Category: Pacific

A foreign exchange scarcity has stoked an economic crisis, coupled with rising inflation, shortages of fuel and essential goods, and prolonged power cuts. 🇱🇰#SriLanka: UN experts condemn crackdown on protests amid the country’s severe economic crisis. “We urge the Gvt for an open & genuine dialogue with peaceful demonstrators on political reforms & means to lessen the impact of the… Read More

Despite persistent humanitarian needs sparked by years of conflict and recurring drought, the current situation in Afghanistan is unparalleled, with more than 24.4 million people requiring humanitarian assistance to survive, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Food security levels have plunged at an alarming rate, leaving half the population facing acute hunger, including nine… Read More

“Humanitarian agencies are seeking more than $881 million to support approximately 1.4 million people, including over 918,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, and around 540,000 Bangladeshis in neighbouring communities,” UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told journalists during a press briefing in Geneva. The launch of the 2022 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, was co-hosted… Read More

The poster shows a tiny girl with braided hair, tied at the end with pink ribbons. Her face droops in despair as she walks next to an older man. The garlands around their necks indicate that they have just been wed. She holds a little blackboard in her hand, with the first letters of the Hindi alphabet on it, a… Read More

“The unity of the Security Council in this matter is essential to ease tensions, overcome the diplomatic impasse and avoid a negative action-reaction cycle,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. In pursuing its nuclear capability and ballistic missile programmes, the #DPRK defies the @UN Security Council. We remain committed to working with all parties for sustainable peace and the… Read More

In a statement, issued by his Spokesperson, Secretary-General António Guterres called the move “another breach” of DPRK’s 2018 self-imposed moratorium that is in “clear violation of Security Council resolutions.”  North Korea has reportedly conducted 13 weapons launches this year, prompting concern in the United States, that leader Kim Jong-Un, is determined to make progress on developing weapons capable of carrying… Read More

Of the Council’s 15 members, 14 voted in favour of resolution 2626 (2022), with the Russian representative abstaining. Priority tasks The adopted text renews the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for one year with a shift in priority tasks. The Security Council today extended the mandate of the @UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan for 12 months,… Read More

In a new report warning that serious rights abuses uncovered in Myanmar may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, appealed to the international community to take “concerted, immediate measures to stem the spiral of violence” there. The report’s findings indicate that military and security forces bombarded populated areas with airstrikes… Read More

Ramiz Alakbarov, who also serves as Deputy Special Representative, issued a statement saying that acute hunger in the country rose from 14 million in July, to 23 million in March, forcing households to resort to “desperate measures” to put food on the table. “Unacceptable trade-offs have caused untold suffering, reduced the quality, quantity, and diversity of food available, led to… Read More

“Six months of indecision … are eroding vital social and economic coping systems and pushing the population into greater uncertainty,” said Deborah Lyons, who is the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA.  Thanking donors for generous humanitarian contributions since August 2021, when international forces left Afghanistan after a two-decades-long engagement, she said… Read More