A positive Quaker initiative at the United Nations that was started almost 15 years ago came into sharp focus this week as a media storm descended on Raquel Rolnik, the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing. Encouraging governments to issue ongoing ‘Standing Invitations’ to the UN has been a long-standing project of the Quaker UN Office…
A new report has highlighted that “self-harm rates remain shockingly high across the female prison estate and reoffending rates are staggering, especially for women receiving short custodial sentences. A change in attitude is needed in how women are dealt with in the criminal justice system. Diverting women away from custodial settings and investing in those women who do need to be held in prison is…
At 25 years of age, he has spent nearly a quarter of his life in prison. Despite his tender age, he has the look of a man who has already seen too much. Sat in a plastic garden chair Aref looks into the near distance as he answers our questions. Surrounding him are his friends…
By Robert Cohen  The story so far… So, the Palestinians have failed in their attempt to gain full statehood recognition through the UN Security Council. Even if they had achieved the nine votes required, we know that the United States would have used its veto to turn the win into only a moral victory.…
Two Quakers, Kristin Skarsholt and Ian Goggin, are part of the Equal Love campaign, which seeks equality in the law for the marriage of same-sex and different-sex couples.