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Wednesday’s top stories: Syrian detainees “failed by Security Council”; Zimbabwe experiencing “worst-ever hunger crisis”; Guterres welcomes new Mozambique peace accord; deadly Kabul attack; Mexico “responsible for enforced disappearances”; indigenous languages at risk; and how innovation should be used to feed the world.

The Security Council has “utterly failed Syrian detainees and their families”, Amina Khoulani, Co-founder of Families for Freedom, told the Security Council on Wednesday, during a meeting focussed on those who have been jailed or gone missing across Syria, during years of brutal conflict. 

Of 7,000 indigenous languages spoken today, four in 10 are in danger of disappearing, rights experts said on Wednesday, in a call for a decade of action to reverse the “historic destruction” of age-old dialects.

With Zimbabwe now experiencing its “worst-ever hunger crisis”, the UN food relief agency has revised its humanitarian appeal to step up food assistance to people most affected by drought, flooding, and economic stagnation. 

The UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has expressed outrage at a Taliban attack in Kabul, that led to  “scores” of civilians casualties on Wednesday. In a Tweet, the Mission said that such “indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in heavily populated civilian areas must stop”.

Tuesday’s main stories: Colombia offers nationality to born of Venezuelan parents; ‘€1 million’ fines for rescue boats; States must do more to stop hate attacks;  Egypt terror attack condemned by Security Council, UN chief; Kashmir developments risk people’s rights; and striking a chord for 1.8 million hungry Central Africans.

Armed groups affiliated with the Al Qaeda and ISIL terror groups, appear to have intensified their activities in Yemen, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) declared on Tuesday, describing the situation as an example of “deeply worrying developments” that have seriously impacted civilians over the past ten days.

The UN’s top rights official has added her voice to condemnation of the weekend mass-shootings in the cities of El Paso and Dayton, insisting on Tuesday that “not just the US, but all States” should do more to stop discrimination.

Paying homage to those who perished as the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, as well as the many others whose lives were devastated in the years that followed, UN chief António Guterres on Tuesday underscored their “courage and moral leadership” in reminding the world of “the human cost of nuclear war”.

The UN migration agency, IOM, has welcomed Colombia’s decision on Monday to grant nationality status to more than 24,000 Venezuelan babies born inside the country after their parents fled across the border.