Resources

This is a library of QUNO publications, newsletters, and statements. Recent Publications

May 2023

QUNO NY delivers intervention at UN meeting on SDG 16

QUNO New York Representative, Kavita Desai, delivered a statement before the UN’s Economic and Social Council during the special meeting, ‘Unleashing the transformative power of SDG 16: Improving governance and reducing corruption.’ In her statement, Kavita highlighted the importance of civil society engagement in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) on peace, justice, and building inclusive institutions.

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March 2023

Rethinking Plastic Pollution Solutions: QUNO's Insights on Policy Interventions and Reuse Systems at WTO Dialogue

On 16 February 2023, Mr. Andres Naranjo, the Programme Associate for QUNO's Sustainable and Just Economic Systems (SJES), presented at the pre-plenary session of the WTO Dialogue on Plastic Pollution, offering insights on waste regulations and plastic pollution management based on the findings of QUNO's recently-released report, "Package-less and Reuse Systems Through Policy Intervention: rethinking packaging in international trade."

The presentation emphasized the need to shift from recycling-centric approaches to prioritizing higher-level strategies, including avoidance and reuse/refill systems. The report's analysis of thirty countries demonstrated that recycling and reuse measures were the least favored, while labeling emerged as the most significant measure in international trade. During the presentation, Mr. Naranjo advocated for policy incentives to accelerate the adoption of reuse systems in developing countries, as this could create local jobs and alleviate pressure on waste management systems. Furthermore, Mr. Naranjo stressed the importance of establishing clear definitions and working standards to facilitate international trade and assess the sustainability merits of various reuse practices and operations.

You can refer to the attached PowerPoint slides for Mr. Naranjo's presentation. 

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March 2023

QUNO Review 2023

2023 is an opportunity for us to celebrate 75 years of Quaker peace and justice work at the UN. Read our newest QUNO Review to learn more about the work of our New York and Geneva offices during this past year, and to learn about the work ahead.

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March 2023

QUNO NY delivers statement on UN proposal for an Emergency Platform

QUNO New York’s UN Representative, Megan Schmidt, delivered a statement during the virtual multi-stakeholder consultation convened on 16 March by the Permanent Missions of Namibia and Germany. The consultation provided an opportunity to share first impressions on the Secretary-General’s proposal for an Emergency Platform. In her statement Megan highlighted key issues that are missing from the proposal for an Emergency Platform, including an emphasis on contributions to peace and the inclusion of youth in decision making processes.

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February 2023

QUNO delivers statement at the Summit of the Future Multistakeholder Consultations

QUNO UN representative Kavita Desai delivered an intervention at the multistakeholder consultations for the Summit of the Future convened by the Summit’s co-facilitators, the permanent missions of Germany and Namibia to the UN. Drawing on insights from the recently submitted Civil-Society UN Prevention Platform paper on the New Agenda for Peace, Kavita called for peace to be a focus, highlighting the need for the concrete and actionable steps to build peace to come out of the Summit.

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February 2023

Respecting, promoting, and protecting human rights in climate action through the Global Stocktake

The Global Stocktake (GST) is used to monitor the implementation and evaluate the collective progress made in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. The FWCC has signed a joint submission on views on the approach to the consideration of output components of the GST. Read the submission to learn about the human rights outcomes that civil society organizations are calling for.

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January 2023

QUNO Briefing Paper for the Climate Negotiations under the UNFCCC: The Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform

Quakers support Indigenous peoples’ rights, based on our commitment to peace and justice. We recognise the historical and ongoing injustice faced by Indigenous peoples and the direct role historically played by Quakers in the genocide of Indigenous peoples. Today, Quaker support for Indigenous peoples in their struggles for justice has taken form at both the community, national and international level, including long-standing support to establish the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Over the years, QUNO has backed efforts to secure and strengthen the rights of Indigenous peoples, predominantly through supporting the work of the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC). In the context of the climate negotiations, QUNO’s Human Impacts of Climate Change programme advocates for human rights-based, urgent and ambitious climate action and raises up the voices of those most marginalized and vulnerable. We have been observers to the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform since its first meeting in 2018.

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January 2023

The Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions

The 2016 Paris Agreement is an international agreement on climate change binding every country that has signed to act on the climate response. Countries are required to outline their climate actions through “Nationally Determined Contributions,” with developed countries leading on mitigation and finance. This 2-sider explains what the Paris Agreement is and how to get involved in
making sure that countries are responding to it. 

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January 2023

International Environmental Law

International environmental law is central to climate action. For example, the 2015 Paris Agreement, is a universal climate change agreement through which both developing and developed countries work together on climate mitigation and adaptation. This 2-sider offers an overview of some of the key agreements and sources of international environmental law that can benefit local and national climate action efforts.

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January 2023

Inspiring Actions to Create New Laws on Climate Change

The climate negotiations under the UNFCCC are the main form of international climate action. Yet, there are many international and local initiatives outside of multilateral negotiations that push forward ambition and creativity on climate action. This 2-sider features a couple of these projects, offering insight into actions being taken below or beyond the state level by both state and non-state actors.

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January 2023

Human Rights-Based Approaches to Climate Action

Incorporating human rights into climate policies and actions
is known as a human rights-based approach. Human
rights-based approaches ensure public inclusion and promote fairness, leading to more coherent, legitimate and sustainable policy outcomes. Whilst some countries resist human rights, human rights-based approaches ensure that climate action is approached as both a technical effort to cut emissions and as an effort to address human rights and social inequality. This 2-sider offers a brief introduction to the topic alongside inspiring examples from all over the world of what is being done to protect people and planet.

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January 2023

Climate Change & the Human Rights System

The different organizations and committees that make up the international human rights system work to promote and protect what individuals and communities need to be safe and well. This 2-sider explores how climate change is addressed within the human rights framework and how to get involved in advocating for climate action that addresses human rights and social inequality.

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January 2023

The New Agenda for Peace: An Opportunity to Advance Prevention Through Civil Society – United Nations Partnerships

The Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform, co-facilitated by QUNO and GPPAC, focused its annual discussion series on developing a joint submission for the New Agenda for Peace (NA4P), due to be published in June 2023. This paper aims to contribute to the drafting process for the NA4P and underscores areas of concern and interest from the discussion series that Platform partners and participants would like to see highlighted in the NA4P. This paper outlines six key proposals and an additional three that the Platform believes will ensure a comprehensive and forward-looking policy through the NA4P.

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December 2022

REPORT: "Package-less and Reuse Systems Through Policy Intervention: rethinking packaging in international trade"

With quantities of waste steadily rising worldwide, packaging material and packaging waste have emerged as critical areas for action at various levels. Governments and businesses must consider political risks and ways to anticipate, understand and mitigate them in international trade. 

Over the past decade, governments have continually prioritised waste prevention, based on the Circular Economy waste hierarchy framework: avoidance (i.e. package-less), reuse, recycling, recovery, and disposal. However, waste advocates, regulators, and policymakers have yet to prioritise the top tiers of this circular economy hierarchy (e.g., avoidance promoted by package-less products and implementation of reuse systems).

As interest in reducing plastic waste grows, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that trade policies minimise packaging waste and improve reuse strategies across regions. To spark innovative thinking and valuable discussions on this topic, QUNO has is delighted to present its latest report, which contains a focused analysis of the state of play of the packaging-free retail sector in Latin America, examining policy barriers (in the role of services) affecting the wider uptake of the packaging-free retail models in the region. This work seeks to inform members and complement the work being carried out at the World Trade Organization's Informal Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade, and the United Nations Environment Program's Global Plastic Treaty Negotiations.

Attached you will be able to find both our comprehensive report, and a policy brief. 

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December 2022

QUNO Statement at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution

On Wednesday, 30 November 2022, delegates met in plenary to discuss key topics relating to the creation of a new convention to reduce plastic pollution. This was the third day of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee – first session (INC-1) towards the creation of an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, taking place in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Over lunch and into the evening, delegates convened an informal group to discuss options for INC-2 and stakeholder participation. QUNO, on behalf of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, delivered a statement (see below), which outlines various principles that are essential for any future multi-stakeholder engagement under a global instrument.

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December 2022

The "Implementation COP" in a growing climate of accountability: A COP27 Reflection

Human Impacts of Climate Change Representative, Lindsey Fielder Cook reflects on the outcomes of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh.

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December 2022

Delivering on the promise of the GCM: Migration Justice Briefing Paper Series

As we work towards an ambitious, effective, and human rights-based discussion and outcome at the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), we are producing a series of short papers to support steps towards migration justice through delivering on the promise of people-centered migration governance contained in the Global Compact of Migration. 

The briefing paper on this page covers the outcomes of the 2022 IMRF and how to use them for migration justice.

QUNO thanks the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation (FES) for their support with translations and design. 

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November 2022

Loss and Damage Funding Arrangements Informal Analysis

This is an informal analysis of the decision passed at COP27 on new funding arrangements for addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change. It is offered in the spirit of increasing accessibility and understanding of the text. 

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November 2022

Mainstreaming the Informal Waste Sector Towards an Inclusive Circular Economy in African Cities

QUNO contributed to the substantive finalization of a comprehensive report carried out by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF South Africa), which makes a case for mainstreaming the informal waste sector towards an inclusive circular economy across African cities. The focus was on the work reclaimers and waste pickers do in cities of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.

The research supports our mutual aims and outcomes in seeking to establish policy advocacy and action by assessing the significance of an inclusive circular economy across material value chains in the African context. QUNO also contributed to the design and translation (into French) of a factsheet stemming from the full report. The three documents are accessible through links and attachments below. 

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