Category: Pacific

“They do not want to leave their ancestral places, even if they go under,” said Jaap van Hierden. © RCO Micronesia Jaap van Hierden, UN Resident Coordinator in Micronesia. Appointed by the Secretary-General as the first UN Resident Coordinator for the North Pacific, he oversees ongoing development efforts across a remote region with thousands of small islands comprising of small populations… Read More

In a media interview, Mr. Aktoprak said that the community in Yambali village, situated at the foot of a mountain in the remote Enga Province, is buried under between six to eight metres of soil. 150 houses are believed to be buried, said the senior UN official, around 90 more than previously reported. Some 670 people are believed to be… Read More

Fierce battles have intensified between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group, displacing tens of thousands of people in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in recent days. An estimated 45,000 Rohingya have reportedly fled to an area on the Naf River near the border with Bangladesh, seeking protection. Over one million Rohingya are already in the country,… Read More

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that as erratic weather on the back of the worsening climate crisis “becomes the norm”, things will only get worse. This month’s unusually high rainfall followed a dry winter, rendering the ground too hard to absorb water, leading to massive flooding. Unseasonably warm temperatures further complicated the situation by melting mountain snow, causing… Read More

UNAIDS, the main advocate for coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the UN Development Progarmme (UNDP) offices in India have been important partners in this effort.  On this International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), celebrated annually on 17 May, we reflect on the journey of some members of this community in India and shed light on… Read More

The call accompanies the launch of a key report by OHCHR, highlighting also the need for the Government to acknowledge the involvement of State security forces and to issue a public apology. From the 1970s to 2009, Sri Lanka witnessed widespread enforced disappearances, predominantly carried out by the national army and associated paramilitary groups.   The Liberation Tigers of Tamil… Read More

Flash floods in the area have reportedly killed at least 300 people, including 51 children, with many more injured, with these figures expected to increase as additional reports come in, according to UN agencies. UN chief António Guterres expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. “The United Nations and its partners in Afghanistan are coordinating with the de… Read More

Even though both Nami and Tomoyuki were born on Okinoerabu Island (currently home to only 12,000 inhabitants), neither learned to speak Shimamuni – a local variety of the Kunigami language – fluently as children. Kunigami was added to UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger in 2009 and classified as “definitely endangered” to raise public awareness that “children no… Read More

Asia remained the world’s most disaster-affected region in 2023 due to weather, climate and water-related hazards. Storms and floods have hit the hardest, a new report published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Tuesday reveals. Source UN News Read More

Kornelia Icha has never gone hungry or got close to starvation. Very few people do in Indonesia with its fertile soil and tropical climate. But, until a recent intervention by the National Food Agency, her diet consisted mostly of rice, corn, onions and the occasional meat dish. Source UN News Read More