• Today is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The theme this year is “Listen First – Listening to children and youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe.”
• In his message, the Secretary-General urged countries to advance prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration services; ensure access to controlled medicines while preventing abuse; promote alternatives to illicit drug cultivation; and stop trafficking and organized crime. All these measures he said, contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• To mark the Day, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime launched its “2018 World Drug Report, which says that the non-medical use of prescription drugs is becoming a major threat to public health and law enforcement worldwide with opioids causing the most harm and accounting for 76 per cent of deaths where drug use disorders were implicated.

• This morning, the Security Council held a debate on Afghanistan. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the country, Tadamichi Yamamoto, said Afghanistan is experiencing a politically dynamic period which shows the possibilities for peace.
• He pointed to the historic ceasefire announcements by the Government and the Taliban during Eid festivities earlier this month, marking the first time in 17 years of conflict that the two sides honoured their respective ceasefires. The country, he said, is also seeing an unprecedented grassroots movement, with people protesting for peace in 20 provinces and religious scholars denouncing suicide bombings as being against the teachings of Islam.
• “The Afghan people’s genuine demand for peace, coming from the bottom of their hearts, must not be ignored,” Mr. Yamamoto said.
• The Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, and the Under-Secretary-General of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, also briefed the Council.

• A Bangladeshi peacekeeper from the UN mission in South Sudan was killed today during an attack on a United Nations convoy that was supporting the delivery of humanitarian aid to vulnerable civilians in the Central Equatorian region of South Sudan.
• The convoy, which was led by Nepalese peacekeepers, was providing protection to humanitarian workers travelling from Yei to Lasu when several shots were fired at the group by unknown gunmen. The Nepalese peacekeepers immediately returned fire and the assailants retreated into the forest.
• We join the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in South Sudan, David Shearer, in expressing our deep regret at the tragic loss of life and condemning the actions of the armed group.

• The sixth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo shows that children continued to bear the brunt of conflict in the country, and were victims of over 11,500 grave violations committed by more than 40 parties to the conflict between 2014 and 2017.
• This represents a 60% increase in grave violations compared to the previous reporting period, covering the years 2010 to 2013.
• Although the report attributed the majority of casualties to armed groups, a third were committed by the Congolese security forces over the period under review.
• The report also notes that the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) put in place measures to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children in their ranks.
• However, large scale recruitment and use of children by armed groups continued unabated. The proportion of children used as combatants increased to nearly 50% in 2017, and it is estimated that children were the majority in the ranks of Kamuina Nsapu, a group active in the Kasais.

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that hostilities continue to escalate in southern Syria, resulting in civilian casualties and displacement.
• Up to 50,000 people have reportedly been displaced since 19 June, most from northeast Dar’a Governorate. The number of internally displaced people is expected to further increase as hostilities continue. The reported number of deaths and injuries also continues to rise. Yesterday, local sources reported the death of 18 people across Dar’a governorate, with many more injured.
• The United Nations and its partners responded to meeting the needs of those displaced by recent hostilities within 48 hours, with food for more than 30,000 people sheltering in villages and makeshift camps. Core relief items, including basic shelter materials sufficient for 60,000 people, have been pre-positioned.
• The United Nations and its partners stands ready to scale up its response to people in need, wherever they are.
• Meanwhile, the United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent are delivering food, health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation and core relief items today for 107,500 people in need in Ar-Rastan, Homs.  The last UN interagency convoy to Ar-Rastan was in October 2017.

• The Secretary-General today announced the appointment of Robert Piper of Australia as the Head of the United Nations development system Transition Team, established to provide strategic leadership and oversight to all aspects of the repositioning of the UN system. 
• Under the oversight of the Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Piper’s team will implement a package of reforms that call for significant changes to the set-up, leadership, accountability mechanisms and capacities of the whole UN development system, to ensure it meets national needs for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 
• Mr. Piper brings to the role nearly 30 years of experience in international development and peacebuilding at the United Nations, as well as a strong track record in management, reform and coordination.

• Marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Secretary-General stressed today that these victims have a right to an effective remedy, rehabilitation and redress.
• He said that torture remains unacceptable and unjustified at all times, including during states of emergency, political instability, or even in a war.

 
***The guest at the noon briefing today was Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).