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.
The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of, set out ideas around, and raise questions on the different elements of a deliverable on environmental goods and services (EGS) from the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Discussions (TESSD) in the World Trade Organization (WTO). This work has benefited from collaboration with and support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Geneva and from comments shared by a group of various stakeholders at a meeting at Quaker House in Geneva on 2 September 2021. This is a work in progress and we welcome further comments. This is the second paper in the series on Trade and Environmental Sustainability, which also includes papers on the topics of circular economy, fossil fuel subsidy reform, and greening Aid for Trade.
This working paper looks into the circular economy, its linkages with trade, and development and justice concerns related to the circular economy. The paper looks specifically into the potential for cooperation on circular economy in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in its Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD). This work has benefited from collaboration with and support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Geneva and from comments shared by a group of various stakeholders at a meeting at Quaker House in Geneva on 24 June 2021. This is a work in progress and we welcome further comments. This is the first paper in the series on Trade and Environmental Sustainability, which also includes papers on the topics of environmental goods and services, fossil fuel subsidy reform, and greening Aid for Trade.
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.
QUNO Representative for Sustainable and Just Economic Systems Joachim Monkelbaan contributed to the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung publication “Building Back Better: A Call for Courage” with a chapter on “Exploring Structural Barriers to Justice and Sustainability in Economic Systems: The Example of Trade and WTO Transformation.” The piece starts by exploring some global challenges like inequality and climate change, then delves into the root causes of those challenges, and suggests some structural remedies for addressing those root causes (including looking at the role of trade and the WTO). A podcast interview with Joachim discussing his chapter of the publication is also available below.
Building Back Better.pdf 577.15 KB This analysis is a work in progress that has been prepared as a working document by QUNO’s Sustainable and Just Economic Systems programme to help us better understand our theory of change and our actions in the multilateral sphere. It is a synthesis of the present state of QUNO’s insights, aided by the sources that are referenced at the end of the document. Failures and distortions in our economic systems are also among the root causes of problems handled by QUNO’s other three programmes: Human Rights & Refugees; Peace & Disarmament; and Human Impacts of Climate Change.
“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.
QUNO's August 2019 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This issue features: an update from our Human Rights & Refugees programme on the important next steps after adoption by the UN of the Global Compact on Migration last December; ; highlights about our recent prevention activities for human rights and sustaining peace; approaches to people and nature centered climate policy; and a QUNO Q&A with our newest Representative, Joachim Monkelbaan.
