Asia Pacific

UNDP Pakistan (file)

UN chief condemns deadly bomb attack on Shia mosque in southern Pakistan

30 January 2015
Condemning the deadly bombing today of a Shia mosque in Sindh province in Pakistan, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored this “vicious targeting of people on account of their religious affiliation,” and called on the Pakistan authorities to step up their efforts to protect religious minorities and combat terrorism.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

UN expert urges Kazakhstan to boost rights of peaceful assembly, association

28 January 2015
An independent United Nations rights expert today urged the Government of Kazakhstan to match the country's economic successes of the past quarter century with a ramped-up focus on human rights by opening up the Central Asian state's democratic spaces.

In new development report, UN spotlights ‘string of successes’ in Asia-Pacific region

26 January 2015
The United Nations main development programme spotlighted today its string of successes in 36 countries and territories in the Asia and Pacific region in the areas of poverty reduction, conservation of natural resources, democratic governance, and crisis resilience.
UN Photo

Central Asia: Security Council commends UN centre's work for preventive diplomacy

24 January 2015
The Security Council today celebrated the role of the United Nations regional office in assisting countries in Central Asia confront a range of threats, from terrorism to trans-national drug trafficking, and reaffirmed the importance of conflict prevention tools in contributing effectively to the maintenance of international peace and security.

UNODC (file)

Southeast Asia: UN rights office appeals for halt in executions for drug crimes

20 January 2015
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today expressed concern over the use of the death penalty for drug-related crimes in Southeast Asia and urged authorities to abolish the punishment amid reports that eight more people had been sentenced to death for heroin trafficking.
UNFPA Nepal/Hari Karki

Nepal: UN agency continues distribution of emergency health kits to flood survivors

20 January 2015
Five months after a series of landslides and subsequent flooding brought devastation to large swathes of Nepal, thousands of survivors continue to remain exposed to bitter temperatures and wintry conditions, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned.
Fardin Waezi/UNAMA

Senior UN official in Afghanistan condemns killing of civilian family in bomb blast

18 January 2015
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has today condemned the killing yesterday of a family, as well as the driver of the taxi they were travelling in when the vehicle hit a pressure-plate improvised explosive device planted on a road in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
UNISDR/Thomas Williams

Remembrance vital to disaster management, senior UN official tells Kobe earthquake memorial

18 January 2015
Twenty years after 6,434 lost their lives in the Kobe earthquake, the Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Margareta Wahlström, took part yesterday in the official commemoration of the disaster in Japan.
UNAMA/Fardin Waezi

Afghanistan: UN Mission welcomes civil society efforts to promote sustainable peace

17 January 2015
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has today welcomed a recent national conference during which local road maps for achieving sustainable, inclusive and just peace in the country were presented to participants.
UN Multimedia

Bangladesh: UN rights office alarmed at 'deepening' political violence

16 January 2015
The United Nations human rights office has expressed concern over the rising levels of political violence rippling across Bangladesh amid fears of a return to a state of destructive brinkmanship seen in the run up to the country's 2014 elections.