Human rights work at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
13th February 2015 London, UK
This week, we’ve hosted two events at Wilton Park, and in Geneva, on freedom of religion or belief. To mark them, I’m inviting you to join me in our social media campaign #freedomtobelieve. Here’s why: Last month I visited a training centre for Imams and Mourchidats (female spiritual guides) in Morocco. What I witnessed there […]
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11th February 2015
The issue of sex abuse of children by priests has accompanied me throughout my mission here since I arrived in Rome in August 2011. As I was preparing to take up the role, it was clear to me that nothing had done more in recent years to damage the credibility of the Holy See, and […]
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27th January 2015
International #HolocaustRemembranceDay (#HRD) is observed on 27 January to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. On this day we remember the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated six million Jews; one million Roma; 250,000 mentally and physically disabled people; and 9000 homosexual men by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. When the […]
8th January 2015 London, UK
Caroline Vaudrey writes about UK-supported training for peacekeepers in Somalia. Preventing sexual violence in conflict – what does that mean exactly and how do you train peacekeepers to do this? I needed to find out. So, I visited a course in Kenya training Africa Union (AU) peacekeepers who would be deployed to AMISOM, the AU […]
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18th December 2014
2014 is the deadliest year on record for migrants, registering double last year’s total. Nearly 5,000 migrants lost their lives this year at sea or in remote deserts or mountains, according to IOM. Even more disturbingly, the number of migrants dying on dangerous journeys in the hope of finding better lives for themselves and their […]
12th December 2014
This week I was in Khon Kaen, to attend the 7th Annual Isaan Human Rights Festival. The festival was jointly held at Khon Kaen and Ubon Ratchathani Universities on 10 December, in recognition of “International Human Rights Day”, and was attended by a wide range of local community activists, as well as diplomatic colleagues from […]
10th December 2014 London, UK
Today is international Human Rights day; a day to celebrate the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. We should all take a moment to think about the rights that everyone in the world deserves, no matter where in the world they happen to be born. Many of us don’t see firsthand […]
10th December 2014 Budapest, Hungary
Guest blog by Levente Nyitrai, Senior Foreign Policy, JHA and Human Rights Officer. Today is International Human Rights Day, which is commemorated every year on 10 December since 1950. It is a good chance to reflect on the many human rights problems that remain across the globe. And also to consider what further action […]
10th December 2014 Mogadishu, Somalia
Back in September 2013, the UK and the Federal Government of Somalia co-authored a Human Rights Day Resolution at the UN Human Rights Council. It seems appropriate, on Human Rights day, to look back on what has happened since then. The human rights situation in Somalia remains of grave concern. But we have seen substantial […]
10th December 2014
Today marks the 56th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Activities around the world remind us of the universality of human rights – the basic, fundamental rights every person is entitled to without discrimination. It is an opportunity to celebrate progress, thank those who work to protect the most vulnerable, […]
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