Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

27th March 2015 Asuncion, Paraguay

Jeremy Hobbs British Ambassador to Paraguay

by Jeremy Hobbs

Former British Ambassador to Paraguay

Fortaleciendo las relaciones de defensa y seguridad

Temas como Defensa y Seguridad, forman parte de los tres ejes principales que estamos trabajando en la Embajada Británica. Nos ayuda mucho en esta tarea nuestro Agregado de Defensa residente en Buenos Aires, pero concurrente en Paraguay, el Capitán de la Marina Real, Andy Hancock. Tenemos la ventaja de que Andy habla un español muy […]

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27th March 2015

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by Bruce Bucknell

Former British Deputy High Commissioner Kolkata

True Grit

Sir Terry Pratchett, the witty creator of Discworld I don’t read fantasy books – they’re just not my taste.  So I’ve not read any novels by Sir Terry Pratchett, the author who died two weeks ago. He wrote 40 novels about an imaginary place called “Discworld” which was, apparently, a “flat disc balanced on the […]

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27th March 2015 Canberra, Australia

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by Tom Burn

Political Officer

Supporting R2P in Asia

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the establishment at the 2005 World Summit of the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P). The governments present agreed that they had a responsibility to protect civilian populations from genocide and mass atrocity events. This could be in three ways: a state protecting its own populations; a state […]

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26th March 2015 Istanbul, Turkey

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by Gareth Bayley

UK Special Representative for Syria

Syrians’ right to truth and justice

This week marked the International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims. The recent release of photographs by the Syrian army defector known as ‘Caesar’ shows the tortured bodies of thousands of detainees, giving the international community a timely reminder of the concealed truth […]

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26th March 2015 Pretoria, South Africa

by Judith Macgregor

British High Commissioner to South Africa

UKinSouthAfrica hosted a GREAT Britain zone at SciFest Africa 2015

Last week had a distinctly technical flavour for me, with the arrival of Professor Robin Grimes, the Foreign Secretary’s Chief Scientific Adviser making his second official visit to South Africa. Prof Grimes gave a lecture in Pretoria hosted by the National Science and Technology Forum on the UK’s Nuclear Energy Vision to a packed room of scientists, journalists and officials(recordings available). […]

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26th March 2015

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by Carolyn Browne

Former ambassador to Kazakhstan

Видео-блог Посла Великобритании в Казахстане Др. Кэролин Браун.

Enjoy the next video-blog of Carolyn Browne talking about weather in Astana, ‘korisu’ tradition, special exhibition dedicated to Nauryz and see who did not invite Ambassador to the Legends of Kazakh steppe ball! Follow us: @UKinKZ, @UKinKZ_Russian Русский транскрипт речи ниже: Добро пожаловать на страницу еженедельного видео-блога. На прошлой неделе мы говорили о Северной Ирландии, […]

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25th March 2015 London, UK

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by Jonathan Allen

Former Ambassador to Bulgaria

Remember Crimea

by Sarah Riley Jonathan Allen has moved on as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Bulgaria in January 2015 and Sarah Riley has stepped in as Chargé d’Affaires at British Embassy Sofia. This blog is written by guest blogger Sarah Riley. A year ago, the Kremlin helped stage an illegal and illegitimate “referendum” in Crimea that culminated […]

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25th March 2015 Windhoek, Namibia

Marianne Young

by Marianne Young

High Commissioner, Windhoek

The Land of the Brave turns 25

Namibia celebrated its Silver Jubilee this weekend – marking 25 years since it gained its independence from South Africa’s former Apartheid regime. It was a historic and joyous occasion for all Namibians. This significant birthday event also coincided with the inauguration of the country’s third democratically elected President. This provided an additional reason to celebrate. […]

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24th March 2015 London, UK

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by Daniel Pruce

British Ambassador to the Philippines and to Palau

The importance of the Voluntary Principles on Security & Human Rights

The key role of business is to generate investment, employment and economic growth. But we also need to think about how business operates and the importance and impact that they may have on reducing poverty through the creation of jobs. This, in turn, can be achieved by providing access to knowledge and technology, and by […]

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