During the 44th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, QUNO delivered a joint oral statement with partner Child Rights Connect, as co-convenor of the Child Rights Connect Working Group on Children of Incarcerated Parents.

QUNO welcomes the launch of a Policy Brief from UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, focussing on the situation of people on the move during the Covid-19 pandemic. QUNO has worked for decades on protection of refugees and in recent years on the human rights of migrants, and we are deeply concerned by the severe and disproportionate impact of the pandemic on refugee and migrant communities of all kinds, including migrant workers, migrants in irregular situations, and those in immigration detention.

Application process update

The application process is closed. 

We take this opportunity to thank everyone for their applications and to inform you that we are continuing with this recruitment. As a result of the current situation with Covid-19 our timelines for interviews have changed.  We are currently shortlisting. We will contact only those who we invite for interview. If you have not heard from us by 31 May please assume that you have not been selected for interview.  

As part of its ongoing work on the human rights of migrants, QUNO delivered an oral statement to the Human Rights Council, urging the Council to take more focused and sustained action on the issue. Laurel Townhead, QUNO’s Representative for Human Rights and Refugees, listed the names of three of the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives, drawing attention to the individual human beings behind migration statistics.

The Child Rights Connect Working Group on Children of Incarcerated Parents, which QUNO co-convenes, welcomes the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty. We particularly welcome the Study’s detailed discussion on the rights of children living in prison with a parent, and the research which has been undertaken on this crucial subject.

Laurel Townhead, Human Rights and Refugees Representative for the Quaker United Nations Office and co-convenor of the Child Rights Connect Working Group on Children of Incarcerated Parents said: