UN calls for release of Indigenous girls held by Colombia fighters

BOGOTÁ - 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."

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.