Category: Pacific

Refugees volunteers assist in emergency relief Refugee volunteers trained by UNHCR and partners, worked throughout the night on Wednesday in heavy rain, to help families in urgent need. In some cases, this involved rescuing refugees from shelters destroyed by the 26 reported landslides.  Three days of heavy downpour. More than 270 shelters destroyed. Monsoon rains brought extensive damage to Cox’s… Read More

Small scale farmers account for a significant proportion of pig meat production in the vast region, and the outbreak is of particular concern for these producers, who may lack the expertise and funds necessary to protect their herds from the disease. Higher prices, lower incomes FAO has received reports that ASF has led to income losses in the affected countries,… Read More

The UN chief “welcomes the meetings in Panmunjom involving the leaders of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea and the United States”, his spokesperson said in a statement, adding “particularly the announcement that the DPRK and the United States will resume working-level dialogue”.  For the first time since their last summit in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi,… Read More

The Government shutdown mobile data networks in nine conflict areas townships of Rakhine and Chin States, risking serious implications for human rights and humanitarian monitoring, warned UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Yanghee Lee. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré, by UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre “The entire region is in a blackout,” she said. “I fear… Read More

The report by former Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister, Gert Rosenthal, a former UN Ambassador and top executive at the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), said that the UN System overall had been “relatively impotent to effectively work with the authorities of Myanmar, to reverse the negative trends in the areas of human rights, and consolidate… Read More

In a statement issued on Sunday, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it remains troubled that civilians are being killed in high numbers and that it has found that during the holy month of Ramadan, anti-Government elements “deliberately and knowingly targeted civilians.” “I condemn these deliberate attacks on civilians that signal a disturbing intent to spread fear; they… Read More

As well as claiming seven million lives every year, and damaging children’s development, the UN chief noted that many air pollutants cause global warming, which he has described as “an existential threat.” In his video address, the UN Secretary-General recalled his recent experience in the South Pacific island states, which he visited last month to show solidarity with those suffering… Read More

China was once considered to be the “Kingdom of the Bicycle,” with bikes dominating city streets across the country, but over the past four decades, China’s dramatic economic prosperity and urbanization has seen many people move to motor vehicles as their primary means of transport, contributing to a marked deterioration in air quality.  In Hangzhou, a city in eastern China that was once described by the… Read More

More than a month on from the bombings, some 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly Muslims from Pakistan and Afghanistan, are sheltering in police stations and mosques near the capital Colombo, in the towns of Pasyala and Negombo; the site of one of the church attacks. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is working closely with the Sri Lankan authorities to… Read More

According to a study by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), forming the basis for intergovernmental discussions, while the benefits of economic growth and social progress have reached rural areas, persons with disabilities and women in many countries, the divide between the haves and the have-nots, is widening. “In recent decades, quality of life… Read More