Asia Pacific

A polling area in the the north of Sri Lanka when local elections were held in July 2010.
IRIN

As Sri Lanka heads to polls, UN chief calls for ‘peaceful and credible’ election

29 December 2014
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has conveyed his “strong expectation” that the Government of Sri Lanka will ensure “the peaceful and credible conduct” of its upcoming Presidential election, scheduled for the beginning of the New Year.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras (file)

Ban welcomes proposal for ‘high-level dialogue’ between two Koreas

29 December 2014
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed a proposal by the Government of the Republic of Korea to kick-start a high-level dialogue with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in an effort to thaw relations between the two countries.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

UN chief urges Pakistan to end executions, reinstate death penalty moratorium

26 December 2014
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Government of Pakistan to bring an end to the executions of all convicts and re-impose the country’s moratorium on the death penalty, a United Nations spokesperson announced today.
An aerial view of the vast destruction of the Indonesian coast, between the towns of Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, caused by the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Marking 10 years since Indian Ocean tsunami, UN says world better prepared for natural disasters

26 December 2014
It has been ten years since a massive tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean killing more than 200,000 people and devastating coastline communities from Indonesia to Somalia. Today, the world today is much better prepared to mitigate such disasters, senior United Nations officials have declared.
An ethnic Hmong woman in Ban Houythao, Laos, where most people depend on the land for their livelihoods.
IRIN/Martin Abbiati

Laos: UN experts appeal for help to probe two-year-old disappearance of rights defender

23 December 2014
International support is now needed to investigate the enforced disappearance of leading Laotian human rights defender Sombath Somphone, who was last seen in December 2012, a group of United Nations independent experts urged today.
UN Photo/Martine Perret
UN Photo/Martine Perret

UN rights experts alarmed at resumption of death penalty by States for terrorist acts

23 December 2014
As Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on use of the death penalty following the recent terrorist attack in Peshawar, United Nations human rights experts today warned against rescinding such suspensions and stressed the risks of overusing capital punishment for terrorist acts.
Members of the UN Human Rights Office in Cambodia interview Montagnard asylum seekers in forest © OHCHR Cambodia

Montagnards hiding in Cambodian forests since October now safe, UN reports

23 December 2014
After weeks of effort and engagement with authorities, the United Nations said today that it has helped a group of Vietnamese Montagnards who had been hiding in the Cambodian forests since October with little protection and subsistence get to safety.
A wide view of the Security Council during a briefing on the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

In Security Council, UN officials urge renewed engagement with DPR Korea on human rights

22 December 2014
Despite a grim litany of human rights abuses committed against its own people and ongoing provocations to global peace and security, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has shown signs of compliance with human rights mechanisms prompting hopes that the Asian nation may one day yield to the call for full accountability and reform, two senior United Nations officials stated today.
A fishing trawler damaged by the December 2004 tsunami under repairs at the Kudewella boat repair centre in Sri Lanka with assistance from FAO.
FAO/Prakash Singh (file)

10 years after Indian Ocean tsunami, Asia-Pacific region better prepared: UN

22 December 2014
Ten years after the Indian Ocean tsunami hit South and Southeast Asia, countries in the region are better prepared to deal with tragedies, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, while stressing that there is still room for improvement.
Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Maldives: UN expert concerned at ‘unacceptable’ dismissal of Supreme Court justices

22 December 2014
The removal of two Supreme Court justices in the Maldives by local authorities threatens the independence of the country’s judiciary and further compromises the rule of law, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers has warned.