Category: Pacific

The report published on Wednesday in the wake of the visit by UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet in May, said that “allegations of patterns of torture, or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence.” In a strongly-worded assessment at the end… Read More

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN agency has classified the situation as a grade 3 emergency – the highest level of its internal grading system – which means all three levels of the organization are involved in the response: the country and regional offices, as well as its headquarters in Geneva.  “Floods in Pakistan, drought and famine in… Read More

An estimated 33 million people have been affected by the “worst flooding in decades “and more than 1,000 people, mostly children”, have died since mid-June when heavy rains began pounding the country, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, said on Tuesday. The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids. More than 1000 people have been… Read More

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths, who briefed ambassadors, reported on the ongoing hardships and uncertainty facing Afghans, nearly half of whom – 24 million people – require aid relief to survive.  #Afghanistan is more than a humanitarian crisis. But it is not a hopeless crisis. Preserving basic service delivery alongside humanitarian assistance remains the only way to prevent a catastrophe… Read More

Mangroves in Bon Taung village, Myanmar, by Green Network Tanitharyi Region (GNTR) The villagers had previously been unable to stop the purchase of an initial tranche of land, but when the company returned in an attempt to buy another 283 hectares of mangrove, locals were prepared; they had received a Securing Community Forest certificate, which served as a bulwark against… Read More

The alert from the UN Children’s Fund, comes as Sri Lanka continues to suffer its worst financial slump since independence in 1948.  Mr. Laryea-Adjei reports that, “families are skipping regular meals as staple foods become unaffordable. Children are going to bed hungry, unsure of where their next meal will come from.” “As the economic crisis continues to rattle Sri Lanka,… Read More

UN Special Rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn announced the plan on Friday at the conclusion of an 11-day mission to the country.  Although Cambodia has achieved much internationally-recognised progress, and ratified most core human rights treaties, he noted that a “pervasive paradox” persists.  “Since 2017, when the main opposition party was disbanded unjustly by judicial order, the country has effectively been under… Read More

Some one million refugees remain in the vast camps of Cox’s Bazar, without any immediate prospect of being able to return home, which more than 150,000 mostly-Muslim Rohingya are still “confined in camps” in their native Rakhine state, said a statement issued on behalf of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Today marks five years since the start of the forced mass… Read More

In the latest incident, some five Afghans, including a family comprising three children and their mother, were returned home to Afghanistan, despite UNHCR’s protests. “Tajikistan must stop detaining and deporting refugees, an action that clearly puts lives at risk,” said Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR’s Director of International Protection. “Forced return of refugees is against the law and runs contrary to the… Read More

“The latest exodus from Myanmar is now officially defined as being a protracted situation,” UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told journalists at a regular press briefing in Geneva. Stepped up assistance Since the onset of the humanitarian crisis, the Bangladesh Government, local communities and aid agencies have been quick to assist refugees arriving in what is now the world’s largest refugee camp in… Read More