Newsroom

Newsroom

QUNO at the Human Rights Council: a focus on children of parents facing the death penalty as victims of torture

9th March 2017

HLP death penalty statement

On 1st March 2017, the annual High Level Panel on the question of the death penalty was held at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council. This year’s panel focussed on how the death penalty relates to torture.

During the panel, Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment highlighted the impact of the death penalty on children:

“The death penalty is… first of all, in my view, a question of life and how we define ourselves as human beings, as States and as an international community. Do we really want to retain a retributive system, deliberately inflicting pain and anguish on convicts, on their parents, on their spouses, on their children?… Or do we prefer to define ourselves on different terms, focusing not only on the inherent dignity of convicts, victims and families but also on the dignity and moral authority of our human society as a whole? ”

In light of the panel’s focus on torture, we submitted a written and oral statement at this session of the Council, highlighting that the sentencing to death or execution of a parent leads to a violation of the child’s right to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (CIDT) or torture under international law. 

The written statement can be found here.

The oral statement, delivered by Catherine Baker, Programme Assistant for Human Rights and Refugees at the High Level Panel, can be found at 2.09.45 on the video of the panel.

Areas of work: Human Rights & Refugees | UN Human Rights Council

Explore more

Humanitarian Challenges in Myanmar: Navigating Conflict and Crisis

Humanitarian Challenges in Myanmar: Navigating Conflict and Crisis

On 9 July, the Quaker United Nations Office hosted a private briefing on Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck on 28 March 2025. At Quaker House, Gum San Nsang, Secretary of the Kachin Political Interim Coordination Team, briefed UN diplomats. With the monsoon season threatening to worsen the humanitarian crisis, he emphasized the need for the international community to address aid distribution issues, reminding them that “each day later is a day worse than before.”  In his remarks, Gum San noted that the distribution of humanitarian assistance has been exacerbated by the dwindling control of the military junta that seized control during a coup in 2021. He explained that the military has prevented aid from reaching parts of the country not under its control, while diverting aid to its own stockpiles.  Beyond the focus on humanitarian issues, Gum San also addressed the ongoing conflict situation between the military and armed resistance groups. He highlighted that the struggle to control the mining of rare earth minerals represents a major driver of conflict, especially in northern Myanmar.  Currently, the UN’s Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 20 million people, over one […]

QUNO attends the IPCC Plenary in China

QUNO attends the IPCC Plenary in China

This March, QUNO Representative for the Human Impacts of Climate Change participated in the 62nd Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This was held from 24 February – 1 March 2025 in Hangzhou China QUNO under FWCC has been an accredited observer of the IPCC since 2017.  We seek to uphold transparency and the integrity of the science, encourage clear messaging on urgent, transformative and rights-based climate action, and ensure clear messaging on risks to some climate options/technologies which fail to transform root causes and/or pose high risks to people and biodiversity.  To date we are the only active independently accredited faith-based organization at the IPCC. We present a report of QUNO work at the IPCC, and interventions given during the intensive meetings in China. Image by: ENB IISD

QUNO and the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn

QUNO and the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn

QUNO Geneva’s Human Impacts of Climate Change (HICC) team, Lindsey Fielder Cook and Johan Cavert, were intensely active at the UN Climate Change meetings in Bonn. These Subsidiary Body meetings (SB62) were held by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 16-26 June and are in preparation for the upcoming COP in Brazil. This is the 13th year QUNO has offered quiet diplomacy dinners to a group of high level negotiators from a diverse group of countries. In addition to this effort, QUNO was engaged in negotiations, in two preparatory Constituted Bodies, in several inter-faith efforts, in two press conferences, an off-the-record meeting with climate scientists, in human rights advocacy, in Paris Agreement celebrations (see photo), and in the distribution of QUNO publications on climate science findings. Our work at the SB62 Conference began weeks earlier, in Constituted Body meetings on both Loss and Damage and the Katowice Committee of Experts (Response Measures).  Additional preparation included support to the Interfaith Liaison Committee (ILC), which creates spaces for interfaith voices in climate negotiation spaces, and helping draft the Interfaith Call to Action, which was signed by a range of Quaker organizations.   As the SB62 began, we started with an […]

Introducing the G20 Peer Reviews

Introducing the G20 Peer Reviews

On 25 September 2009, the Leaders of the G20, at their annual Summit (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA), issued a joint statement committing themselves to “Rationalize and phase out over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption”. Over the next several years, the G20 members themselves conducted an exercise in self reporting of their fossil fuel subsidies and reform commitments. Those efforts achieved limited success, with variable degrees of transparency and levels of ambition. (See the two reports by Doug Koplow from November 2010 and June 2012.) By early 2012, however, the OECD had launched its Inventory of Estimated Budgetary Support and Tax Expenditures for Fossil Fuels, which provided far more details than were available in the G20 Members’ self reports. That the G20 should conduct voluntary peer reviews of their reform efforts was proposed by the OECD during Russia’s presidency of the G20, in 2013. The OECD had long and generally positive experiences with peer reviews, so it was a logical tool to recommend. The proposal was accepted and formally established in paragraph 94 of the G20 Leaders’ Declaration issued during their 2013 Summit (6 September 2013, St Petersburg, Russia): “We reaffirm our commitment to rationalise and phase […]

Quaker Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Quaker Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Every April, the United Nations bustles with activity and energy as Indigenous representatives from around the world convene in New York for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). Since its establishment in 2001, the Permanent Forum has offered a crucial opportunity for representatives of Indigenous Peoples to assemble to share best practices and strategize for the advancement of their human rights under international law. Canadian Friends Service Committee holds the mandate from the world body of Friends, through Friends World Committee for Consultation, to lead engagement on Indigenous Issues at the UN. During the Forum, CFSC works in partnership with members of the Coalition for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Coalition) to advance Indigenous rights globally. QUNO assists CFSC and the advocacy of Indigenous representatives by offering Quaker House as a welcoming space to gather outside UN meetings. This year, Quaker House hosted caucuses of Indigenous youth; Indigenous representatives; and the Coalition for discussions on the Forum’s theme and on Indigenous peacebuilding.   The 24th UNPFII took place under the theme, “Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples within United Nations Member States and the United Nations system, including identifying good practices […]

Job opportunity: Director, QUNO Geneva

Job opportunity: Director, QUNO Geneva

The Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva is looking for its next leader. If this could be you, please read the job pack and consider applying. You must be a member of the Religious Society of Friends to be eligible for this role. Application deadline: Friday 18 July 2025.