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Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Part of UK in Sweden

12th April 2013

Threats Old and New

This week, Foreign Ministers from the Group of Eight (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, US and Russia) met in London. They looked at a wide range of issues, including the situation in the Middle East (specifically Syria and Iran), Africa, DPRK and climate change.

Two particular issues they addressed illustrate that diplomacy has a role to play in tackling threats as old as warfare is and as new as today’s and tomorrow’s technology.

As G8 President, the UK has prioritised the issue of rape and sexual violence in conflict. The Government has announced £10 million in extra funding to tackle this scourge. Other G8 countries also announced new commitments.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has been working with the UN and NGOs on this, including UNHCR special envoy, Angelina Jolie. Attending the G8, she said:

Rape is not a women’s issue, or a humanitarian issue, it is a global issue and it belongs here at the top table of international decision-making”.

The UK aims to address the culture of impunity for those who use rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. G8 leadership, along with the UN and EU, will, we hope, give new impetus to efforts to end one of the most devastating aspects of modern warfare and address one of the main reasons why it is so difficult for communities to come back together after conflict.

A very different type of threat comes from the cyber domain. G8 Ministers looked at the question of cyber security, specifically how to best balance security considerations with freedom of expression online. The UK and Sweden have worked closely on this, including at a joint event with Nordic and Baltic partners in January. But there is still a great deal of work to be done internationally to build countries’ capacity to minimise and combat cyber threats.

Earlier this week, William Hague announced a new Global Centre for Cyber-Security Capacity Building at Oxford University that will work bilaterally with countries on capacity-building projects.

Click here to read more about the outcome of the G8 Ministerial and the UK’s overall objectives for our Presidency this year.

Photo: British Foreign Secretary, William Hague and UNHCR special envoy Angelina Jolie at this week’s G8 meeting

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About Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston joined the UK Civil Service in 1990, working for the Ministry of Defence initially. He has served in Paris and New York and has also had a wide…

Paul Johnston joined the UK Civil Service in 1990, working for the Ministry of Defence initially.

He has served in Paris and New York and has also had a wide range of political and security roles in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Paul joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1993 as Desk Officer for Bosnia. As part of this role he was also Private Secretary to EU negotiator Lord Owen and his representative on Bosnia Contact Group.

His first foreign posting was to Paris in 1995-99 as Second Secretary Political. He was Private Secretary to the Ambassador and latterly part of the UK delegation to the Kosovo Rambouillet negotiations. Then he returned to London as Head of the Kosovo Policy Team, leading work on post-conflict policy in the EU, NATO, UN and G8.

Before his second overseas posting to New York in 2005, Paul held a variety of other EU policy and security appointments in London, such as Head of European Defence Section between 2000-01 and Head of Security Policy Department between 2002-04.

As Head of the Political Section in UKMIS New York, he advised on major policy issues for the UK on the Security Council and the UN World Summit, including the UK EU Presidency in 2005.

Paul returned to London in 2008 as Director, International Security for the FCO. He was responsible for policy on UN, NATO, European Security, arms control and disarmament, human rights and good governance.

Paul was British Ambassador to Sweden from August 2011 to August 2015 and then was Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO.

He was UK Ambassador to the EU for Political and Security affairs from 2017 to January 2020 and became Ambassador to Ireland in September 2020.

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