QUNO

On November 6th, QUNO co-organized an event with the Graduate Institute's Environmental Committee and the Interparliamentary Union for Geneva Peace Week, which focused on the links between peacebuilding and climate change. The well-attended panel explored integrating gender into climate-resilient peacebuilding, international linkages, and the necessity of public participation in all aspects of peacebuilding and climate change. Please find the full summary and Lindsey Fielder Cook (QUNO Representative Human Impacts of Climate Change)'s remarks below.

10 October marks the World Day Against the Death Penalty which this year focuses children of parents sentenced to death or executed with the title Children: The Unseen Victims of the Death Penalty.  The World Day will draw attention to the impact on children of parental death sentences and executions.

Focusing on the theme, “Seizing the Moment for Peace in a Disrupted World,” the annual Alliance for Peacebuilding gathering, Peace Con, provided a timely opportunity for convening the global peacebuilding community to explore a range of issues impacting the field. One such topic that was a reoccurring theme for discussion across sessions was the global closing of civic space and the adverse impact this is having on initiatives to build and sustain peace.

At the 42^nd session of the Human Rights Council, QUNO welcomed several discussions and documents which incorporated a focus on children of parents incarcerated parents, and children of parents sentenced to death or executed. We delivered an oral statement on the rights of children of parents sentenced to death or executed.

Civil society actors and organizations are an integral part of peacebuilding efforts carried out throughout the world. They often possess localized expertise and institutional knowledge from long-term engagement at a community or country level, which is all too often missing from policy discussions and decision making and carry out a breadth of work that is essential to building peaceful, just and inclusive societies.