12th October 2022 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve always had a fond attachment to the number 51. It was my house number growing up in Manchester, as little Robert. My first memory there was my parents bringing my newly-born baby sister home from the hospital. And my mum was born in the year ’51 (as well as some more famous but less […]
4th March 2021 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Just over a year ago now I relocated to the beautiful Island nation of Sri Lanka from my previous position at the British Consulate in Istanbul. Naturally I was excited by the prospect of relocating to a new country with my family, another adventure for us all. I was equally excited to start my new […]
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19th March 2020 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve long had a sense of foredboding about the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council. Those of us who’ve been around these parts longer than most tend to measure our life-spans in the number of Council sessions we’ve racked up, as well as years. I worked out some time ago that session 43 would […]
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25th March 2019 Geneva, Switzerland
Last autumn, Pixie – our much loved cat (and subject of a 2015 blog trilogy) – fell seriously ill. After a week in pet hospital, the vets advised that she needed an urgent blood transfusion to survive. Except they didn’t have any cat blood in stock, so they asked if I could round up some […]
26th July 2017
On 27th July the United Kingdom will mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. On this day in 1967 the Sexual Offences Act was passed, decriminalising same-sex acts between consenting adults over the age of 21. Homosexual acts had until then been outlawed by legislation passed in the nineteenth century. Today we take […]
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19th June 2017 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours List this month included Lynn Stanier, the founder of Their Future Today, a British charity in Sri Lanka supporting some of the most vulnerable children and families in society. She was awarded an MBE for this work, which she describes below. I was in complete shock! The High Commissioner […]
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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 […]
28th November 2016 London, UK
25 November marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. As the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, I have seen first-hand the impact of sexual violence against women and girls in countries like Bosnia, Burma, Colombia, DRC, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. I have seen the […]
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6th September 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Every year the Human Rights Council organises a retreat. Making the Council more effective is a favourite topic, and was so again last week in Evian. Many argue that the Human Rights Council is a victim of its own success. Never have its sessions had more resolutions, panels and side events. The Director General of […]
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17th June 2016 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Last night, we hosted a very special event at the High Commissioner’s residence: a party to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th birthday. Over 400 friends of the High Commission, from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the UK, from Government to civil society to the private sector, gathered to toast the longest reigning monarch in […]