Human rights work at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
10th December 2015 London, England
Last year on Human Rights Day, I was able to reflect with pride on the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in hosting the first Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. The UK Government has committed to ending the use of these despicable and deliberate crimes as weapons of war, and I […]
10th December 2015 London, UK
Last month I witnessed the remarkable elections: this was a historic turning point in the country’s long road towards democracy. Although it has only been one month since Burmese citizens used their right to vote, I hope we are approaching another turning point in Burma, one where all rights are protected and promoted. As well […]
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8th December 2015 Melbourne, Australia
Estonian Armed Forces get the job done with minimal fuss and I love that. Not my words, but those of Prince Harry when in Estonia last year, certainly another big fan of the Estonian military, having worked alongside them in Afghanistan. His assessment of their service in Afghanistan would no doubt be shared by the […]
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7th December 2015 Khartoum
25th November marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the start of 16 days of activism against gender based violence. Globally one in three women are subject to violence. That represents one billion women worldwide-which is where the global campaign ‘One Billion Rising’, to address violence against women, gets its name. […]
7th December 2015 London, UK
“I didn’t realise the harm I was doing by abandoning and ignoring these young mothers, now I know. I want to help these girls. I will start today” One in three women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence – mostly by an intimate partner. One in three. This statistic shocks and saddens me every […]
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3rd December 2015 London, UK
As part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, CARE International is launching a number of campaigns to highlight the importance of reaching young men while at school in the struggle for gender equality. From the Balkans to the Great Lakes of Africa, youth of all genders are joining together to change […]
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25th November 2015
Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Between now and 10 December, Human Rights Day, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office – led by the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, Baroness Anelay – will be focusing on our work to prevent sexual violence against women. […]
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24th November 2015 Havana, Cuba
To all the men out there, this blog is for you. Please don’t close the window, tab or page. Don’t look away. Keep reading and click on the links. This isn’t a women’s issue, it’s a men’s issue. You need to understand it. And then do something about it. Violence against women is horrible, brutal, […]
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10th November 2015
The Magna Carta was a document designed to establish peace between the rather unpopular King John of England and a group of rebel barons. Yet this piece of thirteenth-century English domestic politics still resonates around the world eight hundred years on from the events which forged it. For in establishing that no one, even the […]
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6th November 2015 Madrid, Spain
On 4 November I had the pleasure of speaking in Bilbao about the importance of Business and Human Rights at the III Conference on “Gestión responsable en Derechos Humanos por parte de las empresas” which was organised by Sonrisas de Bombay, Business and Human Rights, The Rights Factory and Deusto Business School. The UK Government’s […]
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