QUNO works to highlight the series impact of parental incarceration on children and to strengthen standards and guidance. Our  efforts are  rooted in Quaker beliefs in equality, justice, and the inherent worth of all of us is not negated by people’s actions.

Since 2003, QUNO has highlighted the ways in which children are deeply affected at various levels by parental imprisonment. We have included a specific focus on the rights of children of parents sentenced to death or executed. More recently, QUNO began exploring the specific situation of children of parents accused or convicted of designated terrorist offences, recognising that children in specific situations face additional risks of rights violations.

Our work  focusses on the UN’s crime and criminal justice processes as well as  the human rights mechanisms.  We convene a Child Rights Connect working group with a number of members advocating on and with children of incarcerated parents and we maintain a database of the relevant Committee on the Rights of the Child concluding observations. The Working Group supported the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Day of General Discussion on children of incarcerated parents in 2011. More recently, QUNO was a member of the NGO Panel for the UN’s Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty providing independent expert advice in the development of the chapter on children deprived of liberty with their parents in criminal justice settings.

We recognise that children affected by these issues should be consulted in child-friendly ways so we can hear their perspective and aim to advocate for this in the work we do.