Asia Pacific

John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

UN launches $604 million appeal to aid Afghans in need

3 February 2009
The United Nations and its partners today appealed for $604 million to help meet the needs of Afghans made vulnerable by natural disasters, lack of access to basic social services, increasing food insecurity and the worsening security situation.
Special Adviser on Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari

Talks with senior Government officials bring UN envoy’s Myanmar visit to close

3 February 2009
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser concluded a four-day working visit to Myanmar today, meeting with senior Government officials in the South-East Asian nation.

Top UN envoy speaks out after suicide bomber kills Afghan policemen

2 February 2009
The top United Nations official in Afghanistan has spoken out about today’s attack at a police station in the southern province of Uruzgan which reportedly killed at least 20 officers.
Global opium poppy cultivation is decreasing

Gains in fight against illicit drug trade in South-East Asia fragile, UN warns

2 February 2009
As the United Nations anti-drug agency reports that the South-East Asian region – once notorious as heroin’s Golden Triangle – has dramatically slashed its opium production, its top official warned today that without serious development assistance the area’s economy could slide back into drug dependency.
A meeting of UNHCR staff and Afghan refugees in Quetta, Pakistan.The refugee agency has long worked in the town (file photo)

Pakistan: top UN officials urge immediate release of refugee official

2 February 2009
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned “in the strongest terms” the murder of a United Nations worker in western Pakistan and joined the world body’s top refugee official in calling for the immediate release of another staff member apparently abducted in the same attack.
Ibrahim Gambari with Aung San Suu Kyi (file photo)

Myanmar: UN envoy meets with pro-democracy leader

2 February 2009
The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Myanmar continued his visit to the South-East Asian nation today, meeting with Government officials and opposition and other political parties, including with detained pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Internally displaced people wait for aid at a distribution point in eastern Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: UN official concerned over shelling of hospital, worsening civilian plight

2 February 2009
A United Nations humanitarian spokesman in Sri Lanka today voiced concern over the shelling of a hospital in the zone of fighting between the Government and rebel forces, emphasizing the ever-increasing threat to the lives of some 250,000 civilians trapped by the conflict.
Kai Eide, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan

Top UN official to Afghanistan calls for push to end opium production

1 February 2009
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan is set to shrink this year, which could deal a major blow to the illicit drug industry, the top United Nations official to the war-torn country said today.
Staffan de Mistura, Special Representative for Iraq

UN envoy to Iraq warns of tough challenges ahead as regional polls pass peacefully

31 January 2009
As elections for regional councils in Iraq seemed to have passed peacefully today, the top United Nations envoy to the country warned of tough challenges ahead, including the need to heal ethnic divisions and for national reconciliation, that could jeopardize recent progress.
Raquel Rolnik, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing

Forced evictions leave thousands homeless in Cambodia, says UN expert

30 January 2009
The forced evictions of tens of thousands of Cambodia’s poor constitute a “grave breach” of human rights, a United Nations independent expert said today, calling for damages to be paid for lost homes and the provision of alternative housing.