Category: Pacific

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

Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Deputy Special Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, updated journalists in New York on developments in a country where 28 million people now depend on aid to survive.  Immense humanitarian needs  “Afghanistan remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in 2023, notwithstanding, of course, the recent devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria,” he said, speaking via videolink from… Read More

These are the first cases of avian influenza, known as H5N1, reported in Cambodia since a widespread outbreak in 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The infection, which largely affects animals, has a 50 per cent mortality rate in humans. “The global H5N1 situation is worrying given the wide spread of the virus in birds around the world,” said… Read More

News reports said DPRK had launched a long-range missile on Saturday that landed in the sea in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which triggered the United States to deploy joint air exercises with Japan and the Republic of Korea on Sunday. Tweet URL Secretary-General @antonioguterres strongly condemns the launch of yet another ballistic missile of intercontinental range by the Democratic People’s… Read More

Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari, who briefed the Council on Monday afternoon, reiterated the UN Secretary-General’s strong condemnation of the launch and his appeal for action to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.  “The Secretary-General deeply regrets the divisions that have prevented the international community from acting on the DPRK, as well as on other threats to peace and security around… Read More

“We are very disturbed that in recent years the residential school system for Tibetan children appears to act as a mandatory large-scale programme intended to assimilate Tibetans into majority Han culture, contrary to international human rights standards,” they said in a statement.  Erosion of identity  Residential schools provide educational content and an environment centred around Han culture, according to the… Read More

Almost 3,300 arrived in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand last year, the UN agency said, a roughly 290 per cent rise over the 850 people recorded in 2021.  IOM urged States in the region to work collectively to provide life-saving care and support to the refugees to prevent loss of life at sea during the migration journey.    Steadfast support  The Rohingya,… Read More