Timeline

Peace & Disarmament

QUNO’s peace and disarmament work in Geneva recognizes the relationship between peace, development and the environment.
October 2022

Quaker Statement on the Peace Testimony and Ukraine

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. 

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

September 2022

Our latest Geneva Reporter newsletter is now available online

QUNO's September 2022 issue of the Geneva Reporter newsletter is available below. This issue includes a welcome letter from our Director Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, reporting on the International Migration Review Forum as well as updates from our programmes Peace and Disarmament (P&D), Human Impacts of Climate Change (HICC) and Sustainable and Just Economic Systems (SJES).

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

May 2022

QUNO Geneva speaks at “Building the Bridge: Virtual Launch Event for UNIDIR’s Arms-Related Risk Analysis Toolkit”

On 5th May 2022, QUNO Geneva’s Representative for Peace and Disarmament, Florence Foster, was an expert speaker at the virtual launch of UNIDIR’s Arms-Related Risk Analysis Toolkit. The Toolkit is designed to guide efforts to integrate conventional arms and ammunition-related risks into conflict analysis and conflict prevention, management, and resolution efforts.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

March 2022

75 Years at the UN: The 2022 QUNO Review

The Quaker UN Office is celebrating 75 years of a Quaker Presence at the United Nations. Learn more about the work our office has carried out over this year to represent the concerns of Friends as we seek a UN that implements inclusive policies for peace. The annual review provides a brief introduction to QUNO’s way of working and an overview of the programmes carried out in our New York and Geneva offices, as well as our work ahead in the coming year.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

March 2022

QUNO welcomes OHCHRs report on achieving and upholding the principles of the UN Charter – HRC49

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. 

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

March 2022

QUNO welcomes OHCHRs report on delivery and financing of capacity building, technical assistance and prevention – HRC49

Florence Foster, Representative for Peace and Disarmament, delivered a statement at the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council to welcome the OHCHR report 49/68 on [...] technical assistance and capacity-building that support the implementation by States of their international human rights obligations and commitments’ pursuant to the so called ‘prevention’ resolution 45/31.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

March 2022

Event - 'Small Arms Exports, Leadership and Accountability: A Human Rights Perspective' at the CCADD

Florence Foster, Representative for Peace & Disarmament at QUNO Geneva, had the pleasure of speaking to the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament (CCADD) over a lunch time event on ‘Small Arms Exports, Leadership and Accountability: A Human Rights Perspective’.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

March 2022

The Crisis in Ukraine: A Brief UN Overview

Dear Friends,

Like us, you have undoubtedly been watching in horror the unfolding events in Ukraine. When we accepted responsibilities as the Directors of the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva and New York this past November, the possibility of such a war was little imagined by us or by the millions of people in Ukraine and Russia. We pray for Friends in Ukraine and Russia, and all impacted by this conflict. We are deeply grateful to hear of the efforts being carried out by Friends in Poland, Estonia and Georgia to provide much needed humanitarian relief.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

February 2022

'What's missing (and needed) post-COP26?' - QUNO's event at the Second International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding

On February 2nd 2022, over 130 people joined the virtual roundtable event co-hosted by QUNO Geneva and the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) at the International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding. The event addressed three elements at the intersection of challenges and opportunities in the post-COP26 context, namely: addressing the root causes of climate change, the role of human rights and avoiding securitisation. 

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

December 2021

Leaders of Quaker international organisations gather and reflect

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).

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

November 2021

QUNO Geneva hosted the event ‘Sustaining Peace and Human Rights - Making it work at the country level through engaging UN Special Procedures’ at Geneva Peace Week 2021

On the second day of Geneva Peace Week, QUNO, Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, Interpeace, the Office of the High Commissioner for HUman Rights (OHCHR), and the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) held an event on ‘Sustaining peace and human rights: Making it work at the country level through engaging UN Special Procedures’.

 

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

November 2021

Lindsey Fielder Cook speaks from COP26 at the Opening Ceremony of Geneva Peace Week 2021

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.” 

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

Event of Note
August 2021

Quaker United Nations Office Geneva names new Director

Following an international search process, the Quaker UN Office is delighted to announce that Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge has been selected as the incoming Director of QUNO Geneva. Nozizwe, a South African national, is a member of the Quaker Community in the Western Cape Meeting. She has broad experience in her home country and distinguished and influential service in government, civil society and advocacy. Nozizwe has an honorary Doctorate of Law from Haverford College, diplomas in microbiology and adult education, a degree in social science and an honours degree in philosophy.

Related Areas of Work

July 2021

QUNO Geneva's Representative for Peace and Disarmament participated in the fourth episode of the KOFF Ton-Träger podcast

Florence Foster, Representative for Peace and Disarmament at the Quaker United Nations Office Geneva, participated in the fourth episode of the KOFF Ton-Träger podcast alongside Katia Aeby, Managing Director of Peace Brigades International Switzerland, and Emma Baumhofer, Digital Peacebuilding Expert at swisspeace.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

July 2021

Statement on the 10th anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights at the Human Rights Council

QUNO’s peace and disarmament programme made a statement at the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council during the panel discussion on the 10th anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

March 2021

The 2021 QUNO Review is now available online

Our new, March 2021 edition of the QUNO Review is now available online. The annual review 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 2021.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work

March 2021

Sustaining Peace: A report on how human rights can help

As part of long-term work on integrating human rights and sustaining peace, QUNO has written a public report entitled ‘Sustaining Peace: How can human rights help? 2016 – 2020 retrospective.’ The report builds on learnings from a joint project with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which focused on Operative Paragraph 11 of the 2016 Sustaining Peace resolutions.

Tags: 

Related Areas of Work