21 September marks the International Day of Peace, which was established in 1981 by a unanimous resolution in the UN’s General Assembly. To mark the day, QUNO and over 100 additional peacebuilding organizations from throughout the world issued a statement to United Nations Member States that brings attention to peace concerns. 

In February, QUNO hosted our annual three-day gathering of peacebuilding leaders at Quaker House in New York. The previous year’s event had focused on efforts to articulate the ‘heart of peacebuilding’, resulting in a fresh affirmation of core principles and tools. Using that base, this year the group chose to survey the current and future global peacebuilding policy environments.

During meetings held on November 13-14, Member States and UN actors came together to discuss strategies for peacebuilding and sustaining peace in the Sahel region. This began with the annual session of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), a full day, interactive meeting that focused on themes of partnerships, and the role of women and youth in peacebuilding in the Sahel.

On January 24, 2018, the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform hosted an event entitled ‘What UN Peace and Security Reform means for Prevention.’ Held nearly one year after the appointment of the new UN Secretary-General and the elevation of his initial vision of prevention as the core UN priority, this event provided an opportunity for civil society and UN actors to constructively discuss the meaning of the UN Peace and Security Reform for the UN’s prevention agenda.

QUNO co-hosted a side-event “Contributing to sustaining peace and conflict prevention: perspectives from agriculture, food security and nutrition” at the World Committee on Food Security (CFS) on 9 October.  Other co-hosts were the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Food Programme and the Netherlands. The standing-room-only attendance of over 70 indicated people’s broad interest in the the nexus between peace and food and nutrition security.