4th April 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Since 2010, the British Government has spent over £5 million on de-mining in Sri Lanka. Anyone wondering why humanitarian demining agencies are still working here years after the end of the war need look no further than the achievements of UK funded deminers in just two months this year. During February and March, the men […]
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24th March 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Last week, I awarded the prizes at Sri Lanka’s Young Speaker 2016 competition. This is a testing event, in which young people have to make two short speeches, one prepared, and one on a topic given to them just two minutes before they take to the stage. It’s organised by the British School in Colombo […]
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5th October 2015
Geneva, Switzerland
Just before the session began, someone told me about Mike the chicken who somehow managed to survive for 18 months despite being headless. There’s been more than a few times over the last year and a half when I’ve known how he felt. The demands of trying to work with a young family and badly […]
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28th September 2015
Geneva, Switzerland
However it happens, giving birth to a resolution at the UN is always difficult. In olden times, when the Human Rights Council was but a twinkle in the eye of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the process remained unchanged down the generations. Drafts were put together in foetal form by aspiring parent delegations, and then discussed […]
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21st September 2015
Geneva, Switzerland
So Bob asked me to guest blog for him this week. There were two ways I could approach this; try and write like Bob, with jokes about cats and the trials of combining domesticity with working at the Human Rights Council. Or, cut my own path. So here goes: I’m now in my 5th year […]
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16th September 2015
Geneva, Switzerland
I hope you had a good break. Those wise enough to spend their holidays in or around these parts will be coming back to the Council re-energised from the unusually long hot summer we’ve had this year. To my family’s bemusement, I opted to spend our holidays caravanning in the slightly more inclement weather which […]
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21st August 2015
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Monday’s general election was very tight. It was also remarkably peaceful. From the President and Elections Commissioner down, all involved have commented positively on the conduct of the election, many describing it as Sri Lanka’s best in decades. It’s not for the UK to support one party over another. Our interest is for Sri Lanka […]
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10th July 2015
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka and the Maldives have never been more popular for beach-lovers, backpackers or Brits: over 144,000 British tourists visited Sri Lanka last year, and almost 16,000 holidayed in the Maldives in February alone this year. Around five thousand British Nationals have set down permanent or semi-permanent roots here too. For the most part, travellers […]
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16th June 2015
Colombo, Sri Lanka
For centuries, the Magna Carta, signed by King John at Runnymede in England in 1215, has been quoted to help promote human rights and alleviate suffering all around the world. This week, we are celebrating its 800th anniversary, and its continuing relevance today. To mark the anniversary, my colleagues at the UK Mission in Geneva hosted a […]
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14th June 2015
Geneva, Switzerland
It feels like we’ve hardly been away. I’m starting to suspect that someone has airbrushed April and May from the global calendar. The only clue that the months have been and gone is our hedge growing high enough to receive a letter from the estate agent ordering us to cut it by 10 centimetres and […]
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