Multilateral development assistance
United Nations
UN urges Myanmar to tackle causes of opium scourge
Opium production in Myanmar has “stabilised” at stubbornly high levels, the United Nations said on 14 December, adding the government must address poverty and end the conflicts which drive farmers to grow illicit poppies. Myanmar, the world’s second largest opium producer after Afghanistan, has struggled to ...
UN: Poverty, conflict drive opium production in Myanmar-Laos
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s latest opium survey for Myanmar and Laos, released 15 December, said poverty and conflict are the driving forces behind poppy cultivation, the second largest behind that of Afghanistan. In its latest production assessment, UNDOC said although Southeast Asia’s opium ...
Myanmar comes under renewed pressure to ratify key human rights treaties
Myanmar has come under renewed pressure to lift itself from the bottom rung of countries to have ratified key international human rights treaties. Speaking at an event in Yangon yesterday to mark International Human Rights Day, Andrew MacGregor, a senior official from the Office of the ...
Critics doubt Thai PM's climate pledge
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on 1 December declared in front of the world community that Thailand would slash greenhouse gases by 20-25 per cent within 15 years, but critics panned the plan, saying it was just for show, as it looked unrealistic. Prayut told the two-week-long United Nations climate-change ...
UN warns of need to boost immunisation
The United Nations has called for an expansion of immunisation to combat the threat of polio and other preventable diseases, after two cases of a vaccine-derived form of the virus were detected in northern Rakhine State. The World Health Organization and the UN Children’s Fund said ...
Human rights envoy warns of ‘dangerous tipping point’ in Cambodia
The renewed tensions between the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party threaten to push Cambodia towards a “dangerous tipping point” if not resolved, the UN’s human rights envoy has said. Her words came as CNRP president Sam Rainsy, a warrant issued for ...
More suspected cholera outbreaks reported
Local politicians and relief workers in central Shan State have reported two suspected outbreaks of cholera among villagers displaced by the fighting that is focused on two townships, Kye-thi and Mine Shu/Mong Shu. Shan Youth Group activist Ko Sai Oo said he was trying to ...
Government spokesman rejects calls for Rohingya citizenship
A spokesperson for President Thein Sein took to social media on 21 November to reject recommendations that Rohingya Muslims be granted a path to citizenship. The minister’s comments were made in the wake of the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review, a comprehensive human rights examination comprising recommendations from ...
UN criticises Cambodia, China rights violations
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on 17 November that an arrest warrant issued against Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy was a worrisome development and called for dialogue. Meanwhile, in Geneva, a UN watchdog questioned Chinese officials over alleged widespread use of torture in the country’s prisons, deaths ...
Myanmar government rejects key human rights recommendations
Human rights groups at the United Nations and in Myanmar are hopeful the incoming government will radically change the country’s attitude to protecting human rights, after representatives for Naypyidaw rejected a large number of proposed human rights reform made under the Universal Period Review process. The ...
