Tag: Asia News

“Journalists working for the BBC Persian Service and other Farsi-language news outlets outside Iran have faced threats, criminal investigations, unlawful surveillance, freezing of assets, defamation and harassment by Iranian authorities”, five UN Special Rapporteurs said in a joint statement.  “Several journalists have also been targeted for going public about the harassment, and seeking protection from the UN”. According to the… Read More

“The developments endorsed by this resolution are the product of more than a year of unprecedented US diplomatic engagement with the Taliban, in coordination with our partners in Afghanistan, the region, and around the world”, said Cherith Norman Chalet, the US Acting Deputy Permanent Representative. The agreement with the Taliban calls for the fundamentalists to severe ties with international terrorist… Read More

Mrs. Clinton delivered the keynote address at the meeting of the Group of Friends of Women in Afghanistan, held barely two weeks after the signing of a peace deal between Washington and the Taliban.  The agreement calls for the insurgent group to participate in intra-Afghan peace talks which were to begin that day. It also covers a timetable for the… Read More

Amina J. Mohammed was speaking in the capital, Port Moresby, during the national launch of the Spotlight Initiative, a European Union-UN partnership to eliminate violence against women and girls by the SDG deadline of 2030. The UN estimates that while one in three women worldwide is affected by violence in their lifetime, the number could be double in the Pacific… Read More

More than 30 people were killed when gunmen opened fire during a commemorative event attended by the country’s Chief Executive, Abdullah Abdullah, and former President Hamid Karzai. UN chief António Guterres strongly condemned the attack, according to a statement issued that day by his spokesperson. “The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks against civilians are unacceptable and those who carry out such… Read More

The decision, reached unanimously on appeal by judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, overturns an earlier decision vetoing an inquiry, on the grounds that it “would not be in the interests of justice”.  ? “Today is an important day for the cause of international criminal justice” – #ICC Prosecutor #FatouBensouda, following the Appeals Chamber’s decision authorising… Read More

“Almost no civilian in Afghanistan has escaped being personally affected in some way by the ongoing violence,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA),  said  on Saturday.  The report, entitled Afghanistan Annual Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: 2019, documents 3,403 civilians killed and 6,989 injured –… Read More

“Civilians, including children, continue to bear the brunt of this escalating conflict,”said the UN rights experts, adding that “we are especially fearful for them as violence has increased in the areas where an internet shutdown was recently re-imposed.” In a joint statement, the experts said that since the beginning of February, the Mayanmr Government had imposed restrictions, including a three-month… Read More

During his first official visit to Pakistan as UN Secretary-General, António Guterres stopped at a kindergarten in Lahore on Tuesday, as the country kicked off its initial nationwide polio campaign for the year.  I commend the brave polio vaccine workers — mostly women — working to stamp out polio in Pakistan. Important gains have been made, but we need a concerted push to eradicate this awful… Read More

“This is a very emotional moment. It is wonderful to see interfaith dialogue” said the Secretary-General, on the last leg of his three-day visit to Pakistan, where, since Sunday, he has pressed for climate action, and praised Pakistan’s compassion for hosting Afghan refugees, as well as the South Asian country’s major contributions to UN peacekeeping. I was honoured to visit… Read More