UN calls for release of Indigenous girls held by Colombia fighters
America
By
AFP
| Oct 16, 2025
The United Nations urged Colombia on Wednesday to secure the release of two Indigenous teenage girls held by an armed group in the South American country that has seen serious violence against ethnic minorities in particular.
"We call on the state to take all necessary measures to ensure that the two girls are brought back alive," said the UN office in Colombia in a statement that provided no further details about the 14- and 15-year-old's presumed location or captors.
It said that members of the girls' Indigenous ethnic group of Nasa had attempted to rescue them.
The UN office also called on Colombian authorities to "ensure the physical and cultural survival of the Nasa people."
READ MORE
Second-hand clothes dealers call for transparency in new UN rules
Tourism sector lauded for accelerating global aviation links
Tourism sector lauds State efforts to boost arrivals at airports
Why Kenyans should brace for higher electricity bills this month
Railanomics: The people's economist who never ruled
KQ increases flights to Kisumu ahead of Raila's burial
KRA miss revenue target by Sh50b in Q1 of 202526 FY
Christmas business lifeline hopes dashed by tight budgets
Armed groups in Colombia have increasingly recruited children and teenagers, often by force, to boost their numbers, according to the country's ombudswoman Iris Marin, whose institution has noted a spike last year particularly in a southwestern area home to a large Indigenous group.
The forced recruitment of minors has been a major issue in Colombia for decades, and has not ended despite landmark peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016.
While most of the FARC guerrilla group had demobilized, several factions have rearmed, vying for control in a country that remains the world's top cocaine producer.