Human rights work at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
9th December 2010
In the mid 1970s I flew from London to Johannesburg via Madrid in order to get the cheapest fare. During the stopover at Madrid airport I was waiting to buy a newspaper at a shop when I was elbowed out of the way by an immensely solid Guardia Civil officer in a shiny black hat […]
8th December 2010 Geneva, Switzerland
I hope you’re all keeping warm. Like some other places in Europe, winter arrived particularly early in Geneva this year and caught the usually well prepared Swiss road and rail and services off guard last week. I miss the lengthy conversations about the weather which I used to hear wherever I went back home in […]
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23rd October 2010
Liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law underpin the EU – these are core values shared by member states. And it is no surprise therefore that human rights are a critical element in the EU’s foreign relations, exchanges with other countries, development policy and work in international institutions […]
30th September 2010 London, UK
Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian blogger, has been sentenced to 19 and a half years in prison, banned from political and journalistic activities for a further 5 years, and fined €30,000 for exercising his right to express his opinions. The image of Hossein used in the video was sourced from Wikipedia and is being reproduced here […]
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10th September 2010
I have written before about diplomacy and human rights in my Spanish blog . But I thought I would return to the charge following a recent interesting article by William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary. Mr Hague’s article was prompted by the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan, and the generous response of the British […]
18th February 2010
A guest blog by Svitlana Yavorska, Head of Projects Section, British Embassy Kyiv Breaking racial and ethnic stereotyping is vital in every country. So it was good to attend a press conference this week to mark the completion of a project funded by the Embassy to help Ukraine’s police forces, or militia, reach European best […]
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