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Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Part of FCDO Human Rights UK in Holy See

16th October 2013

Blog Action Day: Human Rights and the Holy See

The British Foreign Secretary William Hague speaking at the launch of the action plan on business and human rights (4 September 2013).
The British Foreign Secretary William Hague speaking at the launch of the action plan on business and human rights (4 September 2013).
The British Foreign Secretary William Hague speaking at the launch of the action plan on business and human rights (4 September 2013).

16 October is Blog Action Day, when bloggers across the world are encouraged to post on the same theme. I participated last year. As the theme for 2013 is “Human Rights”, as a blogger and as an Ambassador to the Holy See, I can hardly fail to do so again.

I recommend to anyone interested in the engagement of the Holy See with universal human rights work the speech given by Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, earlier this year in Geneva, at the 22nd Session of the Human Rights Council.

Mamberti explains that the Catholic Church’s approach to human rights is by definition universal, because it is rooted in the individual human being, the dignity of the human person, whatever their faith or creed. He argues that: “The Catholic Church’s acknowledgement of the legitimacy of human rights is not only a moral or political duty. It has deep roots in its convictions and beliefs”.

Not everyone will agree with all of Archbishop Mamberti’s arguments – and there are aspects of the human rights debate on which my government takes a different view from the Holy See – but he must be right when he argues that we should “resist the slide of human rights into a rhetorical void”.

Yes, we need aspirations. But we also need to turn those into reality. And that sends me back to the famous Four Freedoms of Franklin D. Roosevelt, on which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was largely based: freedom of speech, of worship, from want, from fear. They are, for me, the essence of what any citizen of the modern world should be able to expect from the state, whilst recognising that he or she has duties and responsibilities as well as rights.

Which begs the question. How many states live up to those Four Freedoms in practice? We have our aspirations, and know what we are aiming for. But there is still so much practical work to be done. While we must keep our eye on the universal big picture, we can also make progress through incremental steps.

The recently launched UK action plan on Business and Human Rights is, I believe, a good example. What do you think?

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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.

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