Asia Pacific

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in Pakistan

Pakistan’s flood survivors need stronger support, stresses UN refugee chief

16 September 2010
As the United Nations prepares to launch a revised appeal for funds to tackle Pakistan’s devastating flood crisis, the world body’s top refugee official today urged the international community to provide stronger support for the victims of the disaster.
Coffee berries.

UN agency provides loans to help coffee and cocoa producers in Papua New Guinea

15 September 2010
The United Nations rural development arm has unveiled a loan package in Papua New Guinea that it hopes will improve the livelihoods of smallholder producers of coffee and cocoa, the country’s two main cash crops.
Even as the water recedes in much of Pakistan, getting around the country by road is still rough going

Pakistani floods creating a new disaster every day, UN relief chief says

15 September 2010
The United Nations is seeking a further half billion dollars or more for 21 million Pakistanis beset by weeks of flooding, which a top official said was spawning a new disaster every day.
UN mission at work in Nepal

Security Council votes to end UN mission in Nepal in January

15 September 2010
The Security Council today voted to wind up the United Nations mission supporting Nepal’s peace process in January next year after the country’s opposing political groups reached agreement earlier this week on completing the final tasks of the stalled process by that date.
Aung San Suu Kyi

Ban concerned at exclusion of 10 political parties from Myanmar’s elections

15 September 2010
Voicing concern over the decision by Myanmar’s Election Commission to dissolve 10 political parties, including the National League for Democracy (NLD), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the country’s authorities to ensure that November’s elections are fully inclusive.
Lao children proudly display rats they have caught destroying their crops

Laos: UNICEF moves to combat extreme child malnutrition in flood-affected provinces

15 September 2010
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its aid partners are joining forces with health officials in Laos to tackle what they describe as alarming levels of malnutrition among children in nine provinces affected by floods and typhoons in the past two years.
Wading through a flood-ravaged area in Pakistan exposes the skin to unhygienic conditions and sharp debris

Health risks in flood-hit Pakistan still a major concern, say UN agencies

14 September 2010
Health risks remain a major concern in flood-hit Pakistan, where large swathes of territory remain under water one month after the disaster struck and hundreds of thousands of people have yet to receive humanitarian assistance, the United Nations reported today.
Staffan de Mistura, Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan

Top UN envoy cautiously optimistic on upcoming Afghan polls

14 September 2010
Afghanistan’s upcoming parliamentary polls will be “far from” perfect, but they should be much less marred by fraud than last year’s presidential elections, the top United Nations envoy to the country said today.
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Raquel Rolnik.
UN Photo/Ryan Brown

Forced evictions in Kazakhstan spark UN human rights expert’s concern

13 September 2010
A United Nations independent human rights expert today warned about the impact of forced evictions carried out in Kazakhstan to make way for large-scale development projects seeking to foster economic and social development.
The Saiga antelope

UN and Central Asian countries agree to measures to conserve Saiga antelopes

13 September 2010
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and several governments in Central Asia and Russia have concluded an agreement on conservation measures for the migratory Saiga antelopes, whose population have been in decline during the past two decades, the agency reported today.