Asia Pacific

Displaced Sri Lankan family at a transitional shelter

Even as spotlight falls on Pakistani quake, UN pushes ahead with tsunami aid

26 October 2005
Even as United Nations relief operations focus sharply on aiding millions of survivors affected by this month’s devastating earthquake in Pakistan, the world body’s agencies are pressing on with their efforts to help rehabilitate the vast region ravaged by last December’s Indian Ocean tsunami.

Uzbekistan: UN rights experts concerned about rights of defendants

26 October 2005
Four United Nations human rights experts today jointly expressed concern about the conduct of the Uzbekistani authorities trying 15 men accused of terrorism in connection with protests that broke out last year in Andijan.

Asia-Pacific governments must do more to stop spread of HIV, UN official says

26 October 2005
The growing threat of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific will need comprehensive, concerted responses from governments, or risk a serious HIV epidemic, a United Nations expert on AIDS told a gathering of experts in New Zealand.

Blocked roads, snow, lack of funding could kill Pakistani quake survivors – UN

25 October 2005
Blocked roads, snow and a serious lack of funding could create a death trap for tens of thousands of people who survived this month’s devastating earthquake in Pakistan, the United Nations World Food Programme warned today in the latest gloomy projection on the disaster.

Afghanistan: UN stresses right of free expression after journalist’s sentencing

24 October 2005
Taking note of the sentencing of an Afghan journalist to two years in prison for publishing an article considered offensive to Islam, the United Nations mission in the country said today the right to freedom of expression applies to everyone, including journalists, and should be strongly defended.
Two earthquake victims at Abbas Hospital

Shelter remains top priority in UN quake relief in Pakistan

24 October 2005
More than two weeks after an earthquake devastated northern Pakistan, plunging temperatures and sheer desperation are driving survivors out of their wrecked mountain villages into a rising number of camps, the United Nations refugee agency reported today as it rushed in more supplies to people who have lost their homes.

UN task forces battle misconceptions of avian flu, mount Indonesian campaign

24 October 2005
A new United Nations task force warned today against the "over-simplified" perception that wild birds are the main cause of avian flu, and urged immediate measures be taken among both domestic and wild bird populations to guard against its possible transference, while a UN task force in Indonesia begins a door-to-door campaign to help poultry farmers deal with the pathogen.

Annan urges authorities in Myanmar to take steps towards democracy

21 October 2005
The absence of an all-inclusive process of democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar is exacerbating the suffering of the country’s people, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a new report which calls on the authorities to take steps to rectify the situation.
Convoy of supplies going to NATO's Incirlik airbase

Pakistan: Annan writes all UN member leaders to boost quake relief aid

21 October 2005
Calling the next few weeks critical for millions of survivors of Pakistan's devastating earthquake, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a letter today to the leaders of all 191 Member States urging "an immediate and exceptional escalation" of the global relief effort.
Convoy of supplies going to NATO's Incirlik airbase

Top relief official calls Pakistani quake UN’s worst logistical nightmare ever

20 October 2005
The United Nations is facing its worst logistical nightmare ever as it scrambles to save the lives of tens of thousands of earthquake survivors in inaccessible areas of Pakistan in an unprecedented race against time that dwarfs efforts after last year’s Indian Ocean tsunami, the UN emergency relief coordinator said today.