Asia Pacific

Afghan refugees at a UNHCR voluntary repatriation centre in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. After decades in Pakistan, more Afghan refugees have begun to return.
UNHCR/Insiya Syed

Returning home, Afghans continue to face challenges in rebuilding their lives – UN agencies

12 April 2018
Migrants and Refugees

In 2017, about 58,000 Afghan refugees voluntarily returned to their country after decades aboard only to be met with protection risks and “significant” barriers to long-term reintegration into society, two United Nations agencies working in the Asian country reported on Thursday.

Independent Expert on Human Rights Michel Forst.
Jean-Marc Ferré

UN human rights experts urge Viet Nam not to stifle dissenting voices

12 April 2018
Human Rights

United Nations experts have urged Viet Nam not to crackdown on civil society or stifle dissent, after the authorities jailed several human rights defenders for “conducting activities to overthrow the people’s government” – a charge that carries the possibility of the death sentence or life imprisonment.

Secretary-General António Guterres delivers remarks at the opening of the 2018 Boao Forum For Asia in Southern China’s Hainan Province.
UN China/Zhao Yun

At Asian forum, UN chief calls for more equitable globalization, urgent action on climate change

10 April 2018
Economic Development

The world must act to spread the benefits of globalization more fairly while avoiding the perils of protectionism, the United Nations chief said on Tuesday.

A UNICEF health official gives safe drinking water and oral retardation salts to a mother for her one-year-old child suffering from diarrhoea. They are living at temporary shelter along with at least 600 other persons after their homes were destroyed in the Papua New Guinea earthquakes.
UNICEF/Bell

Disease outbreaks threaten Papua New Guinea’s quake-hit communities – UN

10 April 2018
Humanitarian Aid

In earthquake-hit Papua New Guinea, United Nations agencies on the ground are warning of a new looming threat: water-borne disease outbreaks, such as that of diarrhoea and measles.

Staffan de Mistura (on screen), UN Special Envoy for Syria, briefs the emergency Security Council meeting following reports of a chemical weapons attack in Syria.
UN Photo/Mark Garten

Security Council urged to prevent ‘uncontrollable escalation’ in Syria

9 April 2018
Peace and Security

The recent escalating violence across Syria, including allegations of chemical weapons use in a Damascus suburb, could have consequences so devastating they are “difficult to even imagine,” a United Nations envoy warned Monday, calling for unity among global Powers to prevent a chain of events that could draw in actors far beyond the region.

UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller speaks to to displaced persons in Dar Pai Camp, Sittwe, Rakhine state, northern Myanmar.
OCHA Photo

No one in Myanmar should be left behind on the path to a better future, stresses UN official

9 April 2018
Humanitarian Aid

“Regardless of their ethnicity, religion and citizenship status, we need to […] ensure that no vulnerable conflict-affected people are deprived of safe and sustained access to humanitarian protection and assistance, Ursula Mueller, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, said on Sunday at the end of a six-day visit to Myanmar.

In Beijing, UN Secretary-General António Guterres meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
UN China/Zhao Yun

In Beijing, Guterres commends China’s leadership on Global Goals, support for diplomatic solution on Korean Peninsula

8 April 2018
UN Affairs

During an official visit, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday met in Beijing with Xi Jinping, President of China, where he congratulated the President on his recent re-election. 

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development acknowledges the importance of sports for social progress as well as an important enabler of sustainable development.
UNIC Tokyo/Takashi Okano

Marking Sport for Development Day, Japanese athletes take UN Global Goals forward

5 April 2018
SDGs

Ahead of the International Day of Sport, world renowned Japanese athletes are joining a United Nations-backed campaign to promote global development goals through the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games their country will host in 2020.

An asylum-seeker enters the ‘Regional Processing Centre’ on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. (file)
UNHCR/Vlad Sokhin

Australia-bound asylum seekers left mentally scarred by years of detention on Pacific islands, warns UN refugee official

4 April 2018
Migrants and Refugees

A senior United Nations refugee agency official warned on Wednesday about the “shocking” effects of long-term detention on Australia-bound asylum seekers who are being held on remote Pacific islands.

People affected by the earthquake in Papua New Guinea take shelter under a tent. Across the island nation, over 270,000 remain dependent on humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of the disaster and a series of devastating aftershocks.
UNICEF/Bell

UN food aid to benefit 60,000 people in earthquake-hit Papua New Guinea

2 April 2018
Humanitarian Aid

The United Nations emergency food relief agency has airlifted over 80 metric tons of vital nutritional supplements to Papua New Guinea – enough to feed approximately 60,000 people in the earthquake-hit country.