QUNO Geneva's newsletter from November 2008 to January 2009. Featured stories:

• The Future of Armed Violence and Development
• Universal Periodic Review
• Fisheries Subsidies Negotiations at the WTO
• Arms Control and the Art of Putting People First
• Caroline Dommen joins QUNO Staff Team and other staff news

Aims to inform the position of the African Group in the WTO Geographical Indication (GI) negotiations. In particular it aims to generate objective evidence regarding issues such as the availability of legal means to protect GIs in African countries, the costs and benefits of GI protection, African products that could benefit from GI protection, and technical assistance needs relating to GI protection.

UN Human Rights Council Ninth session Agenda item 3: Oral statement by Friends World Committee for Consultation delivered by Rachel Brett, Quaker UN Office, Geneva, on Tuesday 16 September 2008   on Conscientious Objection to Military Service.  

“Doing that which tends to the peace of all.”

A personal and preliminary reflection by QUNO New York Director Andrew Tomlinson on the roots of Quaker service work, with particular reference to the work of QUNO in New York.

During the Doha negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO), least developed countries (LDCs) have expressed a strong interest in increasing possibilities for their nationals to work as service providers in other countries. In the WTO, this is discussed in the context of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) under the heading known as Mode 4 – the presence of natural persons.

Trade negotiators and politicians from the US and EU argue that GATS Mode 4 is unworkable, particularly for semi-skilled and unskilled service providers, if source countries cannot guarantee the return (and hence the ‘temporariness’) of their service providers working abroad.

This paper examines different countries’ experiences and finds evidence that many migrant workers do desire to return to their home countries, and conditions and opportunities to help them to do so are a major factor in encouraging their return.

This background paper aims to give Friends an overview of the “Geneva Declaration” process, and of QUNO’s involvement in it. This process seeks to highlight the links between armed violence and development, and to focus international attention on the reasons for which there is a demand for small arms and light weapons, rather than focusing, as is traditionally the case, on controlling the supply and transfer of small arms and light weapons.

Many children around the world live in prison with mothers who have been accused or sentenced. The children themselves have committed no crimes. This paper focuses primarily on “the situations in which children enter prison and the effect it has on them after they leave,” thereby filling a crucial gap in the existing literature. The study draws on fieldwork from several national contexts.

This Briefing Paper introduces the problems that led to the adoption of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development.

This is a joint statement by Amnesty International, Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, International Service for Human Rights and Rights & Democracy welcoming the adoption on 13 September 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.