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Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
15th July 2025
International Day of Women in Diplomacy: UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls visit to Geneva
1st May 2025
The UN Commission on the Status of Women: My first visit as UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls
26th June 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
En el País de la Eterna Primavera
El Ministro Británico de Estado para Latinoamérica, Sr. Hugo Swire visitó Guatemala y escribió este blog sobre las experiencias de su visita: Este es mi primer viaje como Ministro para Latinoamérica a Guatemala, y estoy muy complacido de tener la oportunidad de experimentar de primera mano este importante y bello país – la más grande […]
26th June 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
In the Land of Eternal Spring
Rt Hon Hugo Swire MP visited Guatemala and has written this blog about his experiences during the visit: This is my first trip as Minister for Latin America to Guatemala, and I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to experience at first hand this important and beautiful country – the largest economy in […]
26th June 2014 Ottawa, Canada
GREAT is FORM1DABLE
To mark Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix from 4-8 June in Montreal our Consulate-General held its first ever series of GREAT Britain events. The results were……Formidable (best repeated with a French accent)…
26th June 2014 Mumbai, India
Prospects of UK-India collaborative partnerships in distributed manufacturing
Last week (16-19 June), I led a 4-member delegation of Indian manufacturing experts from the IITs and IISc to the UK for a 4-day programme on manufacturing. The visit kicked off with a one-day UK-India workshop on distributed manufacturing in London, jointly organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Indian National Academy of Engineering. […]
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26th June 2014 Sana’a, Yemen
Ramadan Karim
Like so many of those I have spoken to in the past week, I am looking forward to Ramadan. I am conscious that this Ramadan is an opportunity for all of us who live in Yemen to think about the values at the heart of this holy month of reflection, consideration for others and avoidance […]
26th June 2014 London, UK
Tunisia: helping put in place an Anti-Torture Culture to match the legislation
Guest blog by the British Embassy Tunis, Tunisia The slogans of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia were ‘Freedom’ and ‘Dignity’. Tackling torture, widespread under the Ben Ali regime, was among the popular demands in the aftermath of the overthrow of Ben Ali. Respect for Human Rights is a key goal of Tunisia’s new democratic […]
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26th June 2014 London, UK
Keeping the faith: the global prevention of torture
Guest blog by Matthew Sands, Legal Adviser, Association for the Prevention of Torture I keep a quote on my desk from Jean Améry, who wrote about his utter despair while being held in concentration camps during the Second World War, and refer to it often. It reads: “Anyone who has been tortured remains tortured. [Our] […]
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26th June 2014 London, UK
Tackling Impunity: Why the Voices of Survivors Must Be Heard
Guest blog by Kolbassia Haoussou, survivor of torture, and Coordinator of the Survivors Speak OUT Network For too long torture has been used to punish and silence. Perpetrators have used their abhorrent tools with impunity, in the knowledge that they will never be held to account by survivors, for fear of stigma, shame and further […]
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26th June 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
Uniting Against Torture
Guest blog by Bob Last, Senior Human Rights Adviser, UK Mission to the UN, Geneva There have been lots of admiring words spoken about Costa Rica of late, and their World Cup performances have left me and many of my compatriots more than a little envious. When I arrived in Geneva in spring 2002, Costa […]
26th June 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Australian Parliament celebrates Scotland, as part of the UK
With names like Scott, Cameron, Macdonald, Ferguson and McKenzie, the MPs and Senators who organised last night’s Scottish Dinner in Australia’s Parliament House had a gleam in their eyes at the swirl of the bagpipes and the clink of the whisky glass. Some of them have more distant ancestral links to Scotland, like my own. […]
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