Tag: Human Rights Council

31st March 2014 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Coming to the surface

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 […]

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17th March 2014 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Shrinking Space

Human Rights Council sessions are always tough but this one feels particularly lacerating. As we reached the midway point on Friday evening there were some desperate looking faces heading towards the exits, including my own. The impact of several weeks of negotiating human rights at the UN is physically demanding, mentally exhausting and emotionally draining. […]

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10th March 2014 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

The Game is Afoot

With all the talk these days of business and human rights it can only be a matter of time before Council sessions start getting corporate sponsors. When it happens I hope that manufacturers of beta blockers are first in line to put their name to the March session and that they have plenty of freebies for […]

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30th December 2013 Havana, Cuba

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by Tim Cole

Former British Ambassador to Cuba

Delivering on our commitments to human rights in 2014

In July 2011 in a ‘Declaration on Bilateral Co-operation’ the British and Cuban governments agreed that human rights are a ‘priority for co-operation’. Both countries have recently been elected by the UN General Assembly to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for a three year term beginning on 1 January 2014. The HRC is the […]

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30th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Sleepwalking, Stress and Civil Society

Council sessions are bad for your health. So bad, in fact, that I’m thinking of inviting colleagues from the World Health Organisation along to the next session to see if they agree with me that all delegates should be issued with a health warning so that they can take suitable precautions at the outset. The […]

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16th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

No room at the UN

September didn’t used to be like this. It was the session which could be relied upon for a genteel beginning as delegates eased themselves in after the summer, meeting new colleagues and renewing old acquaintances before getting down to some serious Council business. But not any more. This session has got off to a blistering […]

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9th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

A September to Remember?

I hope you’ve had a good summer. My holidays have become a lot less adventurous since fatherhood, and gone are the days of disappearing off to far-away countries with a rucksack, a guidebook and a cautiously large amount of Immodium. Nowadays all I want from a holiday is some sleep and to spend my waking […]

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3rd June 2013 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Launches, lunar landings and hyper-speed delegates

I’m sure the June session of the Council never used to be this busy. In years gone by it felt less like a session in its own right and more like the after show party of the March session when delegations would run a few resolutions that they didn’t quite find the time for and […]

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27th May 2013 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

June too soon

There was a time not so long ago when the Geneva sun shone happily throughout spring time, when kinder colleagues used to mistake me for an intern and the June Human Rights Council session actually began in June. This year we’ve still not managed to put our winter clothes away, a worrying number of colleagues […]

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25th March 2013 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Habemus Resolutiones

The session is over, the resolutions are all adopted and UN blue smoke has finally risen through the holes in the Council ceiling. After weeks of lock down without food, daylight or other things that make us happy, the Council delegates can start to think about a return to normality. But for those afflicted by […]

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