The world this week

27.05.2016 - This week’s #PhotoFriday highlights some of the most important UN news stories from around the world.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon takes part in a welcoming event in New York for the Hôkûle’a, a voyaging canoe of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, on World Oceans Day (8 June). UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

The ocean is the heart of our planet. Like your heart pumping blood to every part of your body, the ocean connects people across the Earth, no matter where we live. The ocean regulates the climate, feeds millions of people every year, produces oxygen, is the home to an incredible array of wildlife, provides us with important medicines, and so much more! In order to ensure the health and safety of our communities and future generations, it’s imperative that we take the responsibility to care for the ocean as it cares for us.

Angolan girls dressed in traditional clothes. June 2016. Photo: UNEP Photo.

Sunday the fifth saw World Environment day, which this year focused on the illegal wildlife trade. The United Nations Environment Programme urged everyone to ‘go wild for life this year’ and take action against to help safeguard endangered species from poachers and illegal hunters. This draws attention to UNEP’s ‘Wild for Life’ campaign launched earlier this month with celebrity support to counter the illegal wildlife trade.

General Assembly President Meets UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassadors. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Mogens Lykketoft (left), President of the seventieth session of the General Assembly, meets with singer, songwriter and UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Annie Lennox at UN Headquarters in New York.

Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, greets a child on her visit to one of the Protection of Civilians camps at the UN compound in Juba. Photo: UN Photo.

June fourth marked International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression. The purpose of the day is to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. It was a day to affirm solidarity with all those children who have had to endure these hardships.

In Belgium, Syrian swimmer Rami Anis trains for Rio 2016 Olympic Games Rami laughs with family and friends at a privately rented house in Eeklo. Photo/UNHCR/Refugees Media

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warmly welcomes the announcement by the International Olympic Committee(IOC) of the refugees who will compete as a team in the upcoming 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. They include two Syrian swimmers, two judokas from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and six runners from Ethiopia and South Sudan. They all fled violence and persecution in their countries and sought refuge in places as wide-ranging as Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Kenya and Brazil.

“Their participation in the Olympics is a tribute to the courage and perseverance of all refugees in overcoming adversity and building a better future for themselves and their families. UNHCR stands with them and with all refugees” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

Conflict-affected women line up to receive their families’ food rations provided by a local relief group, in Sanaa, Yemen. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA

Seeking to help a region plagued by war and violence, the UN has unveiled a campaign to highlight the role of women in peace-building and conflict resolution– hoping that their largely unsung work in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya and Palestine will inspire others. A series of five films commissioned by UN Women is entitled in Arabic and English simply #WeAreHere, a statement of defiance and a message of future commitment.