10th January 2017 Vienna, Austria
A person is transported illegally away from their community to somewhere unfamiliar or foreign. Once there, they are forced to work without any form of contract or proper remuneration. This is modern slavery. It is happening throughout the world, including in Europe, on a large scale. According to the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and […]
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19th October 2016 Vienna, Austria
So what really happens at a General Conference of the IAEA – the International Atomic Energy Agency? Delegates from 168 countries converge on the HQ of the IAEA in Vienna. They hold many meetings; and, after a week, most of them return to their countries. But why? It’s always difficult explaining what diplomats do. It’s […]
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7th October 2016 Vienna, Austria
I’m sitting around a table with numerous Ambassadors discussing nuclear security. But we’re not at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We’re at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP). And instead of sitting in one of the huge semi-circular conference chambers of the Vienna International Centre, we’re on the thirteenth floor of the […]
5th October 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
The physical experience of going through a Council session feels rather like having your head banged against a wall. It’s nice when it stops, but otherwise not particularly enjoyable. So there was a sense of delirium in the air when we headed out of the doors at a reasonable time last Friday evening. Three weeks […]
6th September 2016 Vienna, Austria
What does a diplomat do? On Monday 29 August I started work in Vienna as “Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the UN and other International Organisations in Vienna”. Recent weeks offer some pointers as to how I’ve prepared for the job, and, now, started. For example, I arrived in Austria on 1 August […]
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4th July 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Late on Friday evening The Council came to a sweaty and cantankerous finish. Well, it sort of did. Not content with causing disruption and delay through 50 hostile amendments to a range of important resolutions, Russia then forced the Council into extra time by persistently objecting during the appointment of the Special Rapporteurs. Time eventually […]
27th June 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Civil service convention dictates that I should avoid expressing a public view on important domestic matters, so I’ll leave all talk of last week’s referendum to others. I’m free to discuss the weather though and after endless weeks of rain, this week’s dramatic rise in temperature caught many of us by surprise. As someone who […]
7th March 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Aftershave. Make-up. Back hair. At some point during our adolescence we realise that less is usually more and adjust our personal grooming behaviour accordingly. Despite my awkward formative years, even I managed to understand that aftershave was not to be applied by the bottle (though I never worried much about my make-up). The Council turns […]
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 […]
26th February 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
I am not your typical intern. I am about to turn 35, I have 2 children aged 5 and 3, and a previous career as a Barrister. I traded in late night briefs, daily court advocacy and negotiations, and challenging clients for the trials and tribulations of child rearing and home making. Eighteen months ago […]