Category: Pacific

The execution of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam and Datchinamurthy Kataiah is imminent, the UN rights office said in a statement, before pointing to an apparently “alarming acceleration in execution notices” in Singapore, since the start of the year.  OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that Mr. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 and convicted of drug trafficking.   His family was told just last week that… Read More

As Indonesia celebrates Ramadan, Ms Julliand and Toily Kurbanov, Executive Coordinator, United Nations Volunteers explain* why volunteerism encapsulates the generosity and compassion of the Muslim holy month. Valerie Julliand, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Indonesia., by UN Indonesia “When a 7.5 magnitude earthquake tore through Palu, Central Sulawesi, in September 2018, two memories surfaced for Moh. Tofan Saputra. He… Read More

The Torres Strait Islands, an autonomous part of Australia, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis, and extreme weather, including storms, rising sea levels and erosion, are a major threat to the indigenous people, who have inhabited the islands for some 70,000 years. With the case ongoing, Mr. Molby and his fellow activists have been recognized as… Read More

The Torres Strait Islands, an autonomous part of Australia, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis, and extreme weather, including storms, rising sea levels and erosion, are a major threat to the indigenous people, who have inhabited the islands for some 70,000 years. With the case ongoing, Mr. Molby and his fellow activists have been recognized as… Read More

The explosions took place at the all-boys Abdul Rahim Shahid high school and the nearby Mumtaz Education Centre, both located in the Dasht-e-Barchi area,  a predominantly Shiite Muslim neighbourhood in western Kabul. Humanitarian community condemns sensless attack on schools in #Kabul today. Those who committed crime must be brought to justice. We join @unafghanistan @OCHAAfg with sympathies to victims’ families… Read More

Subasa Mohanta is no stranger to hunger. It has been a constant in the lives of this 50-year-old farmer, her husband, and two children. Despite 16-hour days of back-breaking work as a farmhand, carting stone to a construction site, she might still come home without enough to eat. But in 2018, a small bag of seeds helped Subasa to transform… Read More

According to a readout of the meeting in New York, Mr. Ban congratulated President Christopher J. Loeak, whose country assumed the Chairmanship of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries of the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Ban and Mr. Loeak also discussed climate change, which is already impacting thousands of people in the… Read More

Acknowledging the grim milestone in a briefing to the Security Council on Thursday, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, urged the members of the Constitutional Committee’s Small Drafting Body to work “with the sense of seriousness and spirit of compromise that the situation demands”.  History of disappointment The Syrian Constitutional Committee, first established amid high expectations in 2019,… Read More

Doubling in number over the last eight months, the agency now estimates that there are more than 150,000 Nicaraguans who have crossed over the southern border, seeking refuge in Costa Rica. “These figures, as of February 2022, confirm more Nicaraguans are currently seeking protection in Costa Rica than all the refugees and asylum seekers combined, during Central America’s civil wars… Read More

“When we are trying to help others, or when we go to court to take up someone’s case, we face threats and intimidation,” says Mary Kini, of the Highlands Human Rights Defenders Networks. © Spotlight Initiative/Rachel Donovan Human rights defender Mary Kini, Papua New Guinea. Personal cost For more than 14 years, she has been working to assist victims of… Read More