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The incidents, which have surged since early January, are purportedly linked to violations of the Taliban’s stringent dress code for women. The Human Rights Council-appointed experts called on de facto authorities to comply with Afghanistan’s human rights obligations, including under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Taliban crackdown initially began in western Kabul, predominantly inhabited by the minority ethnic Hazara community – which...

24 January 2024Human Rights UN independent human rights experts on Wednesday urged the Government of Bangladesh to undertake key reforms to reverse “repressive trends” and restore dialogue. The Human Rights Council-appointed experts’ call follows on from the election victory of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier this month, who secured a controversial fourth term with the main opposition party deciding to boycott the poll. Ms. Hasina and her Awami League party won 223 of the 300...

22 January 2024Human Rights Hundreds of Afghan women were forced to quit their jobs or have been arrested and denied access to essential services in the last quarter of 2023, a UN report revealed on Monday, as Taliban officials continue undermining their basic human rights. Among those whose working lives have been upended, de facto authorities “banned” approximately 400 women workers at a pine nut processing from the workplace and dismissed another 200 at a power plant, the UN...

22 January 2024Human Rights A group of independent UN human rights experts on Monday called on the authorities in Hong Kong to drop all charges against pro-democracy media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai and release him immediately. Mr. Lai is the founder of the campaigning pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, which was shut down in 2021 in the wake of the June 2020 National Security Law clampdown in the region. He has spent much of the past three years in solitary confinement after...

“At this particularly difficult moment in securing global peace and security, it is imperative to deescalate the situation on the Korean Peninsula so that it once again becomes an area for cooperation,” said Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. Mr. Khiari briefed the Council in the wake of the latest launch which took place at 8:24 AM local time on Monday, according to the DPRK’s official news agency and various government sources. Five...

12 December 2023Law and Crime Prevention Myanmar is now the world’s largest opium producer, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported on Tuesday, as the economic and political crisis following the 2021 coup and widening conflict between the military and armed groups continues to drive farmers towards illicit opium poppy production. The southeast Asian country’s opium output has surpassed that of Afghanistan, where the Taliban imposed a ban on its production in April last year –...

21 November 2023Migrants and Refugees The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) and humanitarian partners are providing critical aid at border crossing points between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the face of a surge in forced returns of Afghan nationals. According to IOM, in the past two months alone, nearly 375,000 Afghans left Pakistan, primarily utilizing the Torkham and Spin Boldak border crossings, near Kabul and Kandahar, respectively. The number of daily border...

6 November 2023Humanitarian Aid UN agencies in Nepal continue their response to the deadly earthquake that struck western parts of the country over the weekend, claiming 153 lives, injuring over 330 and forcing thousands to spend nights in the open amid freezing temperatures. According to agencies on the ground, more than 380 aftershocks have been reported since the 6.4 magnitude quake struck shortly before midnight of Friday into Saturday, local time. Initial findings suggest over...

5 November 2023Law and Crime Prevention Opium poppy production in Afghanistan has plummeted since the de facto authorities imposed a drug ban last year, new UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data reveals. According to the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2023, released by the agency on Sunday, the supply of opium declined by an estimated 95 per cent, falling from 6,200 tons in 2022 to 333 tons in 2023, corresponding to a fall in the area under cultivation, from 233,000 hectares to just...

4 November 2023Humanitarian Aid United Nations teams in Nepal are responding to the devastating earthquake in the west of the country, amid reports that over 150 people have been killed and hundreds more injured. The powerful 6.4M earthquake struck the remote and rural districts of Rukum (West) and Jajarkot shortly before midnight on Friday (local time) as families slept in their mostly mud-brick homes, trapping many under the rubble. Several aftershocks have since been reported. The...