Asia

By Vibhu Mishra 11 September 2024 Humanitarian Aid A massive disaster response has been launched in Viet Nam following widespread damage inflicted by Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful storm to hit the South China Sea in almost three decades, the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported. The storm made landfall on Saturday in the country’s north with wind speeds reaching 213 kilometres (133 miles) per hour, causing severe flooding and landslides, and...

The Astana Ministerial Declaration, named after the conference host city in Kazakhstan, is particularly significant for the region marked by stark disparities in digital access and usage. While an estimated 96 per cent of the population in Asia and the Pacific live in areas covered by mobile broadband networks, only around a third use the internet in ways that boost livelihoods and economic growth. Even more concerning is that about 40 percent of the population lacked the basic digital...

3 September 2024 Human Rights Six United Nations personnel who’ve been held on “spurious” accusations in Yemen for three months by the Houthi de facto authorities must be released immediately, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Tuesday. Issuing the appeal in Geneva on his behalf, Chief Spokesperson for his Office OHCHR, Ravina Shamdasani, “unequivocally” rejected the “false allegations” for which one staff member appeared to have been made to confess under...

According to media reports, the Taliban “morality police” said earlier in the day that they would no longer cooperate with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) because of criticism of the law adopted last week. UNAMA – alongside other parts of the UN system – denounced the new law, describing it a “distressing vision” for the country’s future. “I think we have been very vocal on the decision to further make women’s presence almost disappear in Afghanistan,” UN Spokesperson...

The worst affected regions are Chattogram and Sylhet, where major rivers are “flowing well above danger levels”, further aggravating the situation, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Initial estimates suggest that around five million people – including two million children – have been affected, many stranded without food and relief. Impact of cyclone and monsoon floods in Bangladesh (May to August 2024) Twenty deaths have been reported as of Tuesday, and a further 285,000...

27 August 2024 Human Rights A new morality law enacted by the Taliban in Afghanistan, cements policies that “completely erase” women’s presence in public, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday, calling for it to be immediately revoked. The “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” silences women’s voices and deprives them of their autonomy, “effectively attempting to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows”, said Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR’s Chief...

27 August 2024 Human Rights China still has “many problematic laws and policies” regarding the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region two years after the UN human rights office, OHCHR, published a report on serious violations against the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The 31 August 2022 report stated that violations had taken place in the context of the Government’s assertion that it was targeting terrorists among the Uyghur minority with...

26 August 2024 Humanitarian Aid In flood-hit Myanmar, UN humanitarians said on Monday that aid teams have begun distributing emergency relief to families affected by monsoon rains in the Ayeyarwady Delta. Some 500,000 people in the key rice-growing region could be affected. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that initial reports indicated that hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland have been inundated. In the hardest-hit areas, urgent needs include basic food, drinking water...

As foreign troops suddenly withdrew, life for millions of Afghans, especially women and girls descended into chaos. “If I had left, a mother or a baby could have died,” Ms. Ahmadi said. “I was worried, but I couldn’t leave because people needed our services. I stayed because people, especially pregnant women, needed my support.” Clinics shuttered Public health workers were severely affected by the takeover, as hospitals and clinics were either forced to close or rendered non-functional...

“Eighteen years since the end of the decade-long conflict, and after several previous attempts to finalise such legislation, victims of human rights violations are now closer to knowing the truth, accessing justice, and obtaining reparations,” Mr. Türk said. The amendment bill, entitled the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons, Truth, and Reconciliation Commission Act, aims to ensure truth and accountability for serious human rights violations committed by all parties during...