On the occasion of Bruce Knotts' retirement, we would like to extend our gratitude and appreciation for his fifteen years of service as Director of the UUA Office at the United Nations....

Thirty years have passed since the official end of the Cold War—when tensions surrounding the use of nuclear weapons was at its highest—and the world is seeing a resurgence in the use of nuclear threats by leaders as a way to display power. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, one certainly...

“Violence is not striking us by chance; this violence has a target.” - Ana Paula Oliveira, Brazilian Human Rights Defender On June 22, 2022, the International Service for Human Rights hosted a virtual event titled “Resisting police violence: Demanding justice and accountability for victims of...

This post was originally sent out on May 6 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. We are all justifiably horrified by the carnage resulting from the Russian Invasion of...

You are standing at the border, and with one look, you are dismissed. You cannot enter ultimately, because of the color of your skin....

The Parliament of the World's Religions and The Committee of Religious NGOs at the UN, in partnership with communities of faith, invite you to join the "Global Prayers for Ukraine: a multi-faith service for peace and freedom in a hurting world."

On December 15, 2021 the Unitarian Universalist Association’s office at the United Nations (UU@UN) hosted an event on “Human Rights and Policing Through a Global Lens.” This event was created to educate people on current global policing policies and how those policies affect those in...

December 18 is International Migrants Day, an occasion to recognize and mobilize around protecting migrants’ fundamental human rights. In the face of climate chaos, we must advance just, compassionate policies.

Introduction The visual that circulated in September 2021 of U.S. Border patrolmen chasing Haitian asylum seekers on horseback made many who saw it think of the slave patrols that roamed the Southern U.S. states before emancipation....

This post was originally sent out on July 23 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. We are faced with what looks like a dilemma but isn’t really. Calls to defund and...

Introduction In September of 1990, the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders adopted the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials....

The United Nations condemns extrajudicial killings. A new UU@UN initiative aims to include police killings in that category, to push for more accountability and end police militarization globally.

Introduction Several international bodies have attempted to address global police militarization and its effect on police brutality in many nations. Amnesty International defines police brutality as “various human rights violations by police… this includes beatings, racial abuse, unlawful...

This post was originally sent out on October 23 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. The world and the United Nations needs the United States to lead....

Police forces in the U.S. are notoriously more violent and deadly than police in other Western democracies. Over the last seven years, U.S. police have killed at least 1,000 people every year. This is not normal.

How certain countries’ police departments violate UN standards for anti-discrimination and use of force by targeting and using excessive force against Black people and people of color.

The Black Lives Matter Movement began in 2013 after the murder of Trayvon Martin. Trayvon, a teenage African American boy was followed by a suspicious neighborhood watchman. The two ended up getting in a scuffle, and Trayvon was fatally shot. After the shooting, many Americans, especially Black...

In the centennial year 2000, while the world was getting used to writing or typing the year beginning with a “2” instead of a “1,” nations were introduced to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals encouraging the 189 member states to adopt a set of 8 goals for a timeline of 15...

There are many aspects to helping our planet disarm meaningfully. 108 countries are now part of treaties that have established nuclear free zones around the world. They are making a concerted effort to create a nuclear free planet and that alone needs to be applauded and the trend encouraged.

On the 74th birthday of the United Nations, we celebrate the UN's accomplishments while also recognizing the urgency of taking action to keep it strong as it comes under threat from the rise of authoritarianism & isolationism around the world.

I’m a member of the Preventing Gun Violence Task Force at the Unitarian Society of New Haven (USNH). We recently bought shares in two companies that manufacture firearms. “What?!,” you may be asking. Usually activists shy away from investing in so-called “sin” stocks, looking instead for...

Much of the following text is taken from a blog post from the International Committee of the Red Cross: Human Cost of Cyber Operations—Key ICRC Takeaways from Discussion with Tech Experts. ICRC has encouraged readers to share this blog, and they invite feedback from readers. The authors are...

On April 14, 2019 the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ hosted a conference on Steps To A Nuclear Weapons-Free World. According to the NJIT coordinator, Jay Kappraff, the purpose of the conference was to focus on the watershed moment we are facing: “Nuclear forces are being...

It is often stated – incorrectly – that the Chinese character for “crisis” includes the symbols for both “danger” and “opportunity.” While that may not be literally correct, the character does mean “a pivotal moment when things happen or change.” The world is at such a juncture...

According to a video and transcript can be found at the State Department’s website. Take a listen. You might be favorably surprised with Dr. Ford’s tone, language, and message. When was the last time you heard anyone in public office, especially at the federal level even mention the word...

Work to disarm our planet continues. Some good news of late reveals increasing support of the Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons with the ratification by South Africa, the 22nd country to do so with the distinction of being the only country which gave up its program to develop nuclear weapons and is now...

Recent news from companies like Salesforce, Google, and Microsoft has seen a segment of their work force protesting their companies’ connections with military policies in support of issues of major concern to those working for disarmament. ...

On Feb. 1, the Trump administration announced it will pull the U.S. out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF), thus undoing one of the pillars of global security and potentially plunging the world into a new nuclear arms race.  The 1987 signing of this treaty by U.S. President...

In northern Syria, an experiment in grassroots democracy is under threat from the Turkish military. The United States should not withdraw its military so quickly.

This article originally appeared as the Introduction to a Special issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Spotlight on nuclear modernization on January 7, 2019, and is republished here with permission.  ...

The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and the enterprise of nuclear arms control are at risk, as Andrew Lichterman of Western States Legal Foundation and John Burroughs of Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy explain in this opinion piece from January 2, 2019. Congress has the authority to save the treaty!

The following blog is taken from a talk given by Guy Quinlan to the Harvard Club of New York City in September 2018 on the book by Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, and is reprinted with his kind permission. Please refer to this original document for...

The First Committee of the United Nations is a forum for countries to hold a dialogue on all disarmament-related matters. Where some countries promote disarmament to strengthen security for their population, others oppose disarmament as a threat to the security of their population. Which is correct?

Jamal Khashoggi's defense of the free press and human rights should inspire us confront tyranny at home and everwhere these rights are threatened.

Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954, changing the essence of the holiday to celebrating and honoring patriotism, the warriors, and the wars. What veterans really need is for society to reclaim the spirit of Armistice Day and unite in the common desire of the human spirit for peace.

Credit is seldom given to the daily work performed by international civil servants at the United Nations specialized agencies and programs. In the field of disarmament, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs and others work to bring the range of weaponry and destructive conflict to the fore so disarmament is possible.

Trump's memorable visit to the United Nations in September 2018 included a conversation at the Security Council about weapons of mass destruction. During that session, many countries highlighted the need for nuclear powers to comply with existing treaties.

At a recent event at the Unitarian Church of All Souls in NYC, Chris King from the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs addressed the need for countries to come together to find a way to reduce nuclear weapons arsenals.

The risks of functionally delegating complex tasks – and associated decisions – to sensors and data-driven algorithms is one of the central issues of our time, with serious implications across sectors and societies. Nowhere are these more acute than in relation to decisions to kill, injure and destroy.

This blog post examines the consequences of lethal drones and autonomous weapons systems, on the rise in state and non-state weapons systems around the world.

This blog is dedicated to the upcoming anniversary of a landmark Mine Ban Treaty and the work done by the Canadian Government and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in their efforts to implement the treaty.

Human beings and nuclear weapons cannot co-exist. I am writing from downtown Nagasaki where I have been attending the 2018 World Conference Against Atom and Hydrogen Bombs. Three days ago, we commemorated the 73rd anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima. There, on a hot, clear August...

Many governments often spend millions in order to strengthen their armed forces (or billions in the case of the United States), there are 22 nations that have made the decision to have no army at all. 

The Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office, together with the United Nations community, condemns the lethal use of violence by the Israeli Defense Forces against Palestinian protesters who were protesting the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and the U.S. declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that is investigating the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria is authorized to enforce the Convention, but punishment for use of these weapons is not clearly defined.

This edition of Disarming Our World explores the story behind how the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came to be.

This new series on the UUA International Blog is devoted to building our knowledge of disarmament efforts then and now, with the goal of helping to create a more peaceful world with much fewer weapons. As the UN Charter indicates, there is a real need for security - and provision is needed for some measure of control - but certainly not at this level of military expenditure and ongoing military undertakings.

Over the last few years, I have felt myself going back and forth between waves of fear, anger, sadness, shame, and mourning when I read the news. With each breaking news alert, I brace myself for another wave. When was the last time I got a breaking news alert that contained good news? I can’t...

On Thursday, July 13th, five speakers shared their diverse experiences working at the crossroads of counterterrorism strategy and gender equality at the UU-UNO's 2017 High-Level Political Forum Side Event.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a legally-binding and long overdue treaty to promote nuclear disarmament around the world. This treaty is a critical step toward ensuring that nuclear weapons no longer pose a threat to present and future generations.