Timeline

Human Rights & Refugees

We work to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights through the United Nations system, with particular reference to migration and displacement, criminal justice and conscientious objection to military service.
June 2020

"No-one will be safe until everyone is safe." QUNO welcomes Secretary General Guterres’ new Policy Brief.

QUNO welcomes the launch of a Policy Brief from UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, focussing on the situation of people on the move during the Covid-19 pandemic. QUNO has worked for decades on protection of refugees and in recent years on the human rights of migrants, and we are deeply concerned by the severe and disproportionate impact of the pandemic on refugee and migrant communities of all kinds, including migrant workers, migrants in irregular situations, and those in immigration detention.

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May 2020

Covid-19 and the Rights of Children of Parents who are Incarcerated

The Child Rights Connect Working Group on Children of Incarcerated Parents, of which QUNO is co-convenor, is pleased to share a new Briefing on the Rights of Children of Parents who are Incarcerated in the context of Covid-19, with the support of Penal Reform International. 

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April 2020

UPDATE: QUNO Geneva Programme Assistant Applications

Application process update

The application process is closed. 

We take this opportunity to thank everyone for their applications and to inform you that we are continuing with this recruitment. As a result of the current situation with Covid-19 our timelines for interviews have changed.  We are currently shortlisting. We will contact only those who we invite for interview. If you have not heard from us by 31 May please assume that you have not been selected for interview.  

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March 2020

QUNO delivers statement on children of parents accused or convicted of association with designated terrorist groups

QUNO Geneva delivered a statement at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council this March, as part of a discussion with the Special Rapporteur on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism. The statement, delivered by Programme Assistant for Human Rights and Refugees Lucy Halton, built upon QUNO’s years of work on children of incarcerated parents by focussing on the rights of children of parents accused or convicted of association with designated terrorist groups.

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March 2020

New Briefing Paper: Children of Incarcerated Parents International Standards and Guidance

Children of incarcerated parents continue to face a range of challenges to the full respect for and enjoyment of their rights. QUNO's new briefing paper provides an update to our previous publication, offering an overview of the international legal standards applicable to these children.

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February 2020

Human Rights of Migrants at HRC 43

As part of its ongoing work on the human rights of migrants, QUNO delivered an oral statement to the Human Rights Council, urging the Council to take more focused and sustained action on the issue. Laurel Townhead, QUNO’s Representative for Human Rights and Refugees, listed the names of three of the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives, drawing attention to the individual human beings behind migration statistics.

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November 2019

Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty

For over a decade, QUNO has worked to draw attention to the rights of children of incarcerated parents and to strengthen standards and guidance to better protect their rights.

QUNO Geneva has warmly welcomed the publication of the full version of the UN’s Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty, following their significant contributions to its contents.

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October 2019

How the Human Rights pillar is contributing to Arms Control

QUNO recently co-organized a discussion on “How the Human Rights pillar is contributing to Arms Control” as part of the New Shapes: Weapons Governance conference in October, in collaboration with the Women's League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Amnesty International, and the Permanent Mission of Peru to the United Nations.

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October 2019

QUNO welcomes the launch of UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty

The Child Rights Connect Working Group on Children of Incarcerated Parents, which QUNO co-convenes, welcomes the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty. We particularly welcome the Study’s detailed discussion on the rights of children living in prison with a parent, and the research which has been undertaken on this crucial subject.

Laurel Townhead, Human Rights and Refugees Representative for the Quaker United Nations Office and co-convenor of the Child Rights Connect Working Group on Children of Incarcerated Parents said:

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September 2019

The Human Rights Council: advancing the rights of children of incarcerated parents

At the 42nd session of the Human Rights Council, QUNO welcomed several discussions and documents which incorporated a focus on children of parents incarcerated parents, and children of parents sentenced to death or executed. We delivered an oral statement on the rights of children of parents sentenced to death or executed.

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Event of Note
March 2019

The 2019 QUNO Review is now available online

Our new, March 2019 edition of the QUNO Review is now available for download. The annual report provides a brief introduction to QUNO and our way of working, as well as an overview of each of our programme areas. Learn more about our past year of our work and see where we are headed in 2019.

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December 2018

The adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: A QUNO guide for Friends

On 10th December 2018, after a two year negotiation process, States formally adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration at an intergovernmental conference in Marrakech. On 19th December, the Compact was then endorsed with a vote at the General Assembly in New York. 

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Event of Note
November 2018

Foundations for Implementation: QUNO launches new guidebook for States implementing the Global Compact for Migration

In December 2018, representatives from the Human Rights and Refugees programme traveled to Marrakesh to attend the 2018 Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

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September 2018

Joint NGO Statement delivered at the 39th Human Rights Council concerning the Global Compact on Migration

On Tuesday 11th September QUNO delivered a joint NGO statement during the general debate on the first oral update from Michelle Bachelet, the new High Commissioner for Human Rights.  

The statement focused on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and called on states and the High Commissioner to make concrete efforts to ensure a human rights based implementation, follow up and review of the compact.

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September 2018

Statement delivered at the 39th Human Rights Council concerning the arbitrary detention of migrants

On Wednesday 12th September QUNO delivered a statement during the Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group on arbitrary detention, focusing on the revision and update of Deliberation 5, on deprivation of liberty of migrants.

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September 2018

"We only have the Global Compact for Migration because of the witness of Human Rights defenders" : QUNO speaks at an OHCHR side event

On Thursday 27th September at the 39th Human Rights Council, Human Rights and Refugees representative, Laurel Townhead, spoke at a side event on migrants' Human Rights defenders, organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Paraguay. Laurel centered her presentation on the crucial role Human Rights defenders play in offering a counter narrative of compassion in an increasingly xenophobic global climate.

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July 2018

QUNO publishes ‘Towards a Human Rights Based Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration – Paper #4 Compilation of Agreed Language’.

QUNO is working to support the adoption of an ambitious, effective and human rights based Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.  The Compact is the opportunity for States to strengthen the implementation of International Human Rights Law and build on the commitments they have made in the past. 

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June 2018

UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty – Call for Input

Research is currently underway on a UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty and your help is needed.

The Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (called for in UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/69/157) will shed light on the scale and conditions of children deprived of liberty, identifying good practices and making recommendations for effective measures to prevent human rights violations against children in detention and reduce the number of children deprived of liberty.

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