QUNO is proud to announce that the latest version of our annual review is now available online! This is a great opportunity to read and learn more about the work of our New York and Geneva offices during this past year, and to learn about the work ahead.
QUNO-Annual-Review-2024.pdf 7.04 MB QUNO Geneva's Peace & Disarmament program works to highlight and reinforce the inextricable link between human rights and peace and to ensure that they are seen as mutually reinforcing throughout the UN's work at the policy and practice level, reaching out o a diverse range of stakeholders and in doing so to promote just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. Read more about our most recent activities and work on this in the booklet!
QUNO Geneva's Peace & Disarmament program works on highlighting the arms-related risks to human rights and tackling the challenges in addressing these risks by building effective arms controls at the international level. Read more about how we do that in this booklet.
Booklet Arms Control 2023.pdf 1.03 MB The report 'Integrating Human Rights and Sustaining Peace: Exploring Special Procedures' is based on a joint project undertaken by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in collaboration with the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs' Peacebuilding Support Office (DPPA/PBSO). The joint project sought to pilot activities to explore how special procedures of the Human Rights Council could better integrate human rights and sustaining peace in their work and enhance prevention of both conflict and human rights violations across all pillars of the United Nations (UN). While the report does not claim to be comprehensive, it hopes to serve as a basis for continued reflection, learning and discussions in the lead-up to 2024 Summit of the Future, when the UN system is prioritizing prevention as illustrated in the policy brief on the 'New Agenda for Peace'.
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.
QUNO Review 2023.pdf 5.77 MB In October 2022, QUNO joined representatives from the Friends World Committee for Consultation, Friends Committee on National Legislation, American Friends Service Committee, Canadian Friends Service Committee, the Quaker Council on European Affairs and Quaker Peace and Social Witness in releasing this statement on the Peace Testimony and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
QUNO's September 2022 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This issue includes a welcome letter from our Director Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge and reporting on the International Migration Review Forum from the Human Rights & Refugees team. It also includes updates from our Peace and Disarmament (P&D), Human Impacts of Climate Change (HICC) and Sustainable and Just Economic Systems (SJES) programmes.
Our newest QUNO Review provides a brief introduction to QUNO and our ways of working, as well as an overview of our areas of work. Learn more about our past year of work, as well as our work ahead in the coming year.
Program Review 2022.pdf 1.2 MB Following weeks of speculation and intelligence reports, the Russian government initiated new military operations in Ukraine beginning on 24 February. This military attack has had immediate far-reaching impacts, sparked a massive humanitarian crisis, and raised serious concern about potential ecological damage. On the global stage, a range of actions have been taken in response, including measures within the United Nations (UN). This document provides brief details on the response by specific UN bodies thus far and does not include information on all actions taken by UN entities or individual Member States. A letter by the Directors of QUNO’s Geneva and New York offices accompanied the release of this document and can be read here.
UN Overview_Ukraine.pdf 145.55 KB QUNO's December 2021 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This issue includes reflections and updates from QUNO staff who attended COP 26 in Glasgow on November 2021. This issue also provides updates on our programs, Peace and Disarmament (P&D) and Human Rights and Refugees. We also welcome QUNO's new incoming director, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, and say farewell to our outgoing director, Jonathan Woolley who will retire on 31 December 2021.You can read more about Nozizwe and her vision for QUNO in the Q&A section.
QUNO's December 2021 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This issue includes reflections and updates from QUNO staff who attended COP 26 in Glasgow on November 2021. This issue also provides updates on our programs, Peace and Disarmament (P&D) and Human Rights and Refugees. We also welcome QUNO's new incoming director, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, and say farewell to our outgoing director, Jonathan Woolley who will retire on 31 December 2021.You can read more about Nozizwe and her vision for QUNO in the Q&A section.
QUNO's September 2021 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This issue includes an updates of our work leading up to COP 26 in Glasgow as well as our work on legal arms trade and human rights, trade and sustainability at the WTO, and the HRC and dehumanizing treatment of migrants. Our QUNO Q&A for this issue features an interview with former PA Daniel Cullen.
Sustaining Peace: How can human rights help? 2016 – 2020 retrospective builds on learnings from a joint project with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which focused on Operative Paragraph 11 of the 2016 Sustaining Peace resolutions. The report reflects on a selection of key developments, opportunities, and challenges in integrating human rights in sustaining peace in relation to intergovernmental outcomes, policy frameworks and instruments, and UN reform processes. While the report does not claim to be comprehensive, it hopes to serve as a basis for continued reflection, learning and discussions following the 2020 Peacebuilding Architecture Review and resulting twin resolutions.
Our newest QUNO Review provides a brief introduction to QUNO and our ways of working, as well as an overview of our areas of work. Learn more about our past year of work and where we are headed in 2021.
QUNO Review 2021.pdf 1.1 MB QUNO's December 2020 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This expanded issue includes a special feature with QUNO perspectives on multilateralism and the UN's 75th anniversary. The issue also features brief news updates, recent publications and a QUNO Q&A with 2014 Quaker UN Summer School participant Annie Pickering.
QUNO's October 2020 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This expanded issue includes a special feature from our programme Representatives on the impact of Covid on our work and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. This issue also features a Q&A with our 2019-2020 PAs on their experience leading the first ever virtual Summer School; brief news updates and a QUNO Q&A with Beatrice Liese.
This paper forms the second in a QUNO series on energy and peacebuilding. It follows on from the 2018 paper, “The Role of Decentralized Renewable Energy in Peacebuilding”, by Isobel Edwards, which explored the role of decentralized renewable energy as a peacebuilding tool. This paper explores the peacebuilding implications of energy transitions towards a carbon-neutral future. It examines, on the one hand, the potential risks that abrupt or unmanaged ‘cut off points’ from fossil fuels may pose for peace, and the role that sustainable and just transitions can play in mitigating this.
This is a working paper, designed to encourage further discussions around energy transitions and peacebuilding. Comments are welcome and can be sent to quno@quno.ch.
“We hold in the light those made ill by the new virus, their families and friends, and the dedicated people caring for all of us.” (…) “In the midst of rapid change, QUNO staff will continue to work quietly with international policymakers, guided by Quaker principles of peace, truth, justice, equality, stewardship and simplicity, and upheld by your encouragement and support.”
In this letter, the Directors of our New York and Geneva offices reflect on the impact of COVID-19 on peace, multilateralism and Quaker work at the United Nations.
Our newest QUNO Review provides a brief introduction to QUNO and our ways of working, as well as an overview of our areas of work. Learn more about our past year of work and where we are headed in 2020.
QUNO Review 2020.pdf 19.77 MB QUNO's December 2019 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This special issue highlights some of the ways the Quaker commitment to peace is reflected in QUNO's work programmes, and also features an interview about our work on integrating human rights & sustaining peace; news from our recent event on climate justice and peacebuilding; trade for peace, an update on our work supporting the right to conscientious objection to military service, and a QUNO Q&A with David Elliott.
