Review of the activities of QUNO in 2011.

Conscientious objection to military service is now clearly protected as a human right under international law, even if the term "conscientious objection" does not appear in the international human rights treaties per se.

This paper presents the analysis and findings of the UN Human Rights Committee, the European Court of Human Rights as well as procedures of the Human Rights Council (Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief) that show how conscientious objection to military service is protected under international human rights law, particularly under the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

In 2011, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child held a Day of General Discussion on the issue of children of incarcerated parents, marking the first time that this issue had been discussed substantively anywhere within the UN system. This Briefing Paper provides a brief synopsis of the Day of General Discussion.

See also Collateral Convicts: Recommendations and Good Practice, and the related Exhibition.

A joint statement of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), and the Quaker United Nations Office(QUNO) in New York  on the Palestinian quest for statehood recognition at the United Nations in September 2011. Includes recommendations for the Obama Administration and U.S. Congress.

An exhibition by the NGO Group for the Committee on the Rights of the Child, focusing on “the often neglected issue of children of incarcerated parents. It includes drawings and quotes by children from across the world and highlights local initiatives that address the issue and seek to fulfill the rights of children whose parents are incarcerated.”

See also:

• Collateral convicts: Children of Incarcerated Parents
• Briefing Paper: If my parents go to prison, what happens to me?

QUNO Geneva newsletter for February 2011 to June 2011. Featured stories

• QUNO says "Thank You" to David Atwood
• Message from Jonathan Woolley, new QUNO Geneva Director
• Small Arms & Light Weapons
• QUNO Summer School 2011
• Quakers at the UN Crime Commission
• Conscientious Objection to Military Service
• Decade to Overcome Violence
• Staff Update
• Recent Publication

Paths Toward Peace - Best Practices in VIolence Reduction and Development in South and Southeast Asia, Comunidad Segura Good Practices Magazine, Year III, number 7.

Brings stories from Asia as sources of inspiration and reflection on armed violence prevention, conflict resolution, post conflict reconstruction and promoting livelihoods and development in the region. It features best practices from Civil Society Organisations that participated in the  “Regional Seminar on Armed Violence and Development in South and Southeast Asia” held in Kathmandu, Nepal, March 2011.

Comunidad Segura “Good Practices” magazine aims to serve as a source of information on grassroots initiatives that can help to inform advocacy campaigns and national and international public policy and programming.

QUNO New York newsletter from June 2011.

Features articles on:

• Building Peace: From China to Africa and Back Again
• Letter from the Director
• Peacebuilding at the UN
• Finding Hope for a Troubled World
• Preventing Election Violence in Kenya
• How to Support QUNO New York
• QUNO Staff Update
• The Changing Face of Violence

This statement, delivered at the 16th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, concerns certain military recruitment processes in Colombia, which raise questions about the guarantee of an individual’s right to conscientious objection - a right recognized under the Constitution of Colombia