14th October 2025 Geneva, Switzerland
There are certain skills you expect to need when working in multilateral diplomacy. Like negotiating. Public speaking. And building relationships with people from wildly different cultures, backgrounds, and coffee preferences. And then there are the surprise skills. Anyone who survived the last Human Rights Council session now carries a qualification in obstacle course orienteering, a diploma […]
17th July 2025 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s a nice line. But I’m not having it. The big drawback with diplomatic life is the goodbyes. And at the UN they never end. No sooner have you got used to having someone around and, just occasionally, grown a little fond of them, than they clear off without a thought for the middle-aged emotional […]
10th April 2025 Geneva, Switzerland
I’m back where I started. Sort of. When I began doing whatever it is we do out here, (let’s call it endurance diplomacy) it was the 58th session of the Commission on Human Rights. The Roman Empire hadn’t long since fallen, smart phones were yet to excite and then blight our lives and the Human […]
25th July 2024 Geneva, Switzerland
Among my blessings in life is having an Irish mother-in law and I’m just back from a post-Council trip where my wife did some digging into her family history. A good number of her relatives were refugees fleeing persecution in both Eastern and Central Europe from the late 19th Century. Ireland was where they were […]
16th October 2023 Geneva, Switzerland
If anyone sensible was trying to design a system to get countries from across the world to reach agreement on tricky, highly sensitive issues, then they wouldn’t do it like this. First, call a very long meeting. Let’s say five weeks long. But make sure it comes hot on the heels of two other very […]
18th July 2023 Geneva, Switzerland
One thing I’d somehow managed for the first 52 Council sessions, was to avoid serious injury. The odd week of Covid, a minor bout of pneumonia, and some less-than-pleasant food poisoning misadventures aside, I’ve kept myself in functional working shape these last 20-plus years. I’d like to say good shape, but let’s not get carried away. […]
5th April 2023 Geneva, Switzerland
I think it’s over. But I’m not entirely sure. Each morning for the last six weeks I’ve been waking up to the grim realisation that the Human Rights Council session was still going and going and going. It went on for so long that I’ve lost track of everything. What day it is, my name, […]
12th October 2022 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve always had a fond attachment to the number 51. It was my house number growing up in Manchester, as little Robert. My first memory there was my parents bringing my newly-born baby sister home from the hospital. And my mum was born in the year ’51 (as well as some more famous but less […]
8th April 2022 Geneva, Switzerland
On 8 April 2002, I started working at the UK Mission to the UN. I’d had no diplomatic experience. At all. And I’d never been to a UN meeting. I’d only ever been to Geneva once – for my interview, which I started off by spilling water all over the table (I’ve always had a […]
22nd February 2021 Geneva, Switzerland
One of the things I like the least in this job is having to say goodbye to so many good people. Just over three weeks ago I had to bid adieu to our long-serving team leader and unsung Council hero Matt Forman. It’s been a long three weeks since then, and I’ve been awake most […]