Human rights work at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
15th September 2011
Today is International Day of Democracy. In the UK we believe that democracy rests on respect for every individual in society, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or other status. In fact this forms an indivisible part of our foreign policy. Through the work of the FCO we support not only electoral processes but […]
12th September 2011 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve never liked this time of year. It always invokes my childhood dread of going back to school without having done any of my homework for the summer holidays. Each year I promised myself I’d change and be more organised the following summer. But I never was. On Monday the Human Rights Council begins its […]
27th July 2011
A busy few days, with a trip to Perth to recce for the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting which will take place in October. Hosting a meeting for 54 heads of government and HM The Queen is quite a tall order, but we were impressed with the professionalism of Australian plans. It is shaping […]
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5th July 2011 Geneva, Switzerland
The Human Rights Council broke new ground this week and I ended up rather in the thick of it. On Tuesday, as part of the UK’s decision to do everything it can to hold the Gaddafi regime to account, the team in Geneva went after the 16 signatures needed from Human Rights Council members to […]
24th June 2011 Geneva, Switzerland
Life is full of unwritten rules which help determine the limits of acceptable behaviour and which help you avoid making embarrassing and sometimes costly mistakes. The peculiar world of the Human Rights Council is no exception. No one tells you these little bits of conventional wisdom like, don’t deliver the first 2 minutes of your […]
20th June 2011
Some weeks ago I blogged about the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. This week (11-19 June) the Budapest Pride Festival is taking place, with the annual March due tomorrow. The police have pledged that the March will be secure and safe (though there has been an announcement about a possible far right counter-demonstration in […]
6th June 2011 Geneva, Switzerland
There’ve been some major changes since I last updated my blog. I’ll start with the most important, which is that I became a dad for the first time in early March. Funnily enough, my son Ben was born on the Human Rights Council’s annual day on the rights of the child which has reinforced an […]
2nd June 2011 Bucharest, Romania
Guest blogger: Irina Niţă, Director, ACCEPT Association Several years ago I overheard someone talking during a coffee break, at a NGOs conference: ‘ACCEPT makes so much fuss, for what? For the less than 50 gay people who live in Romania!?’ Today there are still journalists who write about ‘hundreds of homosexuals’ living in Romania. Psychologists […]
17th May 2011
Today is International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Why is it necessary to have such a day? Well, because same-sex relations remain criminalised in more than 70 countries. Discrimination against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity continues to occur even in countries where laws exist to […]
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5th April 2011
As we note on our website, “Human Rights and Democracy: The 2010 FCO Report” was publicly launched by the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in London on 31 March, alongside guest speakers Dr Agnes Callamard from the freedom of expression NGO Article 19, and the Iranian Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari. The report is available online at www.fco.gov.uk/hrdreport. For […]