This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Avatar photo

Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Part of FCDO Human Rights UK in Holy See

3rd September 2013

UK and Holy See: It’s Time to Act Together

Foreign Secretary William Hague and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie visit Nzolo camp, March 2013. Picture Crown Copyright/MOD/LA(Phot) Iggy Roberts

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 the powerful G8 declaration in April 2013 committing G8 countries to act, and the subsequent warm support from Pope Francis in June for this British initiative.

The declaration at the UN will be action orientated and substantive. We welcome the support of international “Champions” on this issue from countries as diverse as Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Liberia and Jordan. We hope to demonstrate a clear commitment by the global community, including the Holy See, to support and take urgent and immediate action to end the use of rape and sexual violence as weapons of war.

Support has also come from many Catholic organisations, and this week the Supplement Donne, Chiesa, Mondo (“Women, Church, World”) of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano has published in both print and on-line editions, in English and Italian, an article by William Hague on this critical issue. As the Foreign Secretary makes clear: “The Catholic Church has an influential voice and together we can challenge the culture of impunity and silence which has allowed others to hide behind arguments that sexual violence is an inevitable consequence of conflict”.  It’s time to make that happen.

1 comment on “UK and Holy See: It’s Time to Act Together

  1. Thank you Ambassador for your continuing concern for the situation of women in the world. We all have reasons to be indebted to England for working for the rights of women in general.

    The Church, however, continues to lack credibility when speaking of the rights of or of alleviating the plight of women. As long as the Church, through its very structure, continues to send out the message to the world that women are necessarily subordinate to men (while men are only circumstantially subordinate to other men), it will continue to justify violence against women because it continues to send out the message that women are naturally subordinate to men. Consequently, it sends out the message that if women do not do what men want it is lawful to coerce women into submission.

    If the Church is not willing to introduce fundamental changes into the way in which women are treated in the Church in the short term future, the international community will have the duty to require that it adapts to human rights principles and respect of the human dignity of women as human beings who are not necessarily subordinate to men in any sphere at all, and that includes the religious sphere.

Comments are closed.

About Nigel Baker

Nigel was British Ambassador to the Holy See from 2011-2016. He presented his Credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on 9 September 2011, after serving 8 years in Latin America, as…

Nigel was British Ambassador to the Holy See from 2011-2016. He presented his Credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on 9 September 2011, after serving 8 years in Latin America, as Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy in Havana, Cuba (2003-6) and then as British Ambassador in La Paz, Bolivia (2007-11). In July 2016, Nigel finished his posting, and is currently back in London.

As the first British Ambassador to the Holy See ever to have a blog, Nigel provided a regular window on what the Embassy and the Ambassador does. The blogs covered a wide range of issues, from Royal and Ministerial visits to Diplomacy and Faith, freedom of religion, human trafficking and climate change.

More on Nigel’s career

Nigel was based in London between 1998 and 2003. He spent two years on European Union issues (for the UK 1998 EU Presidency and on European Security and Defence questions), before crossing St James’s Park to work for three years as The Assistant Private Secretary to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. At St James’s Palace, Nigel worked on international issues, including the management of The Prince of Wales’s overseas visits and tours, on the Commonwealth, interfaith issues, the arts and international development.

Nigel spent much of the early part of his FCO career in Central Europe, after an initial stint as Desk Officer for the Maghreb countries in the Near East and North Africa department (1990-91). Between 1992 and 1996, Nigel served in the British embassies in Prague and Bratislava, the latter being created in 1993 after the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia into the separate Czech and Slovak Republics.

Nigel joined the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in September 1989. Between 1996 and 1998 he took a two year academic sabbatical to research and write about themes in 18th century European history, being based in Verona but also researching in Cambridge, Paris and Naples. The research followed from Nigel’s time as a student at Cambridge (1985-88) where he read history and was awarded a First Class Honours degree, followed by his MA in 1992.

Before joining the Foreign Office, Nigel worked briefly for the Conservative Research Department in London at the time of the 1989 European election campaign.

Nigel married Alexandra (Sasha) in 1997. They have one son, Benjamin, born in Bolivia in September 2008.

Follow Nigel