20th August 2015
Yesterday was World Humanitarian Day. Geographically and geopolitically Ethiopia lies at the heart of a deeply unstable region, with neighbouring Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Eritrea all engaged in conflicts. Enjoying comparative peace for some time now, it has been hosting refugees since the 1990s. But recent times have seen a dramatic rise in the […]
18th June 2015
I leave Sudan soon, after nearly 3 years here. It has been a hugely engaging, demanding, frustrating and rewarding experience. I have learnt a great deal; about Sudan, about my profession of diplomacy, and about the range and challenges of circumstances in which people live out their lives. Sudan has changed me. I leave with […]
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 […]
12th March 2015
Guest blog by Chloe Hamborg, Head of Political Section It has been educative and inspirational to hear comments of writers and activists from around the world this week on the theme of women’s rights, in recognition of International Women’s Day on 8 March. My “Week for Women” started on Saturday evening, attending an event at […]
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22nd February 2015
– Guest blog by Hala Elhaj, Media Officer at the British Embassy in Khartoum – This month marks the 50th anniversary of the state visit of Queen Elizabeth to Sudan. On the 8th February 1965 Queen Elizabeth landed in Khartoum. She arrived at a time of great political tensions yet despite this Sudan gave Her […]
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8th September 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
This year has been the summer that never was. Usually by the time the September Council session comes around, colleagues look relaxed, healthy even, after enjoying the Geneva sunshine and seem genuinely happy to see each other after a decent break. But a combination of bad weather and incessant work has left many of us […]
4th June 2014
I often have to remind people that I am accredited not to the Vatican City State, but to the Holy See, the governance of the global Catholic Church. As such, this embassy has reach into an extraordinary worldwide network of civil society organisations, religious congregations, diplomats, universities and other components that make up the Catholic […]
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30th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
Council sessions are bad for your health. So bad, in fact, that I’m thinking of inviting colleagues from the World Health Organisation along to the next session to see if they agree with me that all delegates should be issued with a health warning so that they can take suitable precautions at the outset. The […]
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23rd September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve often thought that subscribers to chaos theory would do well to spend a week or two watching meetings at the Human Rights Council. The principal idea is that a small random change at one point can result in major unexpected consequences later on. It would be fascinating to try to catalogue the seemingly minor […]
9th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
I hope you’ve had a good summer. My holidays have become a lot less adventurous since fatherhood, and gone are the days of disappearing off to far-away countries with a rucksack, a guidebook and a cautiously large amount of Immodium. Nowadays all I want from a holiday is some sleep and to spend my waking […]