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UNHCR issues โ€˜Guidelines on International Protection No. 10: Claims to Refugee Status related to Military Serviceโ€™

6th December 2013

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QUNO welcomes new Guidelines on International Protection relating to claims to refugee status based on objection to military service released by UNHCR. These Guidelines focus on individuals who seek international protection as refugees to avoid recruitment and service in State armed forces, including conscientious objectors, as well as forced recruitment by non-State armed groups. They will provide guidance for governments, decision makers, lawyers and the judiciary as well as UNHCR staff. QUNO hopes that the new Guidelines will help protect conscientious objectors and others fleeing recruitment and service in the military when they seek asylum abroad.

Areas of work: Conscientious Objection to Military Service

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At a critical moment, Security Council Resolution on Gaza falls short

At a critical moment, Security Council Resolution on Gaza falls short

On Monday, November 17, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2803 (2025) authorizing the creation of an โ€œInternational Stabilization Forceโ€ and a โ€œBoard of Peaceโ€ aimed at addressing the critical security, humanitarian, and reconstruction needs in Gaza. The resolution affirms the importance of enabling humanitarian aid, maintaining a ceasefire, and the goal of working towards โ€œa horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence.โ€ However, QUNO notes with concern the resolutionโ€™s disregard for the consent or agency of Palestinians within the mechanisms proposed by the resolution. Furthermore, the resolution fails to establish clear mechanisms for transparency, accountability, and effective humanitarian aid and reconstruction. Both observers and UN member states have pointed out that the resolutionโ€™s unilateral approach could sideline the United Nations and risk repeating colonial actions and ideologies that lie at the heart of the conflict. ย  At its core, the Security Council resolution gives UN backing to the โ€œComprehensive Peace Plan,โ€ also known as the โ€œ20-point plan,โ€ proposed by US President Donald Trump earlier this year. The United States proposed the resolution and lobbied strenuously to push it through the Security Council on an expedited timeline. The resolution gives a green light to main tenets of the Presidentโ€™s plan, principally, […]

Drawing Hope: Children Reimagining Peace Across Borders

Drawing Hope: Children Reimagining Peace Across Borders

In a world often divided, Drawing Hope is a trans-local peace project that uses children’s art to remind us of our shared humanity. Through artwork created by children, the exhibit sends messages of hope, peace, and reconciliation. After being displayed in venues around the world, Drawing Hope arrived at the United Nations in New York City in early November. QUNO worked closely with the American Friends Service Committee, Okedongmu Children, and the Permanent Mission of Ireland to ensure the exhibit could be displayed inside the UN. From 10 to 21 November, diplomats, UN officials, and guests were able to view drawings created by children in eight countries: North Korea, South Korea, Japan, South Africa, Colombia, Cambodia, Ireland, and the United States. Visitors were inspired by the simple example of children working to connect, transcend barriers, and use creativity to build understanding and empathy across divides. Drawing Hope began on the Korean Peninsula, which in 2025 marks 80 years of division between North and South Korea. Over the past eight decades, cross-border interactions have been strictly prohibited, with both sides dehumanizing the other through propaganda, influencing adults and children alike. As a result, many children grew up surrounded by narratives of […]

QUNO attends COP30 in Brazil: Report 1 of 2

QUNO attends COP30 in Brazil: Report 1 of 2

QUNOโ€™s Human Impacts of Climate Change (HICC) staff, Lindsey Fielder Cook and Daniela Campos, were present at the Conference of Parties (COP30) from 9โ€“23 November in Belรฉm, Brazil. This first report focuses on QUNOโ€™s activities and will be followed by a second report offering an analysis of both concerns and positive outcomes.ย  While knowing that more than 56,000 people from all over the world came together to share and negotiate global climate action, some might still wonder what happens inside COPs. To offer a clearer glimpse of this experience, we are sharing a narrated report of the major events, negotiations, and interactions where QUNO brought a Quaker voiceโ€”advocating peaceful, just, and equitable transformations of activities driving existential levels of climate change and related planetary crises.ย  Amplifying our Voice and Values at COP30 – Interfaith events : With our Interfaith Liaison Committee colleagues, we helped host an interfaith Talanoa Dialogue at the Lutheran Church Igreja Evangelica de Confissรฃo Luterana, bringing together over 120 people in person from all over the world, with translation between English and Portuguese, and more than 30 participants online.  During the COP, we supported faith-based colleagues in their efforts, including newcomers navigating the space, and engaged with […]

QUNO at the IPCCโ€™s session in Lima

QUNO at the IPCCโ€™s session in Lima

From 27โ€“30 October, QUNO participated in the 63rd Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Lima, Peru. The IPCC collates the best available climate science worldwide, and its reports help advise governments and policymakers on what is happening, why, and the available options for climate policy and action. During this meeting, country delegates, scientists, and observers prioritized three difficult key issues: the timeline for the publication of the 7th Assessment Report (AR7); the inclusion of high-risk marine geo-engineering in a Methodology Report; and gaps in the IPCC budget. On the first issue, and for the fourth consecutive attempt, country delegates were unable to agree on a timeline for delivery. On the second issue, QUNO worked effectively with a range of concerned countries and observers to prevent the inclusion of marine geo-engineering as a carbon dioxide removal technology. On the third issue, the budget was passed for 2026 but remains significantly underfunded for the assessment cycle. For more information about QUNOโ€™s work at the IPCC and our Plenary interventions, as well as the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, which references our (FWCC) interventions, please download the reports below.

QUNO Representative brings Quaker Perspective to Disaster Resiliency

QUNO Representative brings Quaker Perspective to Disaster Resiliency

QUNO NY Representative Kavita Desai had the rare opportunity to moderate a panel at the United Nations entitled โ€œInvesting in Resilience to Safeguard the Sustainable Development Goalsโ€ during a special event held on October 16, 2025, hosted by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the UN Economic and Financial Committee.  The UNDRR event, โ€œTowards a Risk-informed approach to Development: Financing Resilient Development Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow,โ€ highlighted the need to increase investment in disaster protection measures such as early warning systems, community protection plans, and resilient infrastructure to safeguard progress made towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a series of 17 globally agreed-upon goals that form a blueprint for sustainable peace and prosperity. As Desai noted in her opening remarks, โ€œIt is well known that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…investing in DRR saves resources in the long-term and futureproofs development gains.โ€   Desaiโ€™s panel provided valuable insight on the necessity of financing resilient development, warning that progress towards the SDGs has been limited and that current investments in disaster risk and resilience account for only about 25% of actual needs in many countries. The panel noted that this funding gap emerges […]

Real Costs of the Push to Rearm in Europe and Beyond: Implications for Arms Control, Business and Human Rights, and International Law

Real Costs of the Push to Rearm in Europe and Beyond: Implications for Arms Control, Business and Human Rights, and International Law

To discuss the costs and risks of exponentially rising military spending, the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) Geneva, together with the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights (ABA CHR) and the Womenโ€™s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), co-hosted a public webinar involving a panel of 5 experts from diverse fields. The event, โ€œThe Real Costs of the Push to Rearm in Europe and Beyond: Implications for Arms Control, Business and Human Rights, and International Lawโ€ explored how the rapid increase in global defence budgets affects social investment, democratic governance, and climate resilience. It was attended by a broad community, with participants from the fields of disarmament, arms control, peace-building, human rights, humanitarian law, climate change, gender equality, representing governments, international organizations, academia, civil society, and members of the general public. Setting the Scene Dr. Yvette Issar (QUNO) underscored that global military spending has reached an all-time high of 2.7 trillion USD, a figure projected to rise sharply in the coming decade. These rising figures โ€œare not yielding greater peace, but are instead undermining our shared vision for a sustainable future.โ€ The following guiding questions were posed at the outset of the discussion: Dr. Nan Tian (SIPRI) outlined current trends in military expenditure, describing an โ€œexceptionally […]