The United Nations today welcomed the successful 29 December parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, the first polls held in seven years in the South-East Asian nation, which has been beset by political violence and polarization in recent times.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partners have started to deliver supplies to help an estimated 200,000 Afghan returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) get through the country’s harsh winter.
The top United Nations human rights official in Nepal pressed its Government today to bring justice for a local businessman murdered by members of the Maoist army earlier this year.
On the eve of Bangladesh’s “highly significant” parliamentary polls, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call for a peaceful electoral process in the South Asian nation, which has been beset by political violence and polarization in recent years.
Tajik officials trained by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have seized some 560 kilogrammes of hashish and heroin in the single biggest bust in the Central Asian nation’s history.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he hoped an independent Commission of Inquiry into the circumstance of the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated one year ago, could be established soon.
Timor-Leste has made good progress towards peace and stability after the violent attacks in February that almost claimed the life of its President, a senior United Nations envoy to the tiny South-East Asian nation the world body helped shepherd to independence in 2002 stressed today.
As Bangladesh gears up for its first parliamentary elections in seven years on 29 December, the first ever computerized photo voter list in the south Asian country containing pictures of more than 80 million people is now complete after taking 11 months to compile with United Nations help.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has agreed to work with the Commonwealth to help Fiji's interim Government and other major political forces in the Pacific archipelago hammer out the terms and date of parliamentary elections needed to restore democracy there.
An independent United Nations human rights expert has called on Sri Lanka to significantly improve access for more humanitarian relief and personnel to reach hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the northern Vanni region by the ongoing conflict between the Government and Tamil separatists.
