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 […]
8th February 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Last week’s conference in London did not solve the Syrian refugee crisis. That requires an end to the conflict. The suspension of the peace talks in Geneva last week shows we’re not even at the end of the beginning of that process, as Churchill might have said. But London did some important things. It raised […]
7th February 2016 London, UK
As we approach the fifth anniversary of the civil war in Syria, the most urgent humanitarian catastrophe of our time continues. A quarter of a million lives have been lost. The international community must significantly step up its efforts and act now to support the 18 million people in Syria and neighbouring countries who are […]
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28th January 2016
There has been war in Syria throughout Pope Francis’s pontificate. It has been the principal foreign policy concern of the Holy See since his election, and continues to be so. His Holiness has spoken out many times about the need for action to stop the war in Syria, and it is reasonable to suppose that […]
28th January 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
No other international gathering attracts such mythology. The place where the world’s economic elite co-opts its political leadership. Or the best place in the world to discuss and solve global problems. The arguments for and against Davos rage every year. But it’s as popular as ever. BIG SHORT Just before this year’s Davos gathering, Oxfam […]
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11th January 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
The Geneva institutions are facing big questions at the start of 2016. Will the humanitarian system adapt to the challenges of protracted conflicts and unsustainable mass migration? Will the World Trade Organization (WTO) rediscover its role at the heart of the global economy? Can we respond effectively to the growing threat of pandemics and the […]
21st December 2015
As we celebrate Christmas, it is right to think of those Christian families who will find it difficult to enjoy the good cheer that we take for granted at this time. They are those who are being persecuted or discriminated against for their faith, who are refugees because they were forced to flee for their […]
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16th November 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
How can Geneva help Paris? I was going to write this week about antimicrobial resistance, the stealthily spreading obsolescence of antibiotics that will cost the world an estimated 10 million lives a year by 2050 if we don’t act now. But after Friday, that somehow didn’t feel right. With over 130 mostly young people massacred […]
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 […]
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 […]