7th June 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
The much awaited second round of the Universal Periodic Review finished its first session on Monday. There’s general agreement in these parts that the UPR has been a big success since it began 4 years ago, so the second round began with more excitement than you get at a diplomat’s house on Eurovision night. Without […]
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26th March 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
For every Council delegate there is one resolution, above all others, whose success or failure takes over their life. It dominates their working hours and prays on their subconscious mind even during the little sleep it’s possible to squeeze in. For me, it was Sri Lanka. There was a huge amount riding on the United […]
19th March 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a strange week. Even during the frenzied latter stages of a Human Rights Council session you expect the UN to be a courteous place. Anything less than model behaviour would feel out of place in an organisation devoted to peace and harmony and based in a country whose last outbreak of anything resembling […]
12th March 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
Maybe it’s just that I’m getting older but this feels like a particularly tiring Council session. And judging by the number of weary diplomatic faces around this week, I’m not the only one whose been feeling the strain. The Council is set to adopt more resolutions than at any other previous session, and with a […]
5th March 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a busy week. With our Ministers in town for the Council’s High level Segment, we’ve all been suffering from higher than average stress levels. Many Ministers chose to use their statements to focus on the appalling violations in Syria, which the Council addressed in an urgent debate on Tuesday. Council members spoke out […]
6th December 2011 Geneva, Switzerland
The Human Rights Council turned its attention to Syria again on Friday last week with another Special Session called by the EU- the 3rd consecutive time in 7 months it had met in response to the Assad regime’s ongoing brutality. This level of attention is a clear indication of the international outrage at what is going […]