The World This Week

24.06.2016 - This week's #PhotoFriday highlights some of the most important UN news stories from around the world.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with refugee children in Lesbos. Photo: UN Photo

Ban Ki-moon with his wife with local volunteers and refugees. Photo: UN Photo

Visiting the Greek island of Lesbos, which has become migrants' entry point to Europe, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the countries in the region to respond with a humane and human rights-based approach, instead of border closures, barriers and bigotry.

“Today, I met refugees from some of the world's most troubled places. They have lived through a nightmare. And that nightmare is not over,” Mr. Ban told non-governmental organizations (NGOs), volunteers and media, who gathered to hear the UN chief's firsthand account of the situation there.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder of the Isha Foundation. Photo: UN Photo

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gets a yoga lesson from Vijay Nambiar, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Myanmar. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Yoga is an ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in India. The word ‘yoga’ derives from Sanskrit and means to join or to unite, symbolizing the union of body and consciousness.

Today it is practiced in various forms around the world and continues to grow in popularity.

Recognizing its universal appeal, on 11 December 2014, the United Nations proclaimed 21 June as International Yoga Day by resolution 69/131.

UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi in Afghanistan. Photo: UNHCR

On June 20 each year, the world commemorates the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees. World Refugee Day was first marked in 2001. Tens of thousands of people around the world take time to recognize and applaud the contribution of those forced to flee. The annual commemoration is marked by a variety of events in over 100 countries, involving government officials, aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves.

This year, UNHCR is running the campaign #WithRefugees to highlight many of the problems of the current refugee crisis. A petition will be presented to the United Nations General Assembly on September 19th at the High Level Meeting on Refugees and Migrants.

Jean-Luc Lemahieu of UNODC briefing journalists. Photo: UN Photo

The World Drug Report 2016 is published in the wake of the landmark moment in global drug policy, the special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem. Chapter I provides a global overview of the supply of and demand for opiates, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and new psychoactive substances (NPS), as well as their impact on health. It also reviews the scientific evidence on polydrug use, treatment demand for cannabis and developments since the legalization of cannabis for recreational use in some parts of the world. Chapter II focuses on the mechanisms of the interaction between the world drug problem and all aspects of sustainable development through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals.