Human rights work at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
9th October 2013 Cape Town, South Africa
10 October is World Day against the Death Penalty. Since 2003, people all over the world have, on this day, been making clear their opposition to this form of punishment. Like many people who live in countries which, like South Africa and the UK, have abolished the death penalty, I don’t actually think about it that often.
9th October 2013
10 October is the 11th World Day against the Death Penalty. The campaign represents an alliance of 145 NGOs, bar associations, unions and other bodies – including Catholic organisations like the Community of Sant’Egidio – that was set up in Rome on 13 May 2002.The United Kingdom, which supports its work, campaigns for worldwide abolition […]
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30th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
Council sessions are bad for your health. So bad, in fact, that I’m thinking of inviting colleagues from the World Health Organisation along to the next session to see if they agree with me that all delegates should be issued with a health warning so that they can take suitable precautions at the outset. The […]
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23rd September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve often thought that subscribers to chaos theory would do well to spend a week or two watching meetings at the Human Rights Council. The principal idea is that a small random change at one point can result in major unexpected consequences later on. It would be fascinating to try to catalogue the seemingly minor […]
20th September 2013
We can’t escape the daily reports of widespread violence throughout our world. And it has been especially shocking to hear recently about chemical weapons being used on innocent civilians in Syria. As we mark International Peace Day, it’s important that we stand in solidarity with people caught in conflicts. We are faced today with many […]
16th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
September didn’t used to be like this. It was the session which could be relied upon for a genteel beginning as delegates eased themselves in after the summer, meeting new colleagues and renewing old acquaintances before getting down to some serious Council business. But not any more. This session has got off to a blistering […]
9th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
I hope you’ve had a good summer. My holidays have become a lot less adventurous since fatherhood, and gone are the days of disappearing off to far-away countries with a rucksack, a guidebook and a cautiously large amount of Immodium. Nowadays all I want from a holiday is some sleep and to spend my waking […]
4th September 2013
A blog co-authored with Nadia Hashmi, human rights lead at the British Embassy in Ankara Did you know that diamonds are the most tightly-regulated trade item in the world? The reason is to combat human rights violations which could potentially be involved in their acquisition. Human rights and trade can seem strange bedfellows. Sometimes people argue […]
3rd September 2013
One of the highlights of the United Nations General Assembly in September will be an event hosted by Foreign Secretary William Hague and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to launch a high level political and ambitious declaration on the need to keep up the international momentum on tackling sexual violence in conflict. This event follows […]
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23rd August 2013
Today, we pay tribute to many women and men who were victims of the Slave Trade. The UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is observed annually on 23 August to remind people of the tragedy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This day is an opportunity to honour and […]