QUNO was present throughout the entire COP26 in Glasgow, focusing on climate justice concerns, and strengthening ambitious, effective and fair international climate efforts.  Please see ‘read more’ for an overview of QUNO work and links to presentations, publications and statements, and an analysis of the COP26, ‘Two steps forward, one step back’, by Representative for Climate Change, Lindsey Fielder Cook.

At the Opening Ceremony of Geneva Peace Week 2021, our Representative for Climate Change, Lindsey Fielder Cook was part of the speaker panel to discuss ways forward for environment, climate change and peace. 

Lindsey joined live from COP26 to implore the critical role of global, regional and local climate action to avoid catastrophic climate change, while emphasising that “climate change is symptomatic of a greater challenge of how to live sustainably and justly on earth.” 

Eleven leaders from seven international Quaker organisations met at Friends House London and online for three days in early December. They included our incoming and outgoing Directors in New York (Sarah Clarke and Andrew Tomlinson) and in Geneva (Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge and Jonathan Woolley).

Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas (FWCC SOA) recently invited QUNO to a meeting with their Regional Coordinators to talk about our work and how Friends around the world can engage with us. It was a small meeting with vast reach, with Regional Coordinators from across the Americas, including the United States, El Salvador and Mexico in attendance, each connected to a Yearly Meeting.

The Human Impacts of Climate Change programme jointly made a submission to the UNFCCC’s Katowice Committee of Experts on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures (KCI), working alongside colleagues from the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA).

Peacebuilding approaches and tools can contribute to connecting short-term crisis response and long-term peace and development needs and support the work of actors in these environments. Drawing from QUNO’s publication, Building Peace in Times of Crisis, QUNO developed this infographic as a supportive and complementary resource.

The Quaker United Nations Office was invited to take part in an intergenerational discussion in September 2019, at which experienced conciliators and younger peace activists came together to share learning and consider how to take the work forward with renewed energy. A taster of who was at the event can be found in this video.

At the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council, Florence Foster, QUNO’s Representative for Peace and Disarmament delivered a statement to welcome OHCHR report 49/88 on the contribution of [...] all human rights [...] to achieving the purposes and upholding the principles of the UN Charter.