QUNO New York’s UN Representative, Megan Schmidt, delivered a statement during the virtual multi-stakeholder consultation convened on 16 March by the Permanent Missions of Namibia and Germany. This is the second in a series of discussions that will inform the Summit of the Future in 2024.

Late in the evening on 4 March 2023, the United Nations adopted a historic treaty to protect the world’s oceans. The Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, or the BBNJ, reached agreement on what is widely being referred to as the High Seas Treaty. This came after weeks of grueling negotiations that built upon over two decades of talks on the issue.

On the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, Member States pledged to strengthen global governance for the sake of present and future generations. At the request of Member States, the Secretary-General released the much-anticipated report, ‘Our Common Agenda,’ that provided several recommendations, including the need for a New Agenda for Peace (NA4P), to address the multitude of challenges faced by the international community.

QUNO New York UN Representative Kavita Desai joined a panel on November 3rd hosted by the Baha’i International Community (BIC) and the Coalition for the United Nations We Need, entitled “Tipping the Scales: Proposals for UN Reform in a Time of Need.”

The discussion included reflections on proposals for reform, as well as an exploration on how such proposals can be implemented—getting from ideation to actualization, in the words of one attendee.

On 25 October, QUNO New York hosted Jehad Abusalim and Asmaa Abu Mezeid, two of the authors of the newly published anthology ‘Light in Gaza: Writings Born in Fire’, for an intimate conversation at Quaker House with QUNO staff and members of the UN Israel-Palestine NGO Working Group.

With the situation in Gaza often framed purely as a military or humanitarian issue, this conversation provided an opportunity to hear about people’s experiences under occupation.

On 30 August, UN Member States and civil society representatives came together to discuss and identify ways to strengthen youth engagement in the General Assembly (GA). Kavita Desai, one of QUNO’s Quaker UN Representatives, spoke on behalf of the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform, which is co-facilitated by QUNO’s New York office and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). The Platform works to support the UN’s prevention agenda through strengthening coordination and information sharing between civil society organizations and the UN.