Centenary Park to… Read More