Acknowledging that the world is moving towards increasingly complex crisis situations, which require ever more complex responses, the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) has increasingly focused on the role of sustainable and people-centered strategies for peace within crisis response - a priority that has been uplifted in QUNO’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan.

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).

QUNO Geneva addressed the Human Rights Council (HRC) under Item 3 regarding the follow-up to resolutions on the contribution of the HRC to the prevention of human rights violations (HRC 38/18 and HRC 45/31).

In 1981 the United Nations General Assembly designated 21 September as the International Day of Peace in order to highlight the importance of fostering an international commitment towards peace and non-violence.

QUNO NY Programme Assistants (PAs), Molly Burger and Hannah Patterson, recently hosted an interactive discussion on QUNO at New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM) summer sessions. QUNO NY’s Program Assistants have a longstanding tradition of presenting at NYYM. This year’s theme, "Becoming a Sanctuary Where Spirit Dwells," strongly resonated with our PAs regarding the work QUNO does, and we were glad to be able to continue this tradition of engagement, albeit virtually.

The recently published book, “New Paths and Policies towards Conflict Prevention,” co-edited by QUNO’s UN Representative, Rachel Madenyika, shares the learnings from a series of relationship-building dialogues between Chinese and Swiss scholars, convened by QUNO New York.

As part of its ongoing work with Peace and Development Advisors (PDAs) through the Civil Society – UN Prevention Platform, QUNO co-hosted the virtual event, Strengthening Partnerships: Preventing Conflict Together. This was the second meeting in the Platform’s series to strengthen civil society – UN collaboration through enhanced partnerships with PDAs.