Human rights work at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
14th June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
It feels like we’ve hardly been away. I’m starting to suspect that someone has airbrushed April and May from the global calendar. The only clue that the months have been and gone is our hedge growing high enough to receive a letter from the estate agent ordering us to cut it by 10 centimetres and […]
4th June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
With our televisions screens filled by images of seemingly endless civil wars, spiralling sectarian horror, and rising humanitarian misery, many have concluded that the international system is failing, even broken. Yet on 25 May an event took place that tells a different story. One that gives hope to all those who believe that the United […]
Read more on Mobilising the United Nations to Save Modern Medicine | Reply
11th May 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Grahame Greene’s novel about Geneva ignores it, focusing instead on the nasty foibles of the very rich. And if they mention it at all, modern novelists writing about Geneva use the UN at best as a backdrop for international intrigue but more often as a metaphor for international impotence. For someone preparing to take up […]
28th April 2015 London, UK
The FCO is a strong supporter of business efficient flexible working, and extends this right to all its employees. Flexible working takes many forms – compressed hours, flexible hours, job shares and remote working are a few of the more common examples. The Human Rights and Democracy Department (HRDD) is widely recognised as one part of […]
Read more on Guest blog by Shahida Khan, Business and Human Rights Policy Officer, on business efficient flexible working | Reply
30th March 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Council sessions take a heavy toll on all things that are close to us. Our partners, our children and our pets all suffer from weeks of neglect. So do our bags. Any object unfortunate enough to go into my rucksack during Council time will undergo a period of inanimate purgatory as draft resolutions, cereal bars, […]
29th March 2015
In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the Magna Carta was sealed and 750 years since the formation of the first English parliament. Anyone who is interested in seeing the document that has been described as England’s greatest export need only visit the British Library, where not one but […]
Read more on Celebrating three great English exports in 2015 | Reply
27th March 2015
In 2015, England marks two major anniversaries. It will be 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta and 750 years since the formation of the first English parliament. Anyone who is interested in seeing the document that has been described as England’s greatest export need only visit the British Library, where not one […]
Read more on Celebrating three great English exports in 2015 | Reply
24th March 2015 London, UK
The key role of business is to generate investment, employment and economic growth. But we also need to think about how business operates and the importance and impact that they may have on reducing poverty through the creation of jobs. This, in turn, can be achieved by providing access to knowledge and technology, and by […]
Read more on The importance of the Voluntary Principles on Security & Human Rights | Reply
23rd March 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
By the end of week 3 of any March Council session everyone tends to look pretty frazzled. The combination of lack of time for proper meals, general neglect in the finer aspects of personal grooming and the knowledge that the session still has some time to go tend to take their toll. But this year […]
20th March 2015 Gaborone, Botswana
Two weeks ago the British High Commission supported an event hosted by the Botswana Network for Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA). The event was essentially a discussion about whether Botswana’s legislative framework deals fairly with those who describe themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Intersex, the LGBTI community for short. It was a well […]