Read QUNO New York’s newsletter, In & Around the UN, featuring articles on:
And more from New York.
In and Around May 2021.pdf 1.78 MB As a co-facilitator of the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform, QUNO organized and moderated the May 12th, 2021 virtual event titled Advancing UN Prevention Efforts Across Sectors and Institutions: Collective Pathways for Effective Prevention. This short summary outlines the central messages raised during the discussion and notes opportunities for engagement in policy processes to further the prevention agenda. The discussion built off the findings of the Platform's 2020 Discussion Series on the current state of Prevention to explore ways to strengthen prevention within the UN system moving forward.
Summary Note_ Advancing UN Prevent.pdf 119.59 KB 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 As a member of the Joint UN-Civil Society Working Group that developed the Guidelines, QUNO representative, Megan Schmidt, delivered this intervention during the global virtual launch of the UN System-Wide Community Engagement Guidelines on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace. QUNO’s intervention centered on the importance of inclusivity throughout the development of the Guidelines and highlighted the emphasis on a people-centered approach and local leadership that is reflected in the final document.
QUNO Intervention_CEG Launch.pdf 135.15 KB The 2020 Joint Session between the Peacebuilding Commission and the Economic and Social Council was convened around the theme of “Fostering global solidarity and conflict sensitive responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic impacts.” To support Member States in their preparations for the discussion, QUNO shared a messages document with Member State and UN colleagues ahead of the joint session that reflected on challenges and opportunities faced by the international community in building back better from crisis, especially in countries most affected by conflict.
QUNO contribution_PBC ECOSOC meeting.pdf 136.61 KB This keynote address was delivered during the 2020 Quaker Model United Nations Conference (QMUNC) hosted by Moorestown Friends School. QMUNC brought together passionate students from across the world to engage in a Model UN Debate that incorporates the Quaker Testimonies alongside the traditional elements of the United Nations. Megan Schmidt, who leads QUNO NY’s peacebuilding program, delivered the keynote address, sharing reflections on QUNO’s nearly 75 years of work at the UN and how QUNO grounds its work in Quaker faith and practice.
QUNO Keynote Address_QMUNC.pdf 161.25 KB As the Secretary-General boldly states in his 2020 report on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace, “civil society engagement and participation is indispensable to peacebuilding.” Recognizing this essential role of civil society, the United Nations (UN) released Community Engagement Guidelines on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace (CEG), a system-wide guidance to enhance how the UN engages and partners with communities in the shared effort to build and sustain peace. This publication resulted from work carried out since 2019 by a joint UN-civil society working group, of which QUNO was one of three civil society partners.
UN CEG .pdf 1.16 MB Read QUNO New York’s newsletter, In & Around the UN, featuring articles on:
and more from New York.
In and Around October 2020.pdf 1.57 MB In recognition of the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on global peace and security, the United Nations (UN) Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) convened a series of conversations to understand peacebuilding and sustaining peace in the context of the pandemic. QUNO Director, Andrew Tomlinson, was invited to be interviewed for such a discussion, with QUNO serving as the first civil society organization to share reflections in this series. In this interview, Andrew reflects on the challenges and opportunities for peacebuilding that have come out of the pandemic and explores ways that the UN can connect the short-term humanitarian crisis response to longer-term sustainable peace and development goals.
21 September marks the International Day of Peace, a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace and a commitment towards non-violence. Since 2015, QUNO New York has led the call from peacebuilding organizations around the world in issuing a statement to Member States and the UN system. In 2020, QUNO, along with over 170 peacebuilding organizations called for peace to be mainstreamed in the response to COVID-19, for policies to be inclusive, and for the global community to recommit to multilateralism. In addition, QUNO distributed a press release on the statement, which was shared widely with media contacts covering the United Nations.
In collaboration with the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), QUNO’s New York Director, Andrew Tomlinson, participated in FWCC’s second session of, Quaker Conversations, FWCC’s monthly webinar series with Friends around the world. In preparation for the discussion, Andrew wrote a brief blog reflecting on the work of Quakers at the UN in New York. Key to his reflections is the role the United Nations has served in an ever-changing world after World War II, and the work that must be done going forward to affect positive change.
QUNO Geneva’s Director, Jonathan Woolley, will be participating this fall in another Quaker Conversations with FWCC.
Every five years the UN undertakes a review of the Peacebuilding Architecture to assess the system’s progress and impact for peacebuilding, identify remaining challenges and set the peacebuilding priorities for the coming years. QUNO, in partnership with the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), submitted a set of recommendations to UN and Member State officials to inform and influence the 2020 review. The document focuses its messages on structural and operational partnerships, financing for peacebuilding and operational and policy coherence.
Every five years the UN undertakes a review of the Peacebuilding Architecture (PBA) to assess the system’s progress towards peacebuilding and sustaining peace as well as to outline priority areas for the coming years. QUNO, drawing upon its long-standing history of exploring the topic of reconciliation in peacebuilding, submitted a thematic paper, Building Peace through Reconciliation, to contribute to the 2020 PBA review. The document focuses on three key areas, namely: the definitional challenges of reconciliation; reconciliation and the Peacebuilding Architecture; and key messages on reconciliation.
“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.
The UN was born out of the global crisis of the second world war. Now, 75 years later, another crisis faces us. How can we both reaffirm the Charter commitment to collective action and bring to this crisis the lessons we have learned about offering integrated support in partnership with the communities we accompany, leaving no one behind? In this statement, QUNO New York provides key messages to support the UN and its membership as they seek to respond to the ongoing global health and peace crisis caused by the spread of COVID-19.
2020.04 QUNO NY COVID UN.pdf 338.72 KB On 16 April, the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), in partnership with the United Nations (UN) Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), convened an off-the-record virtual discussion with peacebuilding organization representatives from throughout the world. The discussion addressed two interrelated themes: firstly, the Peacebuilding Fund’s (PBF) annual Gender and Youth Promotion Initiative (GYPI) funding calls; and, secondly, the impacts of COVID-19 on peacebuilding. This document provides an overview of the key themes, issues and ideas that emerged during the discussion, with no attribution to participants given the off-the-record nature of the meeting.
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 Read QUNO New York's March 2020 newsletter, In & Around the UN, featuring articles on:
and more from New York.
In & Around the UN - March 2020 2.88 MB Every year, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) holds an annual session that brings together UN and Member State colleagues to focus on timely and key peacebuilding challenges and opportunities. This year's meeting, held on 4 December, focused on peacebuilding in Africa, particularly in the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin and Mano River Union regions. Key issues in focus included the transborder threats of armed extremism, underdevelopment, climate change and gender-based violence. As in past years, QUNO was one of a small number of civil society organizations that participated, lending our voice and expertise to this UN discussion.
QUNO Remarks at PBC Annual Session.pdf 128.63 KB 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 peacebuilding community to explore a range of issues impacting the field, such as the challenge of closing civic space. QUNO NY’s UN Representative for Peacebuilding participated in the American Friends Service Committee’s panel on this issue, under the theme of “Unrestricting Space for Peacebuilding and Social Justice.”
QUNO Intervention_AfP 2019.pdf 112.88 KB 
