Human rights work at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
1st July 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a difficult month. Like many other Council goers I’ve been trying to find enough time for the essential trinity of work, family and football. This is a struggle at the best of times but I feel that however many late-night shifts I’ve put in trying to make time for my council workload, my […]
30th June 2014 London, UK
What do human rights and democracy have to do with each other (besides both featuring in the name of my department, HRDD)? And how does the work we do on democracy – which can seem nebulous – fit together with human rights work, which is easier to pigeonhole? Or with my favourite Noel Coward song […]
Read more on London Pride has been handed down to us; London Pride is a flower that’s free. | Reply
26th June 2014 London, UK
Guest blog by the British Embassy Tunis, Tunisia The slogans of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia were ‘Freedom’ and ‘Dignity’. Tackling torture, widespread under the Ben Ali regime, was among the popular demands in the aftermath of the overthrow of Ben Ali. Respect for Human Rights is a key goal of Tunisia’s new democratic […]
Read more on Tunisia: helping put in place an Anti-Torture Culture to match the legislation | Reply (2)
26th June 2014 London, UK
Guest blog by Matthew Sands, Legal Adviser, Association for the Prevention of Torture I keep a quote on my desk from Jean Améry, who wrote about his utter despair while being held in concentration camps during the Second World War, and refer to it often. It reads: “Anyone who has been tortured remains tortured. [Our] […]
Read more on Keeping the faith: the global prevention of torture | Reply (1)
26th June 2014 London, UK
Guest blog by Kolbassia Haoussou, survivor of torture, and Coordinator of the Survivors Speak OUT Network For too long torture has been used to punish and silence. Perpetrators have used their abhorrent tools with impunity, in the knowledge that they will never be held to account by survivors, for fear of stigma, shame and further […]
Read more on Tackling Impunity: Why the Voices of Survivors Must Be Heard | Reply
26th June 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
Guest blog by Bob Last, Senior Human Rights Adviser, UK Mission to the UN, Geneva There have been lots of admiring words spoken about Costa Rica of late, and their World Cup performances have left me and many of my compatriots more than a little envious. When I arrived in Geneva in spring 2002, Costa […]
23rd June 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
I wonder what Napoleon Bonaparte would have made of the Human Rights Council. I suspect the man who said an army marches on its stomach would ask how on earth we all survive. By week 2, the typical Council diet goes something like this: Breakfast: coffee, and gummy bears (5 minutes). Lunch: a sandwich that […]
23rd June 2014
Between 23 and 29 June, Istanbul will be once again be the location for the biggest gay pride festival in the region. Last year more than 100,000 people were reported as participating. The European Commission’s progress report in October 2013 commended the fact that Gay Pride marches in recent years had gone ahead in Turkey without […]
19th June 2014
I have commented in recent weeks on the 10-13 June London Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. This week, I give the floor to Pádraic MacOireachtaigh, Jesuit Refugee Service Regional Advocacy and Communications Officer in the Great Lakes based in Burundi, who participated in the Summit, and who contributes his own supportive but critical […]
Read more on Reflections of a Catholic participant on the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in conflict | Reply
16th June 2014
The use of sexual violence in war is one of the great injustices of our lifetime. It is hard to document, let alone investigate. Perpetrators do not discriminate, because it’s not about sex, but violence, terror, power and control. When rape is committed during conflict, it has often been seen as an inevitable part of […]