Colombia

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report having noted an increase in murders and threats against human rights defenders and community leaders in the country’s Pacific Coast region.  In most cases, the victims are from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.

The United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and the Episcopal Conference of Colombia issued a joint press release highlighting the first month of ceasefire monitoring by the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN).  The Mission has established 33 local or regional verification teams that are now operational.

Some 4,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar and crossed the border into Bangladesh in the last 48 hours.  The newly arrived refugees say thousands more people are waiting on Myanmar’s coast to make the crossing.  United Nations agencies and their partners are providing food and other supplies.

Welcoming “remarkable achievements” in Colombia following agreements to end long-term civil strife, the Security Council decided this afternoon that the United Nations Verification Mission there would expand its work to include monitoring a ceasefire recently signed by the Government and the group known as Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN).

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the number of Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh has surpassed 700,000, with 480,000 arriving since late August.  The United Nations continues to provide aid, but the massive influx of refugees is outpacing the capacity to respond.

The Security Council today approved the Secretary-General’s recommendations regarding the size, operational aspects and mandate of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia.

The number of migrant deaths and disappearances over the past three years is likely to be much higher than the 23,000 that the International Organization for Migration has reported globally since 2014, since many deaths are not recorded, according to a report released by the agency today.

The new mission that would oversee the next phase of the 2016 peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) is on track to begin its activities as scheduled on 26 September, the Head of the United Nations Mission in that country told the Security Council today.

OCHA says a cholera outbreak has been reported in Borno State, north-eastern Nigeria, the first case of which was recorded on 16 August.  More than 530 suspected cases had been registered as of yesterday, including 23 deaths, mainly in Muna Garage, a camp hosting about 20,000 internally displaced persons on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the state capital.

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