The March 2017 edition of our annual QUNO Review is now available for download. The annual report provides a brief introduction to QUNO and our way of working, as well as an overview of each of our programme areas. Learn more about our past year of our work and see where we are headed in 2017.
QUNO Review 2017.pdf 1.22 MB On September 19th 2016, the UN set a new agenda under the ‘New York Declaration’ for responding to large movements of people crossing borders. Our briefing aims to inform Friends about the Declaration and the developments it initiates for improving global governance on refugees and migrants. It also describes how QUNO is engaging in these opportunities, as well as ways that Quakers around the world can link up with, and benefit from, UN level initiatives.
On September 19th 2016, the UN set a new agenda under the ‘New York Declaration’ for responding to large movements of people crossing borders. Our briefing aims to inform Friends about the Declaration and developments it initiates. It also describes how QUNO is engaging in these opportunities, as well as ways that Quakers around the world can link up with, and benefit from, UN level initiatives.
QUNO is actively contributing to the process for negotiating a Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. This UN-level process is a major State-led response to the large numbers of people on the move around the world. It was mandated by the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, a high-level statement adopted by States on 19th September and will be finalised in 2018.
As States work towards drafting a resolution on the Modalities of this State-led process, QUNO has compiled an inputs paper which focusses on ensuring the human rights grounding (and compliance) of the Compact and the central role of civil society in the process.
This inputs paper makes several recommendations including:
This briefing is QUNO's input to an open request for information by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the topic of mental health and human rights. It focusses on the links between criminal justice, mental health and rights protection, with a particular focus on children of parents in the criminal justice system.
QUNO's November 2016 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This issue features: a Q&A with Susan Bragdon on the role of governments in ensuring food security; an update on the recent UN Summit for Migrants and Refugees; news about our inequality side-event during Geneva Peace Week; a QUNO Q&A with Ayah Abubasheer; and a briefing paper on the UN's 2030 Agenda.
In this issue:
QUNO's submission to the Secretary-General, in contribution to the collation of the 2016 Yearly Supplement to his Quinquennial Report on Capital Punishment focuses on the rights of the children of parents sentenced to death of executed, and updates in international legal standards in this area since the 2015 report.
On July 20, 2016, QUNO co-hosted a policy forum discussion with the International Peace Institute in New York , along with the governments of Finland, Germany, Mexico and Morocco, entitled "Ensuring that no one is left behind: A High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Refugees", during the ministerial segment of the High Level Political Forum. At a time when the world is experiencing the largest movements of peoples in recorded history, the goal of the event was to connect the dots between the 2030 Agenda and the upcoming UN Summit in September that will address large movements of refugees and migrants.
Current UN discussions on displaced persons are fragmented, with separate silos for issues of refugees, migrants and internally displaced people, each with their own normative framing, organizational context and political sensitivities. The 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development provides a new framing, using the mandate for peaceful, just and inclusive societies, and the imperative to "leave no-one behind", to address the needs and perspectives of all those who have been forced to leave their homes, whether from violence and conflict, climate change, or economic necessity.
Andrew Tomlinson remarks: 2030 Agenda 181.61 KB In February 2016, QUNO Geneva and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) hosted an expert meeting on integrating human rights, peacebuilding and prevention of violent conflict within the United Nations systems.
The meeting addressed the following questions:
This discussion took place in advance of the UN High-Level Debate on International Peace and Security, held in New York on 10-11 May 2016. The two-page briefing handout included below summarises the key points which were raised at the meeting.
A briefing paper on children of prisoners sentenced to death or executed prepared for the 6th World Congress against the Death Penalty.
Review of the activities of QUNO in 2015
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This briefing paper was prepared for the 8th session of the UN Forum on Minority Issue in November 2015, and revised in August 2016 to incorporate recommendations of the Forum. The risks faced by children of incarcerated parents can be compounded by criminal justice and penal systems that do not take notice of their existence or do not see their rights as relevant considerations. The disproportionate criminalization of members of minority groups means that minority children are also disproportionately affected. This briefing outlines how the impact of this can exacerbate risks and exclusion faced by children from minority groups and lays out recommendations to States to ensure that the rights of minority children whose parents are arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned are upheld.
QUNO delivered an oral statement on the rights of children of parents sentenced to death or executed during the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The issue was raised by QUNO in response to an update to the UN Secretary General's report on Capital punishment and implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty.
Daniel Cullen, Programme Assistant for Human Rights and Refugees, delivered the statement during the General Debate discussion on Friday 18 September.
Text and video (beginning at 01:41:30) is available below:
The risks faced by children of incarcerated parents can be compounded by criminal justice and penal systems that do not take notice of their existence or do not see their rights as relevant considerations. This briefing outlines the current position in regard to international standards pertaining to children of incarcerated parents, bringing together legal instruments, treaty body recommendations and other guidance issued by international bodies. The purpose of this briefing is to promote the recognition of the rights of children of incarcerated parents, to guide States in their domestic consideration of how to ensure the rights of such children and to contribute to improving standards.
This document, lays out the ways in which conscientious objection has been recognized and is protected under human rights treaties and mechanisms, taking into account developments in international standards that have occurred since 2011.
A German translation of a 2014 version of the document featured in Connection eV (beginning on page 23) is also available below.
In this issue:
In this issue:
Geneva Reporter - Volume 33, Number 2 (July to September 2014) 177.67 KB Geneva Reporter Briefing Paper - The Aarhus Convention 130.88 KB 
