Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

13th December 2016 Vienna, Austria

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

#GlobalBritain: some remarkable statistics

As an Ambassador constantly meeting people of all nationalities interested in the impact of the 23 June vote by the UK to leave the European Union, I am an avid follower of statistics. So for ease of reference, I’ve put together a few of those which have caught my eye. Vienna Globenmuseum The fact Britain […]

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13th December 2016 Delhi, India

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by Anshika Jha

UK Intellectual Property Office’s (UK IPO) Attaché

UK IP enforcement – Sharing best practices

The UK Intellectual Property Office’s Intelligence Hub Head – Huw Watkins – led discussions with officials of the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police on intellectual property infringement practices.  The discussions covered prevalent modes of infringement, tracking the source of fake goods, prominent fake goods routes and how UK IPO’s Enforcement Directorate works to […]

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12th December 2016 Geneva, Switzerland

by Julian Braithwaite

Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva

Argentina, The UK, And Overcoming The Legacy Of The Past

Until now, my enduring memory of the Falklands War was of a car park in Washington DC. My father was serving in our Embassy there at the time. Later it was claimed that the US simply handed key military components over to us in the Embassy’s car park, so urgent was the cause, so deep […]

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12th December 2016 Vilnius, Lithuania

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by Claire Lawrence

Former British Ambassador to Lithuania

Why I am – opening an exhibition on Shakespeare at the Lithuanian Parliament

On 14 December we will hold an event to open the British Embassy’s exhibition on William Shakespeare at the Lithuanian Parliament. 2016 is, of course, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. He is a great British cultural figure familiar around the globe. Half the world’s schoolchildren study his work. His plays have been performed in […]

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11th December 2016 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

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by Edmund Fitton-Brown

British Ambassador to Yemen

Human Rights Day

This week we celebrate the 68th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For the people of Yemen who have suffered during two years of war this must feel like an abstract and distant concept. Prior to the conflict Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the region and now, as a […]

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10th December 2016 London, UK

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by Richard Moore

FCO Political Director

International Human Rights Day

10 December is Human Rights Day and around the world British Embassies will be expressing their commitment to universal fundamental rights. We do this because human rights are important in themselves. But they are also good for our societies and economies. The World Bank have said respect for human rights can “improve development outcomes and […]

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10th December 2016 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Human Rights Day 2016

Box-ticking, or changing the real world? That was a question posed at our Minister’s event to mark Human Rights Day. Most people I talk to are ready to agree that the UK government tries to do the right thing. But many wonder whether we are getting past the level of generic reassurances, from other governments […]

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9th December 2016 Science and Innovation Network

Michael Moody

Michael Moody

Second Secretary

Standing on the shoulders of giants

Once a year, the global scientific community is honoured and celebrated during the Nobel Prize Award ceremony in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.  Sweden has been the birthplace of some of the world’s leading researchers, including the Nobel Prize founder and inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel.  Sweden also boasts some of the world’s leading research […]

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9th December 2016 Guatemala City

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by Thomas Carter

British Ambassador to Guatemala

Human Rights Day

Saturday 10 December marks UN Human Rights Day, which commemorates the day on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Speaking in London on the eve of her visit to Guatemala, the Minister at the Foreign Office with special responsibility for human rights, Baroness Anelay, said: “All […]

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9th December 2016 Holy See

Simona Prete

Simona Prete

Policy and Communications, British Embassy to the Holy See

Standing Up against Slavery

On 10 December, the UN will commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The focus this year is “standing up for the rights of others”: a call to uphold human rights in our global community, where each of us can make a difference. The Foreign Office in London and all British Embassies […]

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