20th December 2012 Beirut, Lebanon
Each year, many ambassadors send Ministers a review of trends in their country, and thoughts on what lies ahead. To share the more candid elements would be a bit of digital transparency too far, but here is a redacted version of what I have just sent. You can read the rest when it is released […]
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1st October 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
Human Rights Council sessions rarely end up being either a resounding success or an unmitigated disaster. They rather tend to be a mixed bag with some good things, some bad and a few which leave you scratching your head, wondering what it meant and why it happened in the first place. The September session was […]
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24th September 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
My second week of the Council session got off to a particularly bad start as I managed to put my back out while playing with my son at the weekend. My boss Ian cheerfully put it down to age catching up with me. I like to think I’ve a few good years left in me […]
17th September 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
I hope you had a good rest over the summer. Judging by the hectic pace of the first week of the September Human Rights Council, you’re going to need it. Unfortunately my own plans for a final restorative weekend before the Council began didn’t quite work out. Anyone who’s lived here for a while will […]
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7th September 2012 Beirut, Lebanon
Lebanon tends to be high on our August watchlist. This year there was no major single crisis, but five developments raised anxiety. Israel accused Hizballah of involvement in the Bourgas terrorist attack. A pro-Assad former Minister was arrested. Kidnappings returned in a dangerous 48 hours. Some Gulf countries told their nationals to leave. The Tripoli […]
19th July 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
It was a strange June Council session. By starting much later this year, it felt like school had been punishingly extended for 3 extra weeks, just as the bell should have been granting us our summer freedom. Everyone did their best to wear their polite, professional faces. But the truth was, we all wanted to […]
5th July 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
Anyone who’s lived around Geneva for a while will know that the weather here plays nasty tricks. In winter the sun shines down serenely on fresh snow all week, only to turn into a vicious arctic ice-blast by the weekend. And in summer the downpours coincide with Friday afternoon work-leaving times just a little too […]
7th June 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
The much awaited second round of the Universal Periodic Review finished its first session on Monday. There’s general agreement in these parts that the UPR has been a big success since it began 4 years ago, so the second round began with more excitement than you get at a diplomat’s house on Eurovision night. Without […]
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26th March 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
For every Council delegate there is one resolution, above all others, whose success or failure takes over their life. It dominates their working hours and prays on their subconscious mind even during the little sleep it’s possible to squeeze in. For me, it was Sri Lanka. There was a huge amount riding on the United […]
19th March 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a strange week. Even during the frenzied latter stages of a Human Rights Council session you expect the UN to be a courteous place. Anything less than model behaviour would feel out of place in an organisation devoted to peace and harmony and based in a country whose last outbreak of anything resembling […]