QUNO New York, together with Club de Madrid, as part of their Shared Societies project, co-hosted an informal conversation at Quaker House with Mr. Abdurrahim El Keib, former Prime Minister of Libya and Mr. Zlatko Lagumdzija, former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The meeting focused on the importance of connecting high-level policy discussions to the realities of countries in transition, and that well-thought out mechanisms to support political inclusion are vital components to consolidating development and progress in a post-conflict context.

QUNO New York Director Andrew Tomlinson was invited by the UN Association of China to be a plenary speaker at a Beijing event celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations. Quakers have had a long association with China, and this was an occasion to renew old acquaintances and make some new contacts.

QUNO New York Director Andrew Tomlinson participated in the Alliance for Peacebuilding 2015 Annual Conference, Peacebuilding and Democracy in a Turbulent World, to provide a UN perspective on peace and development issues, including leading a group discussion as part of a session on the State of the Peacebuilding Field. QUNO has sought to reinforce links between peacebuilding policy discussions at the UN and other policy centers, such as Washington DC. 

The Quaker United Nations Office in New York, in association with Ambassador Sofia Borges, Timor Leste, and Ambassador Vandi Minah, Sierra Leone, co-hosted a reception at Quaker House on 10 March for member state delegates and senior representatives of peacebuilding policy organizations from around the world. 

In January QUNO hosted an informal civil society strategy session on Goal 16 and the role of related peace issues in the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After many years of inputs, from a variety of different sources and streams, the process to replace the Millennium Development Goals with the transformative SDG framework enters its final stages. 

QUNO was invited to participate in the first ever UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) Annual Session in New York on June 23rd, which focused on Sustainable support for peacebuilding: the domestic and international aspects. Andrew Tomlinson, QUNO Director, made comments in the workshop sessions on “The importance of inclusion, transparency and consultation in revenue mobilization” and “Long-term accompaniment of societies in transition: a role for the PBC?”

Quaker House welcomed many guests during the Eighth Session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. QUNO and our colleagues focused on the topic of conflict prevention, post-conflict peacebuilding and the promotion of durable peace, rule of law and governance within the proposed framework for development post-2015 by engaging with side events and making statements.