
Quaker United Nation Office
Connecting Friends’ values with the global community
We are a Quaker presence at the United Nations sharing Friends’ concerns for global peace and justice with the international community.
The Quaker United Nations Office promotes justice, peace and sustainability at the United Nations. Our priorities are based on the concerns of Quakers worldwide. Through different areas of work in Geneva and New York, we seek to ensure that the UN system and community of nations support and uphold the dignity of all, so that justice and peace can flourish, and our shared home can be nurtured.
New York
Supporting the UN’s Role for Peace Globally
QUNO New York seeks to strengthen member states’ understanding of and commitment to important concepts that build what has been called Positive Peace. Peace in this view requires the presence of social justice, equity, and systems that support sustainable peace and is distinguished from a Negative Peace which is the absence of direct violence or war. In this area of work, we focus on three intersecting themes. These are also explored through the work we do to support the UN’s role for peace in country and regional contexts. Currently, QUNO focuses on three priority areas of thematic work: inclusion, transitional justice, and working for peace through a climate-sensitive lens.
Supporting the UN’s Role for Peace in Regional Contexts
In New York, QUNO has a long history of engaging diplomats and UN officials around specific country and regional contexts. In this effort, we work closely with UN diplomats, officials, and civil society organizations, often using Quaker House as a space to host off-the-record briefings, building relationships, and trust. We focus on a small number of country and regional contexts, and seek to uplift and amplify the voices, concerns, and insights of those whose lives are touched by violent conflict and injustice. Their analysis and recommendations enable our UN partners to work towards lasting and sustainable peace that centres the needs of communities. Our selection of country and regional contexts is based on a careful assessment of whether we have something unique to offer, and whether our quiet, behind-the-scenes approach can make a difference at the UN in New York.
Supporting the UN to Build Peaceful and Just Societies with Inclusive Institutions
QUNO works towards implementing the UN’s 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which comprise a global action plan for people, planet, prosperity, and peace through partnership. In particular, QUNO works on SDG 16: the “peace goal.” QUNO has a long history of work on SDG 16 that dates back to the initial negotiation processes that established the 17 SDGs. While SDG 16 is often called the peace goal, its full title is “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’s work on SDG 16 emphasizes that building sustainable peace requires continuous investment and action, and that lessons can be learned and built upon from both the developed and developing world.
Geneva
Human Impacts of Climate Change
QUNO works for effective, fair and ambitious climate action and environmental protection. QUNO is concerned about the impacts of climate change on people’s lives, and works to ensure that the rights and dignity of all are upheld in the face of a changing environment. Whilst seeking to support international processes to minimise the negative effects of climate change, QUNO is also exploring how climate change interacts with migration and displacement, and with peace and conflict. QUNO’s work in this area draws on our existing expertise in other fields, including peacebuilding, human rights, economics and environmental policy.
Human Rights & Refugees
QUNO works for international law, standards and processes that uphold the inherent worth of each and every person. We work to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights through the United Nations system, with particular reference to the interface between human rights and armed conflicts, the protection of refugees, the rights of people in detention, and other Quaker concerns.
Peace & Disarmament
QUNO works for holistic approaches that address the seeds of war, including inequality, injustice and the proliferation of arms. Our peace and disarmament programme grows out of a long Quaker history of working for peace, understanding that this means more than the absence of overt violence and has fundamentally to do with social and economic justice and political participation. Where these are denied, the roots of violence can be found. QUNO works with diplomats, NGOs, UN staff and others in Geneva and beyond to support the creation of legal instruments, new policy and effective practice. A large part of our peacebuilding work also focuses on cross-cutting work around natural resources, conflict and cooperation. Together with our colleagues in human rights, climate change and food and sustainability, we explore opportunities for the prevention of destructive conflict around natural resources.
Sustainable & Just Economic Systems
QUNO works for economic systems that improve livelihoods, strengthen resilience, and ensure just transitions to sustainability. The ways in which we design and implement economic systems have critical impacts on sustainability, peace, and justice. QUNO strives to foster economic systems that deliver prosperity for all. This means that those economic systems improve livelihoods, strengthen resilience, and ensure just transitions to sustainability for the most vulnerable stakeholders. To this end, we seek human-centric and system approaches in areas such as agriculture & fisheries, economy-environment interactions, and trade & investment.