7th July 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
UN diplomats spend much of their lives fretting about securing exactly the right words in international documents. I’ve seen a whole day of negotiations conclude with only a comma added, to mutual back-slapping and a general sense of a job well done, and have spent weeks painfully debating the insertion of a footnote or an […]
29th June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a tiring week. The middle part of the Council session is always hectic as delegates scramble to finalise the version of the resolutions that they want to table by Thursday’s deadline. But my sleep levels have taken a heavier battering than normal thanks to the Women’s World Cup, taking place in Canada’s far-off […]
30th March 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Council sessions take a heavy toll on all things that are close to us. Our partners, our children and our pets all suffer from weeks of neglect. So do our bags. Any object unfortunate enough to go into my rucksack during Council time will undergo a period of inanimate purgatory as draft resolutions, cereal bars, […]
23rd March 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
By the end of week 3 of any March Council session everyone tends to look pretty frazzled. The combination of lack of time for proper meals, general neglect in the finer aspects of personal grooming and the knowledge that the session still has some time to go tend to take their toll. But this year […]
17th March 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
As nice as it can be living out here, there are many drawbacks to not being in the UK. It’s easy to lose touch with friends, to miss out on historic national moments and to forget about sending a card in time to arrive for Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, during the March session the only way […]
9th March 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
While I was never the life and soul of all night parties – prone to having a little nap while others danced round me – I did at least used to be active and go out on a regular basis. These days, instead of thinking about finding new places to ski within easy reach of […]
2nd March 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
I hope you’re feeling fit and strong in time for this session. As I don’t have much time for exercise these days, I’ve been trying to get in shape before the Council by pushing my household chores to my physical limit. I’ve managed to improve my stamina, reactions and speed with new personal bests for double […]
31st March 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s hard to convey quite what it’s like to go through a March Council session. The four-week experience is a prolonged assault on the mind, body and soul and while the end of the session is a cause for elation it also feels distinctly post-traumatic. The process of stress-decompression and re-entering normal life needs to […]
25th March 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
Every Council delegate will know what a strain the March session can put on your family life. Things have got so bad that I’m now considering looking for a new wife. It’s not for me though. My wife has got to the point that she’s told me she needs someone like her to help look […]
6th March 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
A lot has happened here since the end of the last session. Starting with the most important, I became a dad again, when my little girl entered the world last November. My son had cleverly timed his birth 3 years ago with the Human Rights Council’s annual day on the rights of the child but […]