Category: Pacific

There are currently 46 so-called Least Developed Countries (LDCs), a United Nations designation. They have been participating in an international conference in Doha, Qatar, focused on how best to support their development and future graduation from the LDC group. Subharsh Nepali (left) and colleagues (file) “In the 1970s, when Nepal was first included in the UN list of Least Developed… Read More

According to the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office, more than 250,000 people have been affected, which is almost 80 per cent of the country’s population. First Judy, then Kevin Less than a week after Cyclone Judy forced residents to evacuate from the capital Port Vila, they were then hit by Cyclone Kevin, a category four storm that brought heavy rain and winds… Read More

Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva, UN Special Representative and head of the UN’s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, strongly condemned recent Taliban decrees that have further eroded the rights of Afghan women. However, she also urged the international community to preserve “whatever political space exists” for frank discussions with Afghanistan’s leaders, warning of rapidly deteriorating humanitarian and economic conditions across the country.… Read More

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) called for the authorities to provide full reparation and an official apology to the survivors, who have suffered decades of physical, psychological and other consequences.  ‘Symbolic’ victory  “This is a symbolic moment of victory for these victims who were previously silenced, ignored, written off and erased from history in the… Read More

Like many women in Tajikistan, Shermatova Marjona has experienced gender-based violence. Ms. Shermatova met her husband while she was working abroad as a cleaner in Moscow, Russia. It wasn’t long before they were married, and he persuaded her to send all the money she earned to her father-in-law in Tajikistan, who was to use the funds to build a house… Read More

The unprecedented flooding, triggered by severe monsoon rains, submerged a third of the country and resulted in some 1,700 deaths.  Millions displaced, infrastructure damaged  More than 33 million people were affected overall, or one in seven Pakistanis, while eight million were displaced and 13,000 injured, according to the UN Office in the country.  Around one million livestock animals perished in… Read More

The Mandalika project includes parks, resorts, hotels and a motorcycle racetrack hosting international sporting events. It is located on Lombok island, in impoverished West Nusa Tenggara Province.  The experts said they have received alarming accounts of alleged human rights violations committed by police and military forces, including excessive use of force to evict and restrict the rights of the indigenous… Read More

“Hope is rare now in Myanmar,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Volker Türk said, calling for robust support for its citizens under fire. “The disregard and contempt for human life and human rights that are continuously demonstrated by the military, constitute an outrage to the conscience of humanity,” he said. The latest report, covering the period between… Read More

“Continuous” violence, including the killing, arbitrary arrest, torture and enforced disappearance of opponents in Myanmar between 1 February 2022 and 31 January 2023, have left the country’s people desperate for outside help, OHCHR’s James Rodehaver said, unveiling the Office’s latest report on the crisis. “Despite all the challenges that they face, so far there has been so far no break… Read More

The development follows the UN World Food Programme (WFP)’s announcement that it would be cutting back on assistance to those sheltering in the vast Cox’s Bazar camp complex from 1 March because of a lack of funding. “These rations cuts are a stain on the conscience of the international community,” said Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. “I have spoken with desperate families in… Read More