On Thursday 27th September at the 39th Human Rights Council, Human Rights and Refugees representative, Laurel Townhead, spoke at a side event on migrants' Human Rights defenders, organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Paraguay. Laurel centered her presentation on the crucial role Human Rights defenders play in offering a counter narrative of compassion in an increasingly xenophobic global climate. She stressed how vital the witness of migrants' Human Rights defenders has been in creating the Global Compact for Migration, and how important it is now to celebrate its adoption, to ensure it has tangible power in improving the lives of people on the move. QUNO will be at the Intergovernmental Conference in Marrakesh this December, where the compact will be formally adopted.
Myanmar “sham electionsโ: QUNO hostsย Quaker Houseย briefing
On 2 December, the Quaker UN Officeย hostedย diplomatsย at Quaker House forย a private briefingย in advance of theย elections in Myanmarย that began onย 28 December 2025.ย QUNO Director, Sarah Clarke,ย openedย the meeting, noting thatย โthe world will beโฏwatchingโฏcarefullyย to see howย the international communityย respondsย toโฏthe vote.โย Seanย Dunne,ย an expert who hasย supported election observationย with the UN and the Carter Center,ย including in Myanmar, served as an outside briefer.ย In his remarks, Seanย emphasized that the Myanmarย general elections,ย which areย being conducted by the military regime that overthrew the democratically elected governmentย followingย electionsย in 2020,ย โfail to meet any recognized international benchmark for credibility or genuineness.โย Seanย concurredย withย UN experts,ย numerousย Human Rightsย organizations, and media outlets describing theย elections asย a โcharadeโ or โshamย electionโ intended to โsolicit recognition from foreign governments and legitimize the continuation of military rule, rather than reflect the genuine will of the Myanmar people.โย In Myanmar,ย voting kicked off onย 28 December 2025,ย withย polls beingย held inย roughly aย third of Myanmarโsย townships. Despite two more voting phases scheduled on 11 and 25 January 2026, several million people, 56 townships, andย numerousย political parties,ย including the winner of Myanmarโs lastย credible election,ย the National League for Democracy, have been excluded by the military orย haveย chosenย not toย participate.ย ย As Sean explained, theseย exclusionary factorsย amount to โan incredibly sophisticated form of election engineering.โย Theย implementation of biometric voting and surveillance technology, new laws criminalizing criticism of the election, andย manipulation of representative quotas in Myanmarโs […]
