24th September 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve often thought that children make the best negotiators. Kids seem to know better than anyone how to stay focussed on what they want and strike home when defences are down. If you ever need a lesson for succeeding in a multilateral negotiation, I’d recommend spending some time observing supermarket check-out queues on a Saturday […]
17th September 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
Over the summer, I have grown a little bit more intolerant. Not to family holidays, heatwaves or even World Cup exits, but to all things dairy. In many countries, this wouldn’t be especially problematic, but in Switzerland, I am having to rethink my breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as my usual Council mood-enhancer – […]
10th July 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
There’s little point writing about anything not related to football at the moment and I wouldn’t expect anyone to give it much attention if I did. By a happy coincidence, plenty of the countries who qualified for the World Cup finals were busy at the Human Rights Council too. I’m happy to report that we […]
25th June 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
My Council session got off to an unfortunate and slightly messy start. As I rushed to leave the house I discovered that the cat had regurgitated something unpleasant inside my freshly polished work shoes. I’m not prone to superstition but it felt like a worrying omen for what lay ahead. And so it proved to be. […]
8th May 2018 London, UK
Today (8 May) is World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, a day to celebrate the incredible work of our staff and volunteers around the world. Every year the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement supports millions of people affected by conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies through its network of 191 national societies,14 million […]
Read more on The Red Cross and Red Crescent: everywhere for everyone | Reply
29th March 2018 Geneva, Switzerland
Voting days at the Council have always been stressful, and things don’t seem to be getting any easier with age. The drawback of having been around in these parts for longer than most is that I’m expected to know what I’m doing, especially when it comes to the finer points of the UN’s rules of […]
8th December 2017 London, UKLondon, UK
The right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is often misunderstood and dismissed as special pleading by the religious, when in reality, in its fullest form, it protects the right of all people to live their lives according to their deepest convictions, whether or not they have a religion or belief. It must be […]
Read more on Faith Actors Can Play a Positive Role in Defending Human Rights. They Need Support. | Reply (1)
9th October 2017 London, UK
It was Monday morning and my boss called me into his office, “I want you to go to Jamaica.” “When” I asked innocently, “tomorrow” he replied passing me a one way ticket. So began my journey into defending the rights of those facing the death penalty. It was 1992 and I was just 24 years […]
Read more on Why we need to do away with the death penalty | Reply
25th September 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
Leaving aside the extremely grim subject matter which forms the basis of our work, one of the things I like the least in my job is having to say goodbye to good people. This summer we bade farewell to another great set of colleagues including the UK’s own James Mclaughlin and the ever wonderful, and […]
5th July 2017 Skopje, North Macedonia
In a society where stereotypes and prejudices are much present, one of the main challenges is to work on social cohesion of the vulnerable groups. Often it is a challenge itself to explain to people what is social cohesion, and what is diversity? Social cohesion is when we look at what all of us can […]