Ukraine

As the war in Ukraine passes the three-year mark, the Friends Committee on National Legislation continues to seek peace. FCNL recognizes that conflict resolution involves, by its very nature, dialogue between parties who deeply disagree. However, this war will not be won with a military offensive or counter-offensive. It will end only through diplomacy, and in that diplomatic process the U.S. has a unique and valuable opportunity to support inclusive peace.

In recent months, President Trump has brought a renewed urgency to negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.  

The violence from the war in Gaza is extending far beyond the borders of Israel/Palestine, from Yemen to Washington, D.C.

We are dismayed by the murder of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington, D.C. this week. The attacker said he “did it for Gaza.” As a Quaker organization, we abhor violence and believe there is that of God in everyone. We condemn this attack and are holding the victims, their families, and everyone impacted in the Light.

Thirty-one organizations, variously focused on U.S. national security and foreign policy, human rights, the protection of civilians, peacebuilding, and humanitarian response, wrote to the U.S. Congress urging them to act for a just and lasting peace amid negotiations to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. 

This next week marks the three-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The first month of the Trump administration has brought rapid changes to the war in Ukraine.  

President Joe Biden announced on November 20 that the United States plans to transfer indiscriminate antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine. These weapons threaten civilians, particularly children – in 2023, civilians made up 84% of all recorded casualties from antipersonnel landmines (APLs). Of civilians hurt, over a third of them were children.

In 2023, children accounted for almost half of all casualties from cluster munition remnants.

FCNL and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft led eleven other faith-based, humanitarian, human rights, think tank, and open government organizations in a letter calling on President Joe Biden, Secretary Antony Blinken, and Secretary Lloyd Austin to release an unclassified version of their strategy for engagement in Ukraine. They are required to do so by law but have so far failed to comply.  

On September 25, 2024, FCNL joined with the U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition and 17 other organizations to send a letter to President Biden expressing grave concern with current U.S. policy and practice on cluster munitions and urge immediate action.