23rd July 2021
Geneva, Switzerland
After 13 sessions, dozens of resolutions, and innumerable late nights staring square-eyed at incomprehensible drafting changes, my tenure as part of the UK’s negotiating team at the UN Human Rights Council finally concluded last week. It had been a tense session, conducted mostly virtually: as I’ve commented elsewhere, it can be difficult to reach compromise […]
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15th October 2020
Skopje, North Macedonia
In North Macedonia, we have fought the fight of gender equality since the country’s independence, and even though a lot has been accomplished, we are still far away from achieving full gender parity and equal opportunities. When I was asked, by the British Embassy, to write a blog post on women in politics, I welcomed […]
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3rd July 2017
Geneva, Switzerland
The Council came to a hot and weary end last Friday with some good results on the issues that mattered. Most importantly the EU and the African Group reached agreement on an investigation into reports of serious violations in the DRC. The Council also passed strong resolutions on violence against women, discrimination against women, child […]
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20th June 2016
Geneva, Switzerland
In the months since the last Council session, Star Wars has come to dominate my home life. My son asks endless questions about the characters, while the rest of the family begrudgingly take turns to act them out. I’m most often cast as Jabba the Hutt while my Jedi son brandishes his light sabre and […]
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9th March 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
International Women’s Day is celebrated across the world on 8 March. International Women’s Day 2015 highlights the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a historic roadmap signed by 189 governments 20 years ago that sets the agenda for realising women’s rights. There have been many achievements since then, but many serious gaps remain. For example, […]
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22nd May 2014
Paris, France
For far too long, rape and sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war, particularly against women. It makes conflict worse, it prolongs the effects of conflict, and it makes reconciliation far more difficult. Two years ago my Foreign Secretary William Hague, working with Angelina Jolie, who is the UN Special Envoy on these […]
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9th March 2014
British High Commission, Kingston, Jamaica
Today, gender equality is just as relevant as it was in 1910, when International Women’s Day was first celebrated. Despite legislative and social advancements in favor of women’s rights, women and girls in countries like Jamaica, continue to face discrimination,violence, and a lack of economic opportunity. For its part, Jamaica has enacted legislation, which coupled with […]
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28th February 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Are women better at business than men? I found myself asking this question after visiting KAGIDER, the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey, here in Istanbul. KAGIDER is a fine organisation. A group of top women business types set it up in 2002. Its goals include developing entrepreneurship among women; strengthening women’s status economically […]
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7th January 2014
Brasilia, Brazil
Located in the state of Bahia, Salvador is a Brazilian city whose population is mostly composed of afro-descendants. These afro-descendant women have always had a distinct position either as head of the household or working informally. It is reasonable to say that they were the first individual entrepreneurs in Brazil. For a long time, […]
Read more on The Importance of Social Movements on Women’s Rights and their role in Politics and Creative Informal Economy – guest blog by Célia Sacramento | Reply (1)
25th November 2013
Brasilia, Brazil
Maria da Penha was shot in the back while she slept. Not by a stranger, but by her husband. She survived, but the attack left her paraplegic and consigned to a wheelchair. The second attack happened on her return from hospital, when her husband tried to electrocute her in the shower. She survived that too. […]
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