QUNO’s Emerging Conflicts and Crises (ECC) Program
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Quaker UN Representatives work to create linkages and dialogue between people from the grassroots and those working at the international policy level. These connections often focus on engaging Quaker service agencies and local Quaker communities in order to shed light on the consequences international policy has for local communities. Work in this program area has focused on three interrelated outcomes:
Outcome 1: When there is a big emergency, more actors turn to the UN Security Council for leadership.
The UN Security Council, composed of five permanent and ten elected members, is responsible for maintaining international peace and security. It focuses on a variety of conflicts and crises worldwide that require concentrated attention from the international community. The Security Council makes decisions on a regular basis that shape international law, setting precedents for a wide range of international security issues.
QUNO believes it is important to build bridges between international policy makers and people whose lives are affected by that policy. QUNO monitors the conflict issues on the Security Council agenda that are of interest to Friends and circulates information to partner Quaker service agencies and communities that are impacted by the particular crisis or conflict. In addition, QUNO works to ensure that when there is a big emergency conflict all stakeholders turn to the Security Council for leadership, especially to respond to the needs of civilian populations caught between the parties to the conflict. Finally, QUNO facilitates meetings at Quaker House that allow for informal dialogue between representatives of Security Council members, UN agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Work in this area has focused on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Iraq. QUNO has helped convene off-the-record meetings to discuss issues arising in response to these complex conflicts. QUNO works with partners to support non-military responses to violence in the DRC. The Iraq work, monitoring developments and sponsoring dialogue, is often done through a close partnership with the American Friends Service Committee
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Outcome 2: The UN community is aware of forgotten and under-attended conflicts
QUNO is concerned that gaps often develop at the international policy level between the point at which a violent conflict occurs, when it is discussed at the UN and when action is taken on the ground. These gaps, which can extend for years, are related to a number of issues, including: the tension between national sovereignty and humanitarian intervention, the political will of UN member states, and the availability of resources. The ECC program is focused on raising the profiles of under-attended and forgotten conflicts, particularly in Africa, which are susceptible to these gaps. QUNO works in partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN member states and UN agencies calling for the protection of civilians and greater support for peacebuilding efforts. It is QUNO’s hope that resources may be allotted on the basis of need rather than geo-political priority so that the needs of all people living in conflict will be addressed.
QUNO is also concerned that the decisions being made by UN member states do not always reflect the voices of those who suffer directly from the conflict. It is QUNO’s aim that grassroots-level actions have a direct impact on international policy.
In relation to this outcome, QUNO program work has focused on encouraging the UN to engage with the long running conflict in northern Uganda between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). QUNO has advocated high-level political attention to the conflict and renewed efforts to build peace. This culminated with the appointment by the UN Secretary General of President Joaquim Chissano as Special Envoy for the LRA affected areas in December 2006.
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Outcome 3: Around areas of potential major conflict, the UN community includes relevant member states in mitigating tensions
Where there is the potential for an outbreak of violent conflict, QUNO seeks to open and sustain dialogue among all parties. QUNO’s quiet diplomacy, especially through the use of Quaker House, creates safe space for off-the-record conversations, which are often difficult to have within the UN corridors. It is important for Security Council members to engage in informal dialogue in order to move beyond their political objectives and focus on their shared commitments of multilateralism and peacebuilding. For this reason, QUNO helps convene relevant stakeholders with the aim of quelling inter-state, regional and international tensions and preventing the outbreak of major violent conflict. The ECC program aims to decrease isolation of particular UN member states and restore diplomacy among all countries.
This work has recently focused on Iran; QUNO has worked with partners to undertake dialogue with high-level representatives, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This initiative has sometimes been seen as controversial, but QUNO believes in the power of dialogue and engagement to diffuse potential conflict.
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