Colombia

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Jerry Matthews Matjila (South Africa):

Today is World Mental Health Day.  This year’s theme focuses on preventing suicide, which claims the lives of nearly 800,000 people annually – or one every 40 seconds, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is asking people to join in “40 seconds of action” to raise awareness about the problem and help prevent it.

The international community should maintain firm support for those working hard and successfully to consolidate peace in Colombia, in light of the announced plans by some former combatants to take up arms again, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country told the Security Council today.

The Security Council today decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and related reporting requirements until 25 September 2020.

The United Nations welcomed the decision by the Government of Colombia to grant nationality to Venezuelan refugee children born in the country to Venezuelan parents.  The measure will benefit more than 24,000 children born since August 2015 who were at risk of statelessness.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Karla Gabriela Samayoa Recari of Guatemala as his Deputy Special Representative and Deputy Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia.

The United Nations Children’s Fund announced a partnership to build a first-of-its-kind factory to convert plastic waste in Côte d’Ivoire into modular plastic bricks, which will be used to build classrooms.  Côte d’Ivoire needs 15,000 classrooms; 500 will be constructed through the partnership in the next two years.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Gustavo Meza-Cuadra (Peru):

The people of Colombia must focus on what unites them rather than what divides them, as they follow the path of peace and reconciliation under the 2016 peace agreement that ended the country’s civil conflict dating back to the mid-1960s, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today.

Government officials, former rebel combatants, community leaders and other stakeholders all demonstrated their commitment to implementing the 2016 peace agreement that ended five decades of conflict in Colombia, the heads of a recent Security Council visiting mission to the South American country reported today.