Colombia

UNICEF reports that 894 children — including 106 girls — were released today from the ranks of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a local militia that helps the Nigerian security forces in the fight against insurgency in the country’s north‑east.  UNICEF says more than 3,500 children were recruited between 2013 and 2017.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Christoph Heusgen (Germany):

The greatest uncertainty in a climate of uncertainty would be to reopen the Final Peace Agreement that ended five decades of conflict between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country warned while briefing the Security Council today.

The Secretary-General is shocked at today’s attack in Quetta, in Pakistan.  He strongly condemns this cowardly act and extends his condolences to the families of the victims and the Government and people of Pakistan.

UNAIDS is concerned that new HIV infections are not declining among people who inject drugs, despite a decline in new infections globally.  A new report also shows that 99 per cent of them live in countries lacking adequate needle and syringe programmes, drug-dependency treatment, and HIV testing and treatment.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President José Singer Weisinger (Dominican Republic):

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) is continuing its operations in Bambari in Ouaka prefecture.  It has established new check posts and resumed patrolling in Muslim neighbourhoods, in addition to conducting robust patrols in the other areas of town.

The broad public consensus in Colombia in support of the country’s 2016 peace agreement — which ended more than 50 years of bloody civil strife — must be preserved and bolstered, with swift action to address lingering violence and terrorist acts, the Secretary-General’s newly appointed Special Representative told the Security Council today.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President José Singer Weisinger (Dominican Republic):

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres: