8th April 2022 Geneva, Switzerland
On 8 April 2002, I started working at the UK Mission to the UN. I’d had no diplomatic experience. At all. And I’d never been to a UN meeting. I’d only ever been to Geneva once – for my interview, which I started off by spilling water all over the table (I’ve always had a […]
30th July 2020 Geneva, Switzerland
These are such strange days. We still don’t know if this will prove to be a painful but relatively short-lived episode of global distress or if we’re in this for the much longer haul. Will we look back on this as a defining moment of international cooperation to overcome one of the greatest health challenges […]
3rd July 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
The Council came to a hot and weary end last Friday with some good results on the issues that mattered. Most importantly the EU and the African Group reached agreement on an investigation into reports of serious violations in the DRC. The Council also passed strong resolutions on violence against women, discrimination against women, child […]
20th March 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
I’m in big trouble. For the second Sunday running I’ve single-handedly, polished off a 26-pack of chocolate wafer biscuits which were supposed to be carefully rationed for the kids over the weeks ahead. I know it’s not going to do me much good come the morning as I try and squeeze into my suit, but […]
13th March 2017 Geneva, Switzerland
While there haven’t exactly been howls of protest about my online silence these last few weeks, the number of people asking what I’ve been up to rose to three on Friday (excluding my last boss who is clearly still keeping tabs on me from afar), so I feel a little sheepish and neglectful. The main reason […]
30th March 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
The Council closed last Thursday after a health sapping, sleep deprived and occasionally fractious month, but the results were good. Following weeks of pressure from all regions, South Sudan accepted that its human rights record should be kept under close scrutiny by the Council and committed to cooperating wtih a strong new Commission of investigators […]
21st March 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Sorry for last week’s silence. A bout of family flu and some absent colleagues kept me busier than usual but thankfully everyone’s fine again. The middle two weeks of the Council session have been typically frantic with everyone trying to work out the version of their resolutions to table which they hope will attract the […]
1st March 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Welcome back. I hope you’ve been having a good 2016. By this stage of the year most people’s well intentioned New Year’s resolutions have fallen by the wayside as the demands of winter force us towards the comforting embrace of familiar habits. I spend too much of my working life working on resolutions at the […]
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 […]