Category: Pacific

The prisoner, Heidar Ghorbani, was secretly executed in Sanandaj Central Prison at dawn on Sunday – without prior notice to his family or lawyer. Prison authorities then secretly buried his body, according to a statement released on behalf of the experts. “The Islamic Republic of Iran executed Mr. Ghorbani in secret, on the basis of overbroad provisions, following a deeply… Read More

Mr. Parvez has documented serious human rights violations in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, including enforced disappearances and unlawful killings, they said, and has faced reprisals reportedly for sharing information with the UN.  Apparent new retaliation  He was arrested in November by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges related to conspiracy and terrorism.    “We are concerned that one month… Read More

Bishkek, home to roughly one million people, is among the world’s cities with the worst air pollution.During winter months, it is often trapped under a dome of smog derived both from its natural environment – the city’s temperature is, on average, 5°C warmer than its surroundings – and smoke from the coal which is still used to heat most homes. … Read More

In an update posted online early on Monday, the top UN humanitarian coordinator in the archipelago, Gustavo Gonzalez, said that aid assessment teams had reached communities in need of emergency assistance at the weekend, for the first time. They “were able to access areas and communities hit hardest” by Rai’s 195-kilometre-an-hour (121 miles per hour) sustained winds, with gusts of up to… Read More

“Bangladesh saved untold numbers of lives when it opened its arms and hearts to Rohingya people who survived these most unspeakable of horrors inflicted on them by the Myanmar military”, said Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar at the end of his first official visit to the Bangladesh. “All who value human rights owe Bangladesh… Read More

Speaking virtually to the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, Pakistan, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths painted a grim picture of 23 million people facing hunger; malnourished children overflowing in health facilities; 70 per cent of teachers working without salaries; and millions of students – Afghanistan’s future – out… Read More

Nadya Zafira, an international relations student at Indonesia’s Gadjah Mada University, won a writing competition for her letter to UN chief António Guterres, in which she addressed the inequalities laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how indigenous communities and youth are marginalized in global conversations on climate crisis. Source UN News Read More

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s 2021 Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition also pointed out that as hunger increased, so too did access to sufficiently nutritious food. Overall, more than 375 million in the region faced hunger during 2020, up from around 321 million in 2019. Both agencies said… Read More

“Even as the conflict parties all profess to me their desire for peace, their focus remains on military options… will not result in sustainable solutions”, he said. Grundberg to #UNSC:”The process should be designed to allow for parallel progress on different agenda items of importance to Yemenis. It’ll address the parties’ priorities in the context of a broader agenda that… Read More

In a strongly worded statement on Friday, OHCHR said that it was “appalled by the alarming escalation of grave human rights abuses” in the country.  “In the last week alone, security forces have killed and burned to death 11 people, among them five minors, and rammed vehicles into protesters exercising their fundamental right to peaceful assembly”, said Spokesperson Rupert Colville at a news briefing in… Read More