9th December 2025
Why We Need Data, Courage, and Community
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
2nd December 2025
In cybersecurity, there are no limits – only new voices ready to lead
14th October 2025
Lost and Found (but mostly lost)
14th December 2010 Geneva, Switzerland
Putting the “Universal” Back in the Universal Declaration
Guest blog by John Fisher, ARC International* “It is not called the ‘Partial’ Declaration of Human Rights,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon underlined at a World Human Rights Day panel on Ending Violence and Criminal Sanctions based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. “It is not the ‘Sometimes’ Declaration of Human Rights.” The Secretary General […]
Read more on Putting the “Universal” Back in the Universal Declaration | Reply
13th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Keeping Ukrainian families together
It’s not often that we charge people to enter my house. But we make an exception when we host a charity reception in support of the Ukrainian charity EveryChild. Ukraine, like many other countries in Eastern Europe, continues to house large number of children in orphanages. EveryChild, which was set up as the result of […]
12th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
BBC Book of the Year 2010
The lofty, historic hall of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy is packed with journalists, TV cameras and microphones. The occasion is the prize-giving for the BBC Ukrainian Service Book of the Year Competition. The prize, worth #1,000, is in my pocket. Several of the five short-listed authors are present, one via Skype from Washington. Five distinguished […]
10th December 2010 New York, USA
Human Rights Day at the United Nations
by Sarah Mann Sarah is a British diplomat who has just finished a three-month posting to the UK Mission to the UN (UKMIS) in New York working primarily on human rights issues. Today is my last day working at UKMIS in New York, which makes it a very sad day for me. But it is also a […]
10th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Transcarpathia: castles, skis and the mayor’s car
The walls of the castle rise sheer from the base of a deep, dry moat. Three different batteries of cannon face the west. To the east rise the Carpathians, dusted with snow. Welcome to Mukachevo, scenic setting of the world’s largest ski factory and as dense a melting pot of European cultures as one could […]
Read more on Transcarpathia: castles, skis and the mayor’s car | Reply
10th December 2010 Chevening, UK
Human Rights Day 2010 – another view from Nigeria
Adeniyi Egbetade writes about CHIEF GANIYU OYESOLA FAWEHINMI (1938-2009). This eminent Nigerian lived and died for justice for mankind and the rule of law. He never allowed religious or tribal sentiments to taint his fight for human rights. Chief Fawehinmi studied law at Holborn College of Law UK between 1961and 1964. He fought the scourge […]
Read more on Human Rights Day 2010 – another view from Nigeria | Reply (1)
10th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Racism and discrimination
OHCHR’s representative in Bolivia, Denis Racicot, writes as a guest blogger. For more information visit http://bolivia.ohchr.org. In 1966, by means of the signing of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination and the subsequent ratification en 1970, the State of Bolivia committed to adopt all the necessary measures for the […]
10th December 2010
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Can we make convoys more democratic?
When I first arrived in Kyiv, a local journalist asked if I liked playing golf. When I said that, wonderful (and British) a game as golf was, I preferred table-tennis, she noted it down. “Very democratic,” she said. A couple of weeks later, I flew back from a visit to the UK using a budget […]
10th December 2010 Chevening, UK
Human Rights Day 2010 – a view from Pakistan
My name is Ahmad Nadeem Khan and I am from Pakistan. I was a Chevening fellow in the year 2008 in the University of Birmingham and participated in the course ‘What makes democracy work’. I still cherish those days and the great learning environment. I just wanted to share on the occassion of International Human […]
Read more on Human Rights Day 2010 – a view from Pakistan | Reply
10th December 2010 Chevening, UK
Human Rights Day 2010 – a view from Indonesia
Lishia Erza, a recent Chevening alumnus from Indonesia writes; We can be heroes, even just for one day. Great song to ring in my head on human rights day. Anyway… Back to topic. Nobody should be excluded or discriminated against in their effort to access basic rights. That is the general belief. While it is […]
Read more on Human Rights Day 2010 – a view from Indonesia | Reply