QUNO

QUNO gathered a group of 15 peacebuilding organisations from around the world for a three day gathering on 'What's Next in Peacebuilding?' at Quaker House in New York. The event was an opportunity to discuss a variety of issues relevant to peacebuilding practice today, including peace perspectives on humanitarian action, new perspectives on the prevention of violent conflict, funding for peacebuilding, and the role for peacebuilding organisations in the Middle East. Within the busy agenda there was also time set aside for open discussion, giving space for deeper reflection.

QUNO New York director, Andrew Tomlinson, spoke at the Second Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organisations in International Affairs, which had a thematic focus on the links between religion, violence and extremism. He was invited to speak as a panelist on the intersections of religion and violence, alongside Professor Dr. John L. Esposito from Georgetown University.

Three of QUNO's recent policy briefs from the Food & Sustainability programme are now available online in up to four languages. All QUNO work is published under a Creative Commons license. Copies of all QUNO publications can be downloaded free by following the links below, while hard copies are available on request to quno@quno.ch.

QUNO Geneva co-hosted a briefing on the new revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the "Nelson Mandela Rules"), the key set of international standards on detention conditions and the treatment of prisoners.

The event, organized in conjunction with Penal Reform International (PRI), the Permanent Mission of Switzerland and the Permanent Mission of Uruguay took place on Thursday 4 February.

QUNO, as one of the four partners of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform (together with Interpeace, the Centre for Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding of the Graduate Institute, and the Geneva Centre on Security Policy), supported Geneva Peace Week 2015, which in its second year, served as the umbrella for 41 events organized by 50 institutions. The Main Programme was developed collaboratively between the UN Office in Geneva, the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform (GPP), organizations based in the Maison de la Paix, and the University of Geneva.