The archipelago has already been depleted this year by multiple climate and geophysical crises. Just a few days ago, more than 200 people died in the Typhoon Kalmaegi disaster.
From one crisis to another
“Children and their families are barely emerging from one crisis when another one hits and sends them back to zero,” said Kyungsun Kim, UNICEF Representative in the Philippines.
The agency is carrying out joint assessments with authorities and partners to determine the most important needs.
In addition to providing life-saving support, UNICEF prioritizes child-centered climate policies, climate-resilient social services, and mobilizing climate finance to protect communities from natural shocks.
UN launches first refugee-led green fund to restore land and reduce carbon emissions
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has launched the Refugee Environmental Protection Fund, the first major refugee-led initiative using carbon finance to tackle deforestation, promote clean energy and create green jobs.
The new fund will launch projects in Uganda and Rwanda, with the goal of restoring more than 100,000 hectares of land over the next decade and providing access to clean energy for 1 million people.
Planted in Uganda and Rwanda
In the Bidibidi and Kyangwali settlements in Uganda, activities will include reforestation, seedling production and the implementation of cleaner cooking technologies, which are expected to reduce more than 200,000 tonnes of CO₂ each year and create thousands of jobs for refugees and host communities.
In Kigeme camp in Rwanda, the project will rehabilitate degraded hillsides, promote safer cooking for 15,000 people, and support sustainable livelihoods through nursery management and soil conservation.
Proceeds from verified carbon credits will be reinvested in local environmental projects, ensuring communities share in the benefits.
“Refugees often live on the frontlines of extreme weather conditions,” said Siddhartha Sinha, Head of Innovative Financing at UNHCR. “This fund helps them protect the land they depend on.”
Expansion is already being explored in Brazil and Bangladesh, linking environmental recovery with long-term community resilience.
Daily struggle for the survival of people with disabilities in Myanmar
Soldiers loyal to Myanmar’s military junta have reportedly executed, tortured and sexually assaulted people with disabilities, trapping many of them in a daily fight for survival, according to a new report published by the UN’s independent human rights expert for Myanmar.
Since taking power in 2021, Myanmar’s military has ruled by force, violently attacking the opposition, protests, ethnic minorities and especially people with disabilities, special rapporteur Tom Andrews said on Thursday.
burned alive
“Dozens of people with disabilities have been burned alive in their own homes as junta forces carried out mass arson campaigns across the country,” he added.
Deeply held religious and cultural beliefs continue to perpetuate the isolation and disenfranchisement of people with disabilities in Myanmar, leaving them trapped in a vicious cycle of repression and discrimination, the report stressed.
“The widespread belief that impairments are the result of crimes committed in a past life not only fuels discrimination but is also internalized by disabled people, leading many to withdraw from community life out of shame and erosion of personal dignity,” Mr Andrews said.
However, a remarkable network of organizations, many of them led by people with disabilities, continue to work against all odds to provide essential services and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.
“As a distracted world turns its attention to other crises and conflicts, the situation of people with disabilities in Myanmar has truly become a hidden crisis within a forgotten humanitarian catastrophe,” said the independent expert.
“It is essential that the world pays attention.”
The UN Human Rights Council appoints independent experts and special rapporteurs to report on specific human rights issues. They serve in a personal capacity and are not UN personnel.