Asia Pacific

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, in Astana today:

​​​​​​​Pacific Leaders met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on 23 September 2022 on the margins of the high-level week of the seventy-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss pressing issues for the Blue Pacific and the international community.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, delivered by his Chef de Cabinet, marking the fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in New York and online, today:

The Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine today condemned the deadly attack on Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast on 9 July. Reports are that a municipal dormitory for vulnerable people was hit, killing at least 34 civilians, including a child. Another nine people were rescued from the debris and are now hospitalized.

​​​​​​​Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Pacific Island Forum Leaders Dialogue, in Fiji today:

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs allocated $4 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to respond to the crisis in Mali’s Ménaka region, where armed clashes since March have killed hundreds of people and triggered the displacement of an estimated 56,000 people, nearly two‑thirds of them women and children.

The Secretary-General condemned the attack in Mali which killed two peacekeepers and injured two others after their vehicle — an armoured personnel carrier — hit an improvised explosive device outside of the town of Douentza.  Despite such challenging circumstances, United Nations personnel are continuing their mandated work.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the seventy-eighth session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), held in Bangkok today:

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Pacific Regional Debt Conference, held online today at 13:00 Fiji time:

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the situation in the northern part of Ethiopia is rapidly deteriorating, amid fighting in and around Dessie and Kombolcha in the Amhara region, which led to large-scale displacement and increasing humanitarian needs.  The two towns were already hosting a large number of displaced people from nearby areas.