Four years on, Australia's offshore processing has left some 2,000 people languishing in unacceptable circumstances – causing physical and psychological harm, according to the United Nations refugee agency, which today called for an immediate end to the practice.

Recognizing that the issue of large movements of refugees and migrants is too vast for any one country to handle on its own, the United Nations convened a meeting of world leaders in September 2016 with the aim of finding durable solutions. At the summit, all 193 Member States came together around one plan, the New York Declaration, expressing their political will to save lives, protect rights and share responsibility on a global scale.

The European Union and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have launched a large-scale cash transfer project to increase the number of refugee children attending school in Turkey.

During his trip to Vienna, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today visited a restaurant where refugees work together with locals to serve Austrian-Arab fusion cuisine, using this opportunity to showcase the UN system-wide initiative to counter xenophobia launched in September.