Colombia

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Vanessa Frazier (Malta):

Colombia remains a model for conflict resolution despite prevailing violence and other challenges, speakers told the Security Council today during a quarterly meeting on a country that has emerged from a decades-long war between the Government and a major rebel group.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today sounded the alarm on viral hepatitis infections that claim over 3,000 lives each day — with 1.3 million deaths per year — while the health agency fears that the number of lives lost due to hepatitis is increasing.

In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs reports that an attack earlier today hit residential areas of Odesa, a city with a population of some 1 million people, causing destruction and multiple civilian casualties.

Applauding Colombia’s firm commitment to the 2016 historic peace accords, Security Council members today took measure of the demands of building peace and ensuring transitional justice in that country as observed during their recent visit.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Nicolas de Rivière (France):

The Final Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the former Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) remains as relevant today as the day it was signed, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council today.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today threw their support behind the Secretariat’s request for nearly $21 million to let special political missions in Haiti and Colombia carry out expanded mandates in 2024. Representatives also backed $3.67 million in additional funding to support two General Assembly resolutions approved during its seventy-seventh session to help revitalize the Assembly’s work and to turn a global marine biodiversity pact into a reality.

Welcoming progress made towards peace across Colombia amid the Government’s outreach efforts to domestic armed groups, the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Verification Mission in that country for one year to monitor and verify implementation of a ceasefire between the Government and the National Liberation Army.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Sergio Franca Danese (Brazil):