Diplomat
22nd November 2013
Last July, London hosted the historic 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, which reestablished family planning as a top global health priority. Last week 3000 advocates, researchers, health professionals and political leaders from over 100 countries came to Addis Ababa for the third International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP). The theme was “Full Access, Full […]
6th November 2013
Today, I participated in the 2013 Africa Clearing House (ACH) meeting at the Headquarters of the African Union (AU) here in Addis. The UK co-hosted the event with the AU as part of our G8 Presidency. The ACH began in 2004 and aims to “provide a multi-lateral forum to exchange information on security assistance and […]
28th October 2013
Describing happiness is difficult and attaining it is elusive. But I tend to agree with Albert Schweitzer, who once commented to a group of volunteers that “The only ones among you who will really be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” Every 6 months or so, I meet a new […]
16th October 2013
Human rights is the theme of this year’s Blog Action Day, which falls today. So in this blog, I’d like to focus on the link between human rights, development and doing business. Recently, our Foreign Secretary William Hague talked about ‘Good Business: Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.’ He outlined our […]
14th October 2013
On International Day of the Girl Child, I was able to meet five young girls who are changing how young women are perceived in society here. These five, vibrant girls make up Ethiopia’s first girl band ‘YEGNA’, which means ‘ours’. I met them backstage as they were preparing for their debut live concert. Yegna is […]
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 […]
30th August 2013
Many people raise visa issues with me. They think I have a conjurer’s wand and can magic one up if they can only convince me of their case. Actually there is almost nothing I can do to assist even if I wished to do so. These days we do not even issue visas from the […]
26th August 2013
On Saturday I was pleased to be asked to address the graduation of the final and 7th Cohort of Ethiopian Open University (OU) MBA students at Addis Ababa University. This was just the latest manifestation of a long-standing bilateral educational relationship. The collaboration between the UK and Ethiopia in education stretches all the way back […]
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 […]
1st August 2013
All of our countries face problems relating to the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). There have been some shocking cases recently in the UK which have raised awareness of the scale of what we have to deal with – the British Prime Minister has made very clear that addressing CSEC and its underlying causes […]