Category: Pacific

According to news reports, three churches were targeted, in the cities of Batticaloa, Negombo, and the capital, Colombo. The Shangri-La, Kingsbury, Cinnamon Grand and another hotel, all in the capital, were also hit.   So far, no group has claimed responsibility for carrying out the likely suicide bombings, but police have reportedly arrested seven people in connection with the attacks.  The… Read More

Recognizing citizens’ “strong desire for sustainable peace in Afghanistan”, the Council underscored that “calls for more fighting will not advance the goal of making a sustainable peace”. According to news reports, the announcement, which came as the UN lifted travel bans on the Taliban’s senior leaders to facilitate United States-led peace talks, signals that although negotiations are gaining momentum, fighting is likely… Read More

According to the study – Gathering Storm: Climate change clouds the future of children in Bangladesh – the country’s flat topography, dense population and weak infrastructure make it “uniquely vulnerable to the powerful and unpredictable forces that climate change is compounding”.  The threat is felt from the flood and drought-prone lowlands in the country’s north, to its storm-ravaged coastline along the Bay of Bengal, it… Read More

Underscoring that every person has the right to be “free from torture” and “cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment”, UNAIDS, the agency dedicated to tackling the virus, and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the sexual and reproductive health agency, warned the new penal code, which came into force in the south-east Asian monarchy on Wednesday, “will have a significant negative impact… Read More

In an appeal to the Bruneian Government to stop what she described as “draconian” revisions, due to come into force on Wednesday, High Commissioner Bachelet maintained that they “would enshrine in legislation cruel and inhuman punishments that seriously breach international human rights law”. According to a statement from Ms. Bachelet issue by her office, OHCHR, the death penalty would in… Read More

Speaking at the opening of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) in Bangkok, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed expressed her admiration for the development progress made within the vast region so far. “Your governments have taken on the challenge of the 2030 Agenda with decisive leadership…making significant investments to enhance data and statistical coverage, take partnerships to scale and… Read More

In a statement issued one week after the Human Rights Council’s 47 Member States heard the report, and passed a resolution giving Sri Lanka another two years to deliver reforms originally agreed in 2015, High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet dismissed a newspaper story which quoted a senior Government official. “I am deeply disappointed by the spin that has been put on… Read More

Mr. Guterres was addressing representatives of the press at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, to show his solidarity with the worldwide Muslim community, a week after the murder of some 50 Muslim worshippers by a gunman in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15. The UN chief spoke, with a “heavy and full heart,” of the grief and sympathy… Read More

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has convened a three-day meeting of international experts in Bangkok and officials from affected countries, who on Wednesday began discussing what to do about stopping the onward march of the crop-guzzling insects, and limiting the devastation they cause.  “We are here today – together – because we share a growing sense of alarm… Read More

In a statement from his office, Secretary-General António Guterres said that he was “saddened by the loss of life, destruction of property and displacement of people’ due to flash floods and landslides in Sentani, Jayapura and Papua, and of the earthquake in West Nusa Tenggara Province.”  The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims and to the people… Read More