Ukraine

Since February 2022, the world has witnessed brutal war and horrific human suffering following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) urges Congress and the Administration to play a constructive role in ending the violence. Our Quaker faith calls us to always seek nonviolent solutions, even amid violence, and to help repair the wounds of war. The U.S. has a responsibility and an opportunity to champion a just and secure peace in the region, which can only be achieved through peaceful means.

Today marks the International Day of Peace. It offers us an opportunity for reflection on—and rededication to—the principles of peace and the work of building a just and non-violent world. This year, that opportunity feels both vital and urgent.

You don’t have to be a pope or a pacifist to recognize the perils inherent in continued military escalation — for Ukrainians, Russians and the world.

FCNL deplored the Biden Administration’s short-sighted and dangerous decision to supply cluster munitions for the war in Ukraine.

The majority of the world agrees that the humanitarian consequences and civilian harm caused by cluster munitions, which can kill anyone and everyone in their wide path, are unacceptable. Despite this global understanding, the United States remains an outlier in allowing the continued production and use of these immoral weapons. Now, some lawmakers are urging the Biden Administration to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, disregarding the global prohibition of these weapons and the significant danger they pose to civilians.

Transferring the weapons may bring tactical benefits but would be a strategic disaster.

One year into the expanded war in Ukraine, it is clear a military approach will not bring peace.

Amid calls for more weapons to win battlefield victories, we affirm the enduring power of building peace through peaceful means. We urge robust, persistent, and creative diplomacy and peacebuilding to bring about a just and durable solution to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

With bipartisan support, lawmakers are set to approve $858 billion for the Department of Defense and related activities in this year’s defense policy bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).