The Global Compact for Migration (GCM), adopted in 2018, is a significant commitment from governments to take a people centred and human rights based approach to migration policy and to work together towards this. The GCM invites regions to undertake reviews of the implementation of the compact every four years starting in 2020. These processes will feed into the International Migration Review Forum, also due to take place every four years, starting in 2022.

The 2020 Regional Migration Reviews are the first opportunity for States and others to reflect together on the initial steps taken and on how to make further progress to implement the GCM. They are also the first opportunity for detailed multilateral discussion on migration governance following the Covid-19 pandemic and to identify ways to adapt with the GCM as a guiding framework. 

This paper is intended to help migrants, NGOs and other stakeholders to engage with the Regional Migration Reviews as part of their work to improve the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrants.

To mark International Conscientious Objectors' Day on the 15TH of May 2021, QUNO is pleased to be releasing our new publication on conscientious objection and refugee status determination procedures. This report aims to support informed refugee status determination for conscientious objectors to military service seeking asylum by highlighting relevant international and regional standards and jurisprudence and analyzing national guidance. We are keen to carry out further research covering other countries and regions and encourage people with access to this information to contact the Human Rights & Refugees programme.                                                                              

How to be a Hero for All our Children: A People's Climate Toolkit is a guide to personal and political climate action. Gathering climate science from the latest reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), alongside suggested personal actions and questions for politicians, “How to be a Hero” is an accessible resource to share with local communities and as part of educational initiatives.

“How to be a Hero” is offered in two versions. The shorter A6 booklet is designed as a conversation starter or to put through doors, and features colourful graphics to engage new readers and visual learners. The A5 “extended version” offers a simpler layout and features further information and questions for politicians. Both publications offer full bibliographies that link readers to the relevant IPCC reports, offering easy and direct access to the climate science given to their governments.

The publications are accessible online and via a “print at home” version which can be used for campaigning and personal distribution. To request a physical copy of the publication, please follow this link.

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.

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.

Working together American Friends Service Committee, Britain Yearly Meeting, Friends Committee for National Legislation, Quaker Council for European Affairs and Quaker United Nations Office have developed a statement on migration drawing on Quaker foundations and work with migrants and on migration. The core of the statement says:

Rooted in our belief that there is that of the sacred in everyone, our spiritual leading to uphold the inherent value and agency of every human being, and our commitment to building a world without violence, we are heartbroken by migration policy that dehumanizes some members of our human family on the basis of where they come from. We reject the notion that security for some can be achieved through means that use or result in violence and insecurity for others. We abhor the many forms of violence used in the management of migration and the effect current migration systems have in dividing our human family. 

We are committed to working for a world where dignity and rights are upheld regardless of migration status and not on the basis of citizenship or perceived deservedness.  Our faith calls us to work alone and with others for migration justice.  

Friends, Meetings and Quaker agencies and organizations around the world work for migration justice, bearing witness to the Quaker testimonies of peace and equality. Though our working methods may differ, the organizations that developed this statement are united by the shared vision expressed in this statement.

We encourage Meetings, Quaker organizations and Friends’ groups or associations to consider supporting the statement and signing on to it. 

If your organization, group or Meeting would like to sign on to support the statement or if you have questions about the statement or comments on it please email the Quaker UN Office’s Human Rights and Refugees team: Laurel Townhead ltownhead@quno.ch and Najmah Ali nali@quno.ch

The list of supporting Meetings, groups and organisations will be updated regularly and can be seen below: 

The Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network 

Quaker Earthcare Witness 

Esher Meeting

Trenton Meeting of Friends

West Brattleboro Quaker Worship Group

Montana Gathering of Friends 

Geneva Monthly Meeting

Switzerland Yearly Meeting

Honolulu Friends Meeting

St Andrews Local Meeting

Pima Monthly Meeting

Pittsburgh Friends Meeting

Midlothian Friends Meeting

Bridge City Friends Meeting

Sandpoint Friends Meeting 

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.

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.

Read QUNO New York’s newsletter, In & Around the UN, featuring articles on:

• Building Peace through Reconciliation
• Supporting Country-level UN Capacities for Prevention
• 15 Years of UN Peacebuilding

and more from New York.