Asia

ESCAP panel examines impacts of crises on least developed countries in Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific’s resilience against financial turmoil being ground down – UN

28 April 2009
The Asia-Pacific region has been steeled against the global recession by lessons learned from the 1997 economic crisis, but its resilience will continue to be chipped away unless several key issues are addressed, a top United Nations official cautioned today.
ESCAP Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer

Triple crises reveal necessity of collective action, says top UN Asia-Pacific official

27 April 2009
The “triple threat” posed by the economic, food and climate crises have underscored the need for international cooperation to prevent the slide of an additional 60 million people in Asia and the Pacific into poverty this year, the top United Nations official in the region said today.
Many people trafficked internally in the Philippines are put to work in metropolitan areas such as Manila, the capital city

UN agency chief urges protection of refugees while fighting smugglers

15 April 2009
The head of the United Nations refugee agency today urged Member States of the so-called Bali Process on people-smuggling in the Asia-Pacific region to ensure that refugees and asylum-seekers are protected.