QUNO

From 28 November to 2 December 2022, the first session of the Intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Negotiations were held to make initial progress on the development of a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explicitly combines the promotion of peaceful, just, and inclusive societies in its Goal 16, which ‘seeks to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.’

QUNO New York UN Representative Kavita Desai joined a panel on November 3rd hosted by the Baha’i International Community (BIC) and the Coalition for the United Nations We Need, entitled “Tipping the Scales: Proposals for UN Reform in a Time of Need.”

The discussion included reflections on proposals for reform, as well as an exploration on how such proposals can be implemented—getting from ideation to actualization, in the words of one attendee.

On 25 October 2022, QUNO and the Catholic Climate Covenant co-hosted a webinar on sovereign debt reduction. COP27 is promising to be heavily focused on concerns about financing climate change mitigation and adaptation. Sovereign debt reduction is increasingly being spoken about as a "solution" to climate financing. Experts spoke on important questions that must be considered when discussing this subject.

Quakers are a people who follow after peace, love and unity. Our peace testimony is our witness to the Truth as we experience it. 

Our testimony manifests as a cumulative set of actions, continually tested and added to over centuries.  These actions are diverse in form, but have been broadly united by: 1) Refusal to kill, 2) Relief of suffering, 3) Building the institutions of peace, and 4) Supporting peacebuilding and removing the causes of war.