Asia Pacific

By absorbing much of the added heat trapped by atmospheric greenhouse gases, the oceans are delaying some of the impacts of climate change.
WMO/Olga Khoroshunova

Ban welcomes new post-2020 climate targets submitted by China and Republic of Korea

30 June 2015
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed today's formal submission of post-2020 climate change targets or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) by both the China and the Republic of Korea.
High Commissioner António Guterres talks with refugee families returning to Afghanistan at a UNHCR Voluntary Repatriation Centre in Peshawar, Pakistan.
UNHCR/S.Khan

Senior UN official urges global action to end years-long plight of 2.6 million Afghan refugees

29 June 2015
Expressing concern over the plight of millions of Afghan refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has called on the international community to boost its engagement, employ innovative solutions and pro-active joint advocacy to end the world’s largest prolonged humanitarian crisis.
Special Representative Nicholas Haysom briefs the UN Security Council on 22 June 2015 on the latest developments in Afghanistan.
UN Photo/Mark Garten

INTERVIEW: Afghanistan must not be forgotten amid more pressing crises, warns UN envoy

29 June 2015
The international community must not take its “eye off the ball” when it comes to Afghanistan, the top United Nations envoy there has warned, noting that the country faces numerous challenges that will take quite a bit of time to tackle.
Bamiyan, Afghanistan: children make a long journey to continue their education.
UNICEF/Abdul Aziz Froutan

Afghanistan: UN official expresses deep concern after report reveals children bear brunt of conflict

26 June 2015
Last year saw more children killed or maimed in Afghanistan since monitoring of those statistics began in 2007, reflecting that “children are bearing the brunt of the conflict,” according to United Nations UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on children and armed conflict in that strife-torn country.
A Norwegian Red Cross field hospital deployed by WHO in coordination with Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population in Sindhupalchok District.
WHO/M. Vurens van Es

Massive damage to Nepal's healthcare services has put millions of quake survivors at risk, UN warns

25 June 2015
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today warned the health of the people who survived Nepal's twin earthquakes could be at risk if regular services are not urgently rebuilt and restored in a country where 80 per cent of health facilities in the 14 most affected districts are damaged.
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein at the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum in Seoul on 24 June 2015.
OHCHR

UN rights chief calls opening of office to monitor issues in DPR Korea a ‘breakthrough’

25 June 2015
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, today called the opening in Seoul, Republic of Korea, of an office to work on human rights issues in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) a “breakthrough that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago.”
In Nepal, residents of Chautara Municipality, Sindhupalchok District, collect WFP emergency aid (May 2015).
WFP/Angeli Mendoza

Nepal: two months on, UN agency shifts post-quake focus from emergency response to recovery

24 June 2015
Thousands of porters are carrying food and other relief high into Nepal's mountains, and repairing trails as they go, as part of a shift by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) from emergency response to longer-term recovery, after the 25 April earthquake.
Poppy field in Afghanistan.
UNODC

First-ever comprehensive online system to counter narcotics launches in Afghanistan

23 June 2015
As the result of a three-year partnership, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Afghan Government today launched the first-ever interactive online system for all counter-narcotics-related data in the country.
UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Director Haoliang Xu (second left) at the laying of the foundation stone of a ginger processing community facility centre in Thulosirubari Village, Sindhupalchowk, Nepal.
UNDP Nepal

Nepal: senior UN development official pledges support ahead of post-quake reconstruction conference

23 June 2015
Two months after a massive earthquake and several powerful aftershocks ravaged Nepal, the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Haoliang Xu, arrived in Kathmandu for a visit will include participation in an International Donors’ Conference aimed at bolstering the country’s post-disaster reconstruction efforts.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein speaks to reporters at opening of new UN Human Rights Office in Seoul.
OHCHR

New UN office opens in Seoul to monitor human rights issues in DPR Korea

23 June 2015
A new UN office to work on the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been opened yesterday in Seoul by the United Nations High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.