This August saw the gathering of Quakers from around the world in Johannesburg, South Africa. The World Gathering of Friends brought 250 Quakers together in person with many more individuals and hubs gathering online for a week-long celebration of our different Quaker traditions and work. QUNO was given the opportunity to hold a plenary session introducing the work of Quakers at the UN.

Can you do more than just pray for peace in the Middle East and make a statement? This is the question posed by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac to faith leaders and their communities. Rev. Dr. Isaac is a Palestinian Christian pastor for the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and the Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour and serves as the Academic Dean of the Bethlehem Bible College. A vocal advocate of interfaith efforts toward reconciliation, Rev. Dr.

QUNO Geneva’s Human Impacts of Climate Change Programme, speaking on behalf of Friends World Committee for Consultation, took part in the 61st Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Sofia, Bulgaria from the 27th of July to 2nd of August.  Our FWCC interventions and the IPCC Meeting summary are available to read here. 

QUNO NY UN Representative Kavita Desai is co-chairing the peace working group of the 2024 SDG16+ Campaign. QUNO is a Member of the Transparency, Accountability, and Participation (TAP) Network, an international coalition of over 300+ civil society organizations working towards SDG 16 and the 2030 Agenda through advocacy and collaboration. 

On 27 July we remember the signing of the Korean War armistice in 1953. While the armistice silenced the guns and brought an end to three years of armed conflict, it did not end the war, and to this day the parties to this conflict have not reached a peace agreement. It is estimated that the war has produced at least 2.5 million deaths, including civilians and soldiers from 22 countries. Today the Korean peninsula and many families remain separated between north and south. This year tensions have worsened with the constant threat that this friction could escalate into a nuclear conflict.

We regret to announce that Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge left her post of Director of QUNO Geneva on June 30th 2024 to take up new challenges. She has served in this role for almost 3 years and contributed greatly to QUNO’s projects and development. The Quaker United Nations Committee wishes her the best in her future endeavors and is grateful for her valuable contributions to the organization.

Migrants are rights holders, their human rights should be protected regardless of their contributions to society. This is the central message of report from the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants’ to Human Rights Council. The report emphasizes the need to transform harmful narratives about migration. These narratives draw on and contribute to dehumanization of migrants and feed human rights violations and abuses. Always a critical issue, the Special Rapporteur notes that disinformation often peaks before national elections.

QUNO’s Human Impact of Climate Change (HICC) team, Lindsey and Anna, spent the past two weeks at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Bonn, Germany, advocating for urgent, equitable, near-term available-at-scale climate policies. Negotiations were tense and Parties disagreed over key issues on climate finance and mitigation.

Working at the UN, it’s easy to feel discouraged. Over recent years, staff of the Quaker UN Offices in Geneva and New York have had front-row seats watching repeated instances when powerful countries have ignored basic tenets of international law and not lived up to their commitments under the UN Charter. At a recent meeting of the Quaker UN Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, we were asked to reflect on the current state of the UN, including the challenges and opportunities facing the institution.