United Nations Radio

UN Calling Asia - a weekly magazine programme, in English, that keeps you in touch with UN developments covering Asia and the Pacific.

Human Rights Council

Countries have been urged to "set high targets" when it comes to human rights. The charge comes from the president of the Human Rights Council which is holding its 10th session from March 2-27. Sri Lanka and The Maldives were just two of the countries addressing the Geneva-based Council's high level segment this week. Maldives Vice-President Mohamed Waheed spoke of how climate change will have a negative impact on the human rights of the citizens of his island nation.

Women in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia work towards gender equality

Commission on the Status of Women

The Commission on the Status of Women is holding its latest session at UN Headquarters this week. This year's theme concerns the equal responsibilities of men and women including in the sharing of caregiving related to HIV and AIDS. In this interview with UN Radio, Nurgul Djanaeva of the Forum of Women's NGOs of Kyrgyzstan discusses the challenges to achieving parity between men and women in that country and in Central Asia, and how feminism plays a role in this.

How statistics contribute to progress in the Asia-Pacific Region

Better statistics mean better lives for the millions of people in the Asia-Pacific region. That's the opinion of Dr. Haishan Fu, head of the statistical department at the UN Economic and Social Division for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). She says that with better statistics, countries would be able to determine what policies are needed, for example, to bring basic sanitation and access to primary education to those who need it.

Producer: Dianne Penn
duration: 14'00"