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.