22nd December 2025
Continuing to grow the global alliance for women and girls
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th December 2025
MAKING LIFE SAFER, FOR EVERYONE
9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
22nd June 2015 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
How the UK has helped to liberalise the Malaysian Legal Services Sector for foreign firms
In early 2012, the Malaysian Government, with the local professional body for legal sector, the Malaysian Bar Council (MBC) announced plans to liberalise laws governing the legal sector. This was greeted positively by foreign firms who had previously been prohibited from entering the Malaysian market and provided an opportunity to feed into the development progress. […]
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22nd June 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Hugging trees in the Mayan Biosphere
On European climate diplomacy day I am reminded of a recent visit to the Mayan Biosphere with Wildlife Conservation Society, The Balam Association (the Mayan word for jaguar) the Guatemalan national body for protected areas (CONAP) and a representative from the EU delegation. During the visit we talked about illegal wildlife trafficking and compared the […]
22nd June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
The Best Laid Plans
The more time I spend at the Council, the more things seem to be getting out of control at home. The kids cope well enough, but our cat Pixie has spent the week continuing her recent hunting spree in a blatant show of attention-seeking. This week I’ve had to dispose of a shrew, two field […]
21st June 2015 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Ramadan: a Time for Reflection
Last Thursday saw the start of Ramadan: a time of consideration for all, and peace. Never have my thoughts been more with the people of Yemen, who are suffering greatly due to the ongoing conflict. I am writing this having just returned from the Yemen consultations in Geneva, where parties convened under the auspices of […]
19th June 2015 London, UK
“The girls were shared out among the men, we were not free,” says sexual assault survivor
Florence Ayot was kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda when she was nine years old. “I was given to a Major and forced to be his slave. If I didn’t do what they ordered, they beat me,” says Florence in the documentary The War Against Women. “The most painful thing was that the girls […]
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19th June 2015 Ottawa, Canada
Canada and Magna Carta
This is an edited transcript of an interview I did with Bianca Gendreau from the Canadian Museum of History on the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta…
19th June 2015 Sofia, Bulgaria
No One Is Above the Law
UK embassies around the world along with my Foreign Minister this week commemorate the 800 year anniversary since the sealing of Magna Carta in a tented encampment on the banks of the River Thames in 1215. Magna Carta has become a strong British brand – over the centuries it has come to stand for much […]
19th June 2015 New Delhi, India
World Health Assembly 68: a GREAT fortnight for global health
Guest Blogger: Dr. Himangi Bhardwaj, Senior Health Adviser for the FCO’s (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) network in India, and part of the official UK delegation to the World Health Assembly, reports on her maiden United Nations experience, and her exciting adventures! The World Health Assembly 68 (WHA 68), organised from May 18 – 26, 2015 […]
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19th June 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Crossroads and boundaries: Eastern Anatolia
Snow-capped peaks tower over ancient mausoleums. Although they were built by Saltukids in the 12th Century, the steep-roofed tombs are reminiscent of Armenian churches. The nearby Selcuk-era madrasah features both Central Asian-style twin minarets and double-headed Byzantine eagles. Above the city, in a fortress founded by Emperor Theodosius in the 4th century, a newer minaret-like structure […]
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18th June 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Remembering Srebrenica
In the last few days, a lot of people have been expressing strong views about the planned UN resolution to mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica during the terrible war of the 1990s, where all sides suffered such terrible losses, military and civilian. When the UK accepted the responsibility of drafting this […]