Quaker United Nations Summer School – July 2007

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The Quaker United Nations Summer School has been held annually since 1950, when the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) was founded in Geneva.

To give a brief introduction to the Quakers (The Society of Friends) is an impossible task, given the rich diversity of Friends worldwide. I’ll just say that throughout their history Quakers have worked as social activists, advancing the causes of peace and social justice. QUNO Geneva very much reflects this heritage.

The QUNO offices, both in Geneva and New York, have Consultative Status at the UN, as do many other non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This allows their representatives to attend UN meetings, receive documents and make statements representing the Quaker viewpoint (for a more detailed explanation of QUNO’s work, visit http://www.quno.org/). Currently, QUNO have three representatives, focusing upon Peace and Disarmament, Human Rights and Refugees and Global Economic Issues. These representatives spend much of their time facilitating debate between opposing factions in various discussions at the UN. Then, once a year, for two-weeks only, they spend much of their time facilitating discussion between 25 20-somethings on the summer school.

Designed to introduce participants to the workings of the UN and other Geneva based groups, the programme was extremely enjoyable, totally tiring, and always interesting. We were a diverse group, including people from the UK, USA, Kenya, Serbia, Nepal, Yemen, Bosnia Herzegovina, the Netherlands and Canada. Although mildly terrified beforehand that I would be out of my depth, I found that most participants were equally wide-eyed as I was, starting out with a mixture of apprehension and pure terror at the thought of meeting the people whose careers we covet!

We were a mixture of socially aware social scientists from Europe and America, drowning in middle-class Western guilt at still eating meat and having once been in a plane, and significantly more savvy and world-weary NGO workers from developing countries. It made for an interesting fortnight. I could spend at least a page exploring all the things that we learnt in the meetings we had, but I will do my best to précis this. Through a series of talks and seminars, we heard, among others, from:

· The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue about the huge difficulties in achieving a gender balance in conflict resolution talks;

· Jozef Goldblat, a seasoned expert on arms control, about the history of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty;

· The new Peace Building Commission, about their vital work in post-conflict recovery, reconstruction and development in Burundi and Sierra Leone;

· The Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, on the negative impact the prevalence of small arms and light weapons is having on development;

· The World Wide Fund for Nature about the disastrous affects climate change is already having on wildlife;

· A British diplomat, on how the UK government is taking a well-meaning, yet weak, stance on climate change (our words, not his);

· The International Committee of the Red Cross, on the horror of cluster munitions, and how it is the UK and US governments that are at the forefront of those countries resisting the necessary prohibition;

· The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, regarding the difficulties in assisting 20 million refugees, internally-displaced peoples, stateless persons, asylum seekers and returnees;

· The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, about the inequalities of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), particularly the different commitments required of different nations as they acceed to membership;

· A sitting of the Human Rights Committee, where the Czech government was questioned on the rumours that it allows the USA to utilise its airspace for ‘torture flights’;

· The UK representative to the Doha Round of trade negotiations within the WTO, who appeared rattled when questioned on the wider moral dimensions of trade policy, specifically subsidies and tariffs;

· Many other NGOs, who saw Intellectual Property (less dull than it sounds!) as a huge topical issue, because access and control of knowledge goods in the global economy is becoming increasingly crucial to international development.

As someone with a strong interest in labour relations and socialism, I’d like to highlight our visit to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as one I found particularly inspiring. The ILO was established in 1919, as part of the League of Nations. As such, it is arguably the oldest human rights organisation in the world. Each body of the ILO has a tripartite system, with each of the 181 member states represented by employers’ groups and workers’ representatives, as well as governments. According to our speaker, Chief of the Equality and Employment Branch and Human Rights Coordinator, this meant that talks go at a much greater speed than within the UN, because trade unions want to talk immediately, whereas state diplomats excel at keeping talks at a gentle pace.

The ILO works to uphold standards of work, including freedom to associate, the elimination of forced labour, the abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination. I found the ILO willingness to be direct and straightforward refreshing. Our speaker was in a position to be critical of governments, whilst at the same time supporting them to make changes. When I asked whether the right to picket and secondary picket are part of the labour rights upheld by their constitution, he answered ‘To picket - Yes, to secondary picket - No’. This was the shortest and most adequate of all the answers given in the fortnight, with most NGO and UN representatives unable to prevent themselves from entering into a lengthy spiel regarding the background of each question. While this was always interesting, I found the ILO representatives’ approach more vibrant, and this mirrored the aims of the organisation. I was really inspired by their work, and found myself quite disappointed when he mentioned that the London office of the ILO had recently closed!

Another brilliant part of the programme were the sessions run by participants themselves. We had a talk on the Nepalese peace process, the Kosovan crisis, and a most informative workshop on the history of Yugoslavia. This was especially moving, given that one of our number, Jasenka, had spent four years of her childhood under siege in Sarajevo. Another session was lead by Matt, an ex-American soldier, who had spent a year in Iraq. He had us all in tears when describing his journey from patriot, understandably devastated by 9/11, to a Quaker working to get troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope it’s clear that the fortnight was made special both by the brilliant collection of speakers arranged by QUNO, and the fabulous breadth of experience among the participants.

The whole programme was exhausting, with five seminars a day, tours of various prominent buildings, really disgustingly hot weather, and our daily trip to a really gorgeous French café we discovered. All of us were supplied with many more issues to grapple with than I thought possible. I personally have discovered that, as much as I admire the UN hugely, to work within it would require levels of patience that I’ve never yet been able to muster. It has taught me that there are so many topics that need addressing, and unfortunately I’m none the wiser as to which one I wish to pursue. Most importantly, the trip reinforced the absolute necessity of engaging with international affairs. I had a genuinely brilliant time and would encourage anyone to attend the summer school if they’re able!

Hannah

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