Tracey Martin is the Director of QCEA, the Quaker Council for European Affairs. She gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the work of QCEA. Thank you, Tracey, we really appreciate your work! And especially, as EU-elections are coming up, it is very interesting to learn how Quakers work for peace, justice and climate issues.
“If you are wandering around Brussels and you come across Quaker House on Square Ambiorix, it may seem as though not much is going on inside. But every weekday the Quaker Council for European Affairs office is a hive of activity.
After developing our strategy ‘Justice and Peace in a Time of Climate Crisis’ in early 2023, we are busy. Saskia, our Migration and Peace Programme Coordinator, spent 2023 running from meeting to meeting with our partners so we could together present coherent challenges to the most dangerous proposals suggested for inclusion in the EU Migration Pact. It was an uphill struggle and there will be continued need for advocacy as the impact of the pact starts to be seen.
Now she is focussing on developing a practical handbook bringing a peacebuilding approach to migration by highlighting projects and organisations working to end structural and physical violence towards migrants at every stage of their journey. We will use this to present viable peaceful alternatives that prioritise the safety and agency of migrants.
Alice, our Climate Justice and Peace Programme Coordinator, has been engaging with the current Belgian Presidency of the EU to call for a just social European Green Deal. As she developed our strategy on climate justice and peace last year, she identified the lack of conflict analysis in the development of Green Deal policy as a signficant risk to peace in Europe and beyond and therefore a major barrier to moving towards a fossil free Europe.
She is currently putting together a short paper illustrating how conflict sensitivity can be incorporated into green policy in a wide variety of areas, including development, trade and agriculture. The need to involve those who will be most affected by the transition in decision-making processes is clear.
We are committed to promoting dialogue as a way of bringing people together to talk about difficult issues. We have already held three dialogues to explore different concepts of borders and the effects these concepts on people. We will also be having dialogues exploring the concept of interdependency and how it might inform policy.
Dovile, our Communications Officer is developing a new website,that will better reflect our current priorities and will be more accessible and engaging – please do take a look when it’s launched in early April. She is also the person behind the launch of our bimonthly digital newsletter, QCEA Digest. It’s the best way to keep up with what we are doing and you can sign up on our website www.qcea.org.
Xavier, our long-serving Office Manager, keeps the show on the road and has led the way in opening up Quaker House for events again after the pandemic. These have included a panel discussion on the effects of war on the environment, a Loving Earth exhibition and peace mediation training for young professionals. We host events run by other groups too. You never know who you are going to meet on the stairs. Recently I bumped into a well-known member of the UK House of Lords.
Laetitia, EU coordinator for the European Network against the Arms Trade, is also based in our office and she works tirelessly to challenge increasing EU expenditure on militarisation and to highlight the corruption and human rights violations associated with the arms trade.
My job is to support everyone and make sure they have the resources they need, while also raising issues related to peace, particularly the situation of conscientious objectors in Ukraine and Russia, with policymakers.
2024 is EU election year. We have joined a coalition of organisations calling for more recognition of civil society and the expansion and protection of civic space. We will also send postcards to outgoing and incoming MEPs to remind them of the importance of compassion, integrity and respect in their work. We will be asking Quakers to make small textile pieces to attach to the postcards to make them memorable and remind politicians that citizens care abouth how they conduct themselves. Watch out for more information in our next QCEA digest in March.
But it’s not all work and no play. Our team enjoyed a trip to explore the historic arcades of Brussels and went bowling together. We make time to have lunch together once a week. A strong team with clear values forms the backbone of our advocacy work and the support we get from Quakers across Europe sustains us.”
Photo: Left to right: Saskia Basa, Dovile Bogusyte, Tracey Martin, Xavier Verhaeghe, Laetitia Sedou, Alice Privey